Advice Request - Videography

[Tarmack]

Ok, so I have a new concept that I'm going to be working towards over the next few months. I know it will take that long because there's a fair bit of investment in time and money in order to make it happen. I have a few questions for those who are in the know on video and audio matters.

The basics of the concept that I can share at the moment are as follows. It will be a single source audio and video recording of an individual on camera. Video quality must be 1080p and audio quality must have zero noise or room echo. Likely positioned with the sources back facing a corner, with props beside as well. I'm undecided at the moment on actual props against the wall as well or doing it via greenscreen.

Camera will likely be positioned about 10 feet away from the subject in order to capture the entire scene but won't need to move during recording. I have a Canon T1i which is fine for video but has no external mic port, so audio recording would be a pain in the a**.

Potential pitfalls that I need help with.

Those recording with greenscreens, do you get much in the way of audio echo from the otherwise empty wall behind you? Do you have any recommendations for greenscreen material?

The microphone cannot be visible to the viewer, so I'm stuck either between a lapel mic which obviously has worse audio quality or a shotgun mic. The problem with the shotgun mic is pointing it into a corner with a greenscreen or even props would still generate some echo I would think. There is the possibility of the shotgun mic being mounted above and outside of the scene, but I'm not as knowledgeable about shotgun placement as I am normal mic use.

I'm also totally useless where it comes to lighting a video scene. I do have two tripod mounted halogen worklights with two lamps on each, but my concern with that is too much direct light. I know you can do a soft box technique, but they're f*****g hot lights so, short of hanging a white sheet a foot or two away in front to spread the light, I'm not sure how to utilize those.

 

[Brodie]

So for your first question, I don't get much audio echo as there is a lot of sound absorbant objects in the room and I use a shotgun mic so it eliminates any echo. Good material you can get cheap from fabric stores, make sure its thick, you don't want anything to show through the back such as light or objects. There are some cheap green screens on ebay, I reccoment a pop up green screen as they don't have any creaces and is portable.

Second question, I've never used a lapel mic, but a shotgun mic should mimimize room echo, but if there is a bit of echo you can get rid of it in post or have sound absorbant material in the room, it gives good acoustics. If you're using a green screen you could have the mic in the shot and just mask it out in post.

I'm not too experienced with lighting but I know that if you have the lights at a distance, then get a semi-thin sheet (depending on how powerful the light is) and if you hang it about 2 or 3 feet away you can diffuse the light and this gives a soft effect like you said, the softbox effect. You can use reflectors too, point the light away and reflect it back to give a nice look.

I hope some of this might help

 

[Tarmack]

How do you have your shotgun mic positioned? On the camera directed at the subject or mounted elsewhere? I've seen primarily two positions for shotguns, either the camera method or mounted above the subject pointing down. I'm really concerned about echo which can't really be removed in post because my only recording location that will work for what I have planned is in my basement. The basement is a fairly smallish 18foot by 20 foot non-square room. Unfortunately the ceiling is also a bit lower than I would like for a top down mounted mic.

 

[Brodie]

How do you have your shotgun mic positioned? On the camera directed at the subject or mounted elsewhere? I've seen primarily two positions for shotguns, either the camera method or mounted above the subject pointing down. I'm really concerned about echo which can't really be removed in post because my only recording location that will work for what I have planned is in my basement. The basement is a fairly smallish 18foot by 20 foot non-square room. Unfortunately the ceiling is also a bit lower than I would like for a top down mounted mic.

I have it mounted on a pole slightly higher than whoever is talking AKA me since I make my videos alone Usually at the side and facing down at an 80 digree angle if it's taller than when i'm talking. As long as it's facing an area where it's just talking and no other sound it should be fine since the sound shouldn't bounce back too much depending on how close to a wall it is.

A tip is to get thick fabric and hang it around the area the person is speaking, it should absorb any excess sound stopping it echoing back

 

[Wreckless Eating]

Mount the shotgun pointing down at an angle to you. You want it just out of the frame. The proximity to you with the correct level settings should eliminate the echo. If you point the mic at your upper chest area, your body will block most of echo to begin with. A lapel mic would be a better choice if you have access to a good one.

The green screens we use are in a studio setting, so they're painted on a seamless background. We do have heavy black curtains on both sides that we use to block out whatever area you can't see on the camera, but that's more to eliminate reflections from the lighting than sound.