Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the class this Tuesday, so my analysis for the second week will entirely focus on the activities we did on Friday. This week, particularly the Friday class, largely focused on the use of shotgun microphones in filmmaking. While I had used a shotgun microphone for short film shooting previously, I hadn’t fully grasped its importance until Robin described it as the “unsung hero” of film production. This perfectly summed up the role of the shotgun microphone – often overlooked, yet crucial. Those handling the shotgun microphone are among the few in the crew who know the script, and their mistakes could potentially ruin an entire scene. It had never been a priority in my film studies, but it served as a good reminder that paying attention to these seemingly small details is crucial for producing a satisfying piece of film.
Like last week, we teamed up in a group, this time with different people. Although we didn’t film anything and it was more of an introduction to the shotgun microphone, it was an exciting session for me. I had never used a shotgun microphone by myself before, and when I used it with headphones on my head, I discovered that the direction of the microphone’s head impacts the clarity of the sound I was capturing. Additionally, the microphone was able to capture only the sound I wanted, eliminating any background noise, which further emphasized to me how crucial it is to movie production.