Advice for young amateur directors?

[romanof]

My nephew and friends have been really stricken with the become-director bug after seeing the Apple presentation that said, "Shot on an iPhone, Edited on a Mac" or some such. So they have been in amateur movie producer mode and doing pretty well. Their video gets better as they learn, but the problem is the sound. The microphone on the iPhone just doesn't cut it for remote sounds so they need an amp/microphone(s) to iPhone (15 pro) connection - USB to lightning or somesuch. As there are about a million options and sites with advice out there, I told them to hold up on just ordering from Amazon until we can figure out what is really needed. Tech and electronics I can handle easily, but my movie-making experience is limited to sitting on the couch and eating popcorn while watching a actor-director yell 'Cut, that's a wrap!"

So, asking for advice from any video buffs out there before they go and just start buying what they think they need. It doesn't have to be overly cheap although the boys can't spring for some four figure pro outfit.

Needed - A connection from some amp with one or more mics that will feed into the lightning port of the phone.

Added before sending. Also, besides the mics, they want to feed music into the audio stream from some player.

Thanks, any.

Edit. Oops. My mistake. iPhone 14 pro, not 15. Has lightning connection.

 

[R S K]

You can get both two mics and have them be wireless with the RØDE Wireless Pro kit. If you had or have an iPhone with a headphone jack you'd just need to add the RØDE SC4 3.5mm TRS to TRRS Adaptor (the only way you're getting into the iPhone with audio) and you're good. But with a Lightning port things get much more expensive. If you insist on going directly into the phone you'd need something like a Saramonic SmartRig or IK Media iRig.

And no, Apple's own Lightning to headphone jack adapter would not cut it since it is not TRRS.

But you can also just record directly onto the RØDE (even in 32-bit float) and easily sync the audio later in Final Cut or whatever NLE you're using. You just need to be sure to record a sync point with a hand clap or even a classic clapper board.

That's the by far best, most flexible, and easiest solution I can think of. There are of course cheaper wired solutions, but is that something you want when shooting with an iPhone? And again, whatever that solution is, you'll need an expensive (and cumbersome!) audio interface with Lightning.

Also, feeding the music into the phone is nonsense. That, too, you want to add after the fact no matter what you're doing mic-wise. Never mind that trying to feed endless audio sources into a phone (i.e. using a PHONE as an audio recording device for video) is a bad idea either way.

 

[romanof]

Thanks much. You have given me (them) a lot to research and from my quick scan it is well within their budget limits. I find it interesting that so much of the audio stuff is wireless. I have had less than satisfactory experiences with wireless audio, even with high end Bose and Sennheiser over-the-ear headphones. Always have gone back to dragging a wire across the room for my classical music.

And you confirmed my research as to why they could not get any response from the iPhone with their ad-hoc setup by using a Lightning charge cable for connection.

And good point about feeding any background music later. Makes much more sense to only juggle one thing at a time.

 

[R S K]

I have had less than satisfactory experiences with wireless audio, even with high end Bose and Sennheiser over-the-ear headphones.

Wireless mics and wireless headphones use entirely different frequencies, so not comparable. The RØDE even work great at 100m away and obviously in sync, since otherwise they would be completely useless.

And good point about feeding any background music later. Makes much more sense to only juggle one thing at a time.

It has much less to do with "juggling" than it does editing. Think about it. Assuming we're talking multiple (consecutive) angles, how are you going to edit two separate angles together with blaring music in the background and have it fit?

You don't.

This is why, believe it or not, every single scene you have ever seen in a feature film that takes place in, say, a nightclub or something like that, with dialogue going on, was recorded in complete silence except for the people speaking. If anything, they have a quiet "click track" for anyone dancing in the background to give them a beat to dance to. But anything beyond dialog is always done in post. Even a lot of dialogue for that matter, which is called ADR.

 

[romanof]

It has much less to do with "juggling" than it does editing. Think about it. Assuming we're talking multiple (consecutive) angles, how are you going to edit two separate angles together with blaring music in the background and have it fit?

Ah, yes. That makes sense. Cut out a piece of video and you also slice out a section of audio, which would be instantly jarring. Well, it makes me glad that my sitch is programming and not making videos. I will let the boys do their thing and just watch what is produced. Thanks again.