Fixing Some Bumps in the Road

    Hey again! Since we are pretty far into this project, actually filming the opening and editing all of the material we record together is gradually becoming more of a reality as our deadline approaches. With this in mind we’ve been thinking more so about the logistics of filming and editing and in doing so, encountered a minor issue: sound. A lot of out film opening will be recorded outside, and with our project being recorded simply on an iPhone, it won’t have a high quality enough software or microphone to cancel out uncontrollable, unnecessary, unwanted background noise the outside environment at regional park may present us with, such as kids yelling in the distance, wind, and just other sounds that affect the clarity of the sound we pan on recording. 

    Even though this faces us with a problem, my group has collectively though together and come up with a couple of possible solutions to fix this problem and enable us to properly film with our phones, yet still have a great-looking final piece. Our first thought was to record the clips normally, and then, separate the sound from the clips, delete it, and then record a voice over to get higher-quality sound. Although this might work, I think with our limited level of experience with editing, it would prove quite difficult to do this and match up the voice audio with the video itself. Also, the sound levels might not sound right, meaning the voices might be too loud compared to the rest of the video and sound too artificial or just off in general.

    Another thought was putting copyright free music in the background to cancel out the unwanted background noise; however, we all quickly realized this probably wouldn’t work and would just produce too much chaos and noise in the background, especially with dialogue as well.

    Finally our last, and I think best option, is to purchase and use a lavalier microphone for filmmaking. These microphones can connect to one of our phones, and can be used when we record our videos. Having this gadget will help localize the sound making the sound we want focused on to be heard clearly rather than foggy when heard equally to all the background noise. These microphones range in price, but one of our group members found one for purchase for around $12, which we all agreed was a decent price in order to dramatically and drastically change the sound quality of our project for the better. This being said, we think this will be the best option overall, and we can’t wait to film our project. We’ll continue to plan out small details and in doing so find easy fixes for small issues we uncover while doing so. I’ll be back with more updates soon!