The St. Bradford and D. Oakes Film Collaboration

[D.Oakes]

My friend Brad (youtube name: saintbradford) and I have begun making a series of videos.  He is a pop artist and in the spirit of Andy Warhol has been leaning into film making.  We have the absolute minimum of equipment and software, but have decided to take the leap anyway.  We are planning on doing a whole series of silent films to "take advantage" of our awful equipment.  These are two films that we have done so far:

A Victorian Review of Twilight

A Warning to Mr. Grimm & The Ministry of Sinister Events

We are currently coming up with some more topics for silent films and any good and CHEAP ideas on how to get better sound if we chose to do more talkies. 

[Anastacia]

My god man, did you set the Space Needle on fire?

Is this your friend's first foray into filmmaking? If so, it's understandable that he doesn't have much equipment, but if he plans on producing more, he might want to invest in a microphone, especially if he's aiming for quality audio. On-camera microphones tend to have a very short range, and for wide shots where you're planning to have two subjects in the frame, the audio drop off can be quite steep. It's better to have a boom mic suspended over the action, or perhaps a small mic hidden on a table, right in the thick of things.

If he plans on making a serious hobby of this, he could probably benefit from perusing http://www.bhphotovideo.com/, which can provide all manner of professional quality equipment like lighting, microphones, cameras, and various accessories. If he's unable to buy equipment, you should also be able to find places that rent the stuff out, or perhaps you can stop by your local theater or production company and ask to borrow what you need (though I'm sure they'll want favors).

Also, you should ask your friend if he has a tripod. Probably one of the cheaper pieces of equipment (depending on the weight of the camera), but it makes a tremendous difference in quality.

[D.Oakes]

Mr. Grimm is a "Super Villain" who posted a video going after "Rex Velvet"....the space needle scene is cut from his video.  My friend is of the school of Warhol, shaky camera, etc.  The chase scene is my doing, wide shots, tripod for stability. Most of our self critiquing has hinged around just that problem. If I can only locate my battery, then we can have two cameras. One of which shoots the wide shots and one that does the dialogue shots.

[bicyclebuilder]

For the sound I would use cellphones/smartphones that can tape the conversation. That way you can mix the volume of the dialogue later. Difficulty is to sincronise the audio with video.
Regular carfully handheld would be sufficient for shaky camera effect, IMHO. I remember a police series that used "shaky camera". At first it looks unintentional, but with a closer look, the focussed (centered) objects where part of the story and matched the conversations.
With an actual conversation, your eyes dwell from the speakers face, to the mouth, to the gestures, to whatever is relevant. Most movie makers try to mimic that. By different shots or by slight movements of the camera.
A small stablilizer might work. This is a DIY version and a bit slow for action shots perhaps.
http://www.diycamera.com/stabiliser/index.html but you get the idea.

[Anastacia]

What I've always done for synchronization between audio and video is to either use a slate or just have one of the actors clap on-screen. You then synch the visual clap with the audio clap.

[D.Oakes]

What I've always done for synchronization between audio and video is to either use a slate or just have one of the actors clap on-screen. You then synch the visual clap with the audio clap.

Not a bad idea.

I like the cellphone idea. Mine does take decent audio, plus it can also be easier to hidr....then say my friend's kareoke mic idea.

[bicyclebuilder]

What I've always done for synchronization between audio and video is to either use a slate or just have one of the actors clap on-screen. You then synch the visual clap with the audio clap.

Ah, THAT's what a clapperboard is for! I never knew.