to crystal sync or not

[alexzand]

With digital cameras used as as sound recording devices, and or md/walkman-recorder, does one have to have a super-8 camera that has a crystal sync .

[Tasty Fish Lips]

Years ago, the answer was yes, absolutely.

But now, there are tricky ways that you may get around it.

Others here might know such tricks. I do not, but remember reading about some of them - I just can't remember exactly what I read.

[Actor]

I think the question that must be asked before this one is "What about camera noise?" Until you have blimped/barneyed or otherwise handled the camera noise issue you will find that you cannot shoot sync sound anyway and the crystal sync issue becomes moot.

The generally accepted method of "post syncing" the sound is to slate both before and after the shot, then force the two to match by "rubber banding" the audio. Roger "MovieStuff" Evans, the WorkPrinter builder, claims that "wow" in between the two markers is usually insignificant.

I read somewhere that in a feature film the average time between cuts is 7 seconds. If so then I would guess that most cuts are 15 seconds of less.

To me that means the whole sync issue is overblown. Of course professionals probably shoot several minutes of film at a time and break it up into 7 - 15 second pieces in the editing suite. Crystal sync then becomes a time saver and, since editing is labor intensive, a money saver. But amateurs and poor indies could probably plan on 7 - 15 second takes and avoid the issue. Or they could shoot several minutes at a time, then break it up into small pieces and "lip sync" each piece. A viable approach for someone who has more time than money.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 20, 2005 08:13 AM: Message edited by: Actor ]</font>

[cameraguy]

Most good electronic cameras have a consistent deviation from a crystal speed. So once you know what the deviation is you can slate once and enter the correct speed change on a computer and it will then line up well. To find out how your camera runs compared to cyrstal just slate some shots and run a DAT, MD and line up the slate and see how the audio drifts from the picture on a computer. You may find that takes 25 secs or less are fine as is or you may find a consistent drift that can be easily corrected.

[onsuper8]

I'd agree that the sync thing is overblown. Just watch Robert Rodriguez's "El Mariachi" for an example. That was all shot out of sync, with in some cases dialogue used from different takes. Every time his footage ran out of sync he just used a cutaway, then cut back and hey presto - in sync!

[Actor]

Rodriguez did not even try to shoot sound with the camera running because the camera was too noisy. He'd get one, maybe two, takes on film, then put the camera away and bring out the Marantz to "shoot" audio. His film ratio was about 3:1. His sound ratio was 10:1 or more. Tape is cheap. With that many sound takes he could usually find something that matched well enough.

His biggest problem was with the actress playing Domino. Most of his "cut aways" are with her.

By the way, Rodriguez did not invent this technique. It was widely used in Europe, particularly in the spaghetti westerns of the 60s and 70s. Editors have a name for the technique but offhand I cannot recall what it is.