In the Documentary unit last year we were in groups of three. I worked with Ellen and Laura who I am working with in this unit. An area that we encountered problems with was the sound quality on our shoot days and on the final footage. We struggled to get the right sound levels and it kept dropping in areas, this was evident in our interview with Julie. We also had issues with the sound peaking in this interview which downgraded the quality of the final film. When we decided to work together on this unit we had a discussion about things we wanted to improve on and sound was the biggest thing. We had a chat with Ferg who suggested we always take a zoom on shoot as a backup if the clip mic sound isn't of the best quality. We took this advice on board and have taken a zoom with us on every shoot. On shoot days we have been taking our time with the sound, assessing the levels by asking the interviewee to talk to a crew member whilst listening to what it sounds like and adjusting it. To get a good range of opinion we also got every crew member to listen to the sound and suggest any tweaks before we actually begin filming. Overall, I would say this has improved the sound quality significantly. Taking our time made a huge difference and the quality was so much better when we reviewed the footage. I would also say that the zoom was a great addition to the kit for these shoots as we did experience a loss in connection with the clip mic when we were outside interviewing Alison. When looking at this footage you can hear it cut out. However, we noticed it on the day and addressed it by asking Ellen to hold the clip mic in place whilst remaining out of shot. In the editing of the footage, the sound was ok but we decided to use the audio we had got from the zoom as it was more consistent.
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