Kodak Ektasound 130 - Tips; Sound Movies; Scene Length

tips
1. sound movies- With the added dimen-
sion of sound, there are many new tech-
nique s for you to use. If you already own
01' have used a tape recorder, you prob-
ably are familial' with techniques for
good sound recordings . Many of these
same techniques can help you make
good sound movies .
If you notice that the sound indicator
light is on constantly (not flickering)
while you are making sound movies, the
background noise level may be too high.
Turn off any radio or television set (01'
other appliance) operating in the back-
ground. Th en position the microphone
equidistant from your subjects so that
one subject doesn't predominate over
the others (especially important with
muscial instruments). This enables the
automatic gain control (AGe) to adjust
the recording level for your subjects.
For the best continuity in your mov-
ies, keep the camera centered on your
main subject, even though another per-
son may be speaking. This will avoid
quick, confusing, and distracting scene
changes.
The area where you record can influ-
ence the sound quality of your movies .
Rooms with carpeting and heavy drap-
eries help deaden echoes, thereby im-
proving the quality of recorded sound.
Outdoors, be sure that you place the mi-
crophone near your prime subject so
that wind, traffic, 01' other background
noises will be reduced.
Handling of the microphone during
recording will produce excessive, dis-
tracting noises on th e so und track. Onc e
you det erm ine a position for the micro-
phone in a specific scene, l eave it there
until you change scenes. Use an exten-
sion cord (availabl e from your photo
dealer) for the microphone if the cam-
era position will be limited by the length
of the microphone cord.
The sound recording is placed o nto the
film 18 frames ahead of th e picture . To
avoid sounds from one scene being
played with an adjacent unrelated scene,
run the camera about 2 seconds befoTe
and afte7· your subjects' actions. This
compensates for the 1- to 2-second de-
lay of sound at the beginning of each
scene and makes editing your sound
movies much easier.
2. scene length - With sound movies, the
scene length will probably be controlled
by your subject's dialogue or other sig-
nificant sounds. With silent mQvies,
about 5 to 10 seconds of filming time
(approximately 1% to 2% feet of film)
is appropriate for movie scenes of aver-
age action . Give your movies an inter-
esting change of pace and make them
more fun to see by making some scenes
longer than others. So decide how long
you want the scene to be on the screen,
and expose the film for that length of
time. Some scenes need to be long, some
medium in length, and some short. For
example, an overall shot of a beach to
establish location may last only a few
seconds, but the more interesting close-
ups may deserve a much longer time.
Fo llow a moving sub-
ject by keeping it cen-
tered in the viewfinder.
The sub j ect w ill be
sharp, the background
bl
urred. (See "pan-
ni ng," page 15.)