Faux Sync Sound 16mm

Andy_Alderslade · June 26, 2006

How did you make the K-3 silent and record audio to it? What are the steps into doing this process? How much did you spend? And by any chance is this a long and hard process? I need to know...my movie feature depends on it.

Ha, i'm afraid to admit that I didn't make my K3 silent at all. As said before I did it Rodreguiez style, exactly as he made El Mariachi, i.e. filmed all the actions and dialouge silent, and then record all the audio with several takes following completion of the filming, then synced them up on the Final Cut time-line. Its a very fun way of doing things, which you can learn a lot from (i did it on my own time but I think Film Schools should make it part of the circulam), plus you don't need to get a crew, essentially you can do it alone.

It's success depends on several things, firstly as little dialouge on-screen as possible (voice over is fine). Secondly a willingness to cut away to the reverse when it simply will not sync up and also the ability of the actors to reproduce the exact tempo of speaking and your patience to record enough audio takes for them to get it right.

Though its a great thing to do for a short like that, I really would avoid doing it for a feature. Heed the advise given in the other discussion and rent or buy or borrow a sync camera or if neccessary a non sync electric camera (say a Bolex EBM or Arri S or M) which can use 400' loads. Even if you where to copy Robert Rodreguiez and shoot a film non-sync like El Mariachi, he gave himself the luxury of an electric Arri S with a slightly dodgy 400' magazine. I don't mean to be down on your ambitions, but i'm thinking of the health of your rist - winding the key on a K3 several thousand times may lead to premature athrietus.

Evan Kubota · October 27, 2006

What Andy suggests is by far the sanest option. From the posts here, almost everyone has made it sound like a crystal sync camera is practically a requirement to do anything with dialogue.

Not true.

Just record the sound after the camera take (or during, with appropriate sound insulation and mic placement), and make sure your actors can give a (relatively) consistent delivery. The eye is forgiving as far as sync as long as the start of screen talking and sound talking is relatively synchronous. Every word does not have to be perfect (although my results were far better than I expected).

I used a mixture of recorded-after-the-take and during for my 20 minute film, which had at least two dialogue scenes (five minutes total). It worked fine. The result was probably nearly identical to using a crystal sync camera. Of course, nothing is wrong with the latter if it's on someone else's coin.