DV Filmmaking

Maintaining Sync

As discussed in Chapter 7, audiences notice immediately when sound falls out of sync. As a result, maintaining sync is a priority during all phases of production and postproduction.

If you record audio to your DV tape, whether you record directly to the camera or route the audio through a sound mixer, the camera keeps the audio in sync with the picture by using timecode. Timecode identifies the exact location of any part of a recording in terms of hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. There are approximately 30 frames per second in NTSC video, so NTSC timecode lets you pinpoint a part of your recording down to 1/30th of a second. DV cameras automatically add matching timecode to the audio and video that you record, and when you capture your footage to a digital editing system, you capture the timecode along with it.

SIDEBARXLR Versus Mini

Professional microphones connect to recording equipment through balanced inputs, also known as XLR inputs. Consumer audio products use unbalanced inputs, also known as mini inputs. Balanced inputs deliver a better quality signal but are more expensive. Mini inputs are more fragile and can easily be damaged during a shoot. Mini plugs can also pop out during a shoot, because they don’t lock in place the way an XLR connection does. (The headphone connection on a Walkman or iPod is a mini connection; if your headphones pop out when you’re relaxing and listening to music, it’s no big deal, but if a connection comes loose during a shoot, ...