So you're planning a video shoot and you've got it all worked out you've got the camera. You've got the lights. You've got the talent. You've got the location and you even got a shotgun microphones on top of the camera. So you're ready to go right?
Right?
Sometimes this can be enough, especially in a small space with the cameras on a sturdy tripod.
But what if you're run-and-gun? Will there be handling noise? Wind? What about ambiance?
Sometimes no matter how good the footage looks everyone just sounds too far away, or there's a "boxy quality" to the sound. Maybe you're outdoors and you've got two people having an interview, but all you can hear is the birds and the traffic.
Any videographer always has multiple jobs on their plate. But at the end of your day, your job is getting really good video and in between all the composition and the lighting, and the editing, and the grading, the audio often gets overlooked because because it's the least expensive piece of your kit.
But as the old Maxim goes audiences will forgive a blurry or grainy picture, but they will never forgive bad sound. That's because sound has a more visceral impact on us. Our ears are directly connected to our imagination and the moment we hear the crack of a gunshot all the twinkling of a stream we know exactly where we are. Whatever your footage is, it's the music and the ambience that's going to determine whether it's a corporate training video or cinematic masterpiece.
In order for a director to make good decisions about sound, they need to know they can get the right sound. And the right sound, just like the right image, is a combination of many things including: microphone choice, placement, recording format, processing, and intended soundfield.
At the end of the day, any sort of media creation is always a collaborative affair and just like having a gaffer, script supervisor, or an assistant director can make your job easier having a dedicated audio professional can make sure that your project comes out with the tangible sensory experience.