Making your film sound better.

[forsaken101]

Ive been working on my films and i am having some trouble figuring out how to make my films sound like a real film would and not like something that sounds like a home movie. If anyone has any info on this topic such as,

1.Getting rid of background noise eg. unwanted bird noises, planes etc.
2.Hearing someone speaking from a distance.
3.Making it sound good and not like it was recorded on a handicam.

Please submit the info.

[as_i_lay_dying]

I've never done anything like that. But its called Dubbing.

[chickenchop1]

Kaufmann's Make Your Own Damn Movie DVD set covers this topic on the DVDs, definitely recommended for the trial and error of movie making.

[Propaganda13]

Ive been working on my films and i am having some trouble figuring out how to make my films sound like a real film would and not like something that sounds like a home movie. If anyone has any info on this topic such as,

1.Getting rid of background noise eg. unwanted bird noises, planes etc.
2.Hearing someone speaking from a distance.
3.Making it sound good and not like it was recorded on a handicam.

Please submit the info.

A detached shotgun mike with a boom helps a lot. It's amazing what they can pick up and how they help sound. I did a bunch of mic work on our film and it helped a lot. There was a time with a plane though that we just had to wait to shoot the scene. The other big thing is a score. Watch a Hollywood movie and the score adds so much to the movie. Also post production work with sound levels and filters.

Also multiple shots of the same scene. If something doesn't work out, you can edit more. We had a table scene, we shot the whole scene with a closeup on each person and at least one group shot and multiple retakes. This was done with one camera. The final edit of the scene works and I can't tell you how times I heard the dialog over and over again.

[Morbidfilm]

I remember hearing somewhere that 90% of the sound you hear in a movie was added after filming was finished.
I am making an end of the world style movie now where all technology is dead and I am going to have to recreate almost all the sound in post to remove distant car sounds, planes, ect.

[Propaganda13]

If you have the time, budget, equipment, and expertise, sure.

I figured since he was asking, he's talking about a one camera, edit it on a home computer movie. If your camera has the input, you can rent shotgun mic and a handheld boom. One guy on the camera and one guy on sound. Just point the mic at whoever is talking and you don't get the slightly muffled sound of the built-in mic.

[force]

yes, thats right... dont use the build in mic of a camera. that sounds
terrible... use a dynamic mic to record the dialogues and add sound fx in post production. also the dubbing of dialogues is easy with programms like cubase 4 or logic.

and: use a good score. that is almost 50% of the atmo of a scene.

[Nil_Failstorm]

The better the mic, the better the sound. More $$ = better quality, unfortunately.

[Occoris]

in hollywood movies, especially during loud scenes, they have to re-do the dialog ALL the time.
almost everything is edited out or in- like footsteps, dialogue, pots and pans- it's how you get that non-distractive dound- where you ehar what they want you to hear and nothing else.

and all these other people are right- seperate mic + boom equals best. i've seen way to many home movies not to believe that.

@propaganda: awesome. I'll have to rememeber the multiple-shot thing for later- we're working with one camera, too, when the guy who has our camera gets back in town.

[forsaken101]

After reading your posts i need answers to two more questions.
1. What is a score?
2. For the shotgun mic, i dont think one will go into my camera, so would i be able to plug it into something else? and if so what would i plug it into?

[Occoris]

A score is the music; generally orchestrated, is what that means.