Some New Hardware For Filming

I'm keeping my promise from my last blog post and I'm showing off the new equipment I got for filming. This is not professional grade stuff (but it's still really good). And as a bonus, I got it at a pretty good price. So, without further ado:

This microphone, from what I've tested so far, picks up sound really well and the sound is clear. This is something that I've really wanted, because I've always found the phone microphone to be of much lower quality (especially picking up sound from further distances). I also got this mic because of the protection (the little fluff that keeps the wind from affecting the sound too much). I can always put on the regular mic covering for sound purposes if I need to, but wind will most likely be the X factor when it comes to filming at the beach so I wanted to be prepared. Some other great stuff about this microphone is that it comes with the hand-held-tripod hybrid. The legs can fold and it has pretty great grip so I can hand-held shots or I can switch to the tripod for more fluid camera movement (I also have a taller tripod that the mic and phone-holder can connect to). It does make my filmmaking job easier and allows me for some more equipment to play around with (I'll definitely play around with this a little bit more before filming).

I also have some smaller mics lying around (found them recently, didn't know I had them). The audio quality is not as good as the other mic above, but it is still much better than regular phone audio. I might use these if I really need to (maybe during the shot/reverse shot sequence during the conversation between my two characters). This mic is not exactly difficult to hide, but I do need to carefully plan my shots around these so they are not visible when filming. I really do not want to do many retakes because the small mic is visible on the costumes. Really want to limit my amateur filmmaker mistakes (I know I'll probably make plenty, but not this one). The extension cord that plugs into my phone will also be something that I will have to work around, but I'm less worried about this. I figure it's something that's easier to work around, especially with mid shots and close-ups. 

I still want to test the mics before filming, make sure there's not any problems, but I really do think they will be extremely helpful. I have already shared my complaints and all around general anxiety about the wind multiple times, but I'm just gonna do it again. Wind sucks. It's just not cool. That'll be all for my complaining about wind, but I'm a little less nervous now because of my new sound equipment. Next blog post might be about some other materials I'll try for filming, it might not be. Haven't decided yet.