Understanding sound and different ways to record it
It is said that sound is the often-forgotten part of the filmmaking process. We often, at our own peril, believe that film is a visual medium and dedicate all our effort to getting the best picture possible, and then forget about sound until the last minute. However, video is both a visual and audio medium. Even the “silent” era of early film was accompanied by live music performed in the cinema to enhance the emotion of the story.
Without sound, a film or video is a lot harder to understand. Poor sound makes it unwatchable. You are more likely to switch off a TV program if the sound is poor or unintelligible than if the visuals are technically poor. Whether it be the low-resolution images of The Blair Witch Project or the dimly lit scenes in Game of Thrones, we will watch these programs quite happily if we can hear clearly what is going on, even if we can’t see it.
At the very least, if sound is 50% of...