Location Audio: Using a Boom for Dialogue

Running Time: 3 minutes 38 seconds

This basic primer on field recording using today's low-cost video cameras is ideal at covering basic techniques for Screenlabs Challenge productions.

Ninety percent of the time filmmakers will use shotguns microphones and boom poles to capture the dialog of their actors on location. Here is a basic overview of how to handle and use shotguns with low and no-budget production and a shake-and-bake crew. When you markup your script and storyboard the scenes, you'll want to make notation of when you will be using a shotgun or if you'll need to change to lavaliere microphones on your actors to capture dialogue.