In 1927 a method to photographically record sound was developed which brought synchronous sound to Movie Theatres, and in 1933 a 16mm Camera which could photographically record sound was introduced. About 35 years ago a version of Super 8mm and 16mm with a magnetic tape to record sound was developed, but it was expensive and didn't survive the advent of video cameras. While it is easy to record sound separately with a silent movie camera, the key desire is to keep the sound recording synchronized with the film through pauses in filming. This information sheet will detail a simple method to record sound and keep it synchronous to the film. It's so easy and inexpensive (about $2 dollars in parts) you will be astonished.
Pause Switch
(Parts & Assembly) All you need in parts is
a Two-Pole Switch (a Switch which controls two separate
circuits at the same time), a few Phono Plugs (of the
applicable size for your Camera and Tape Recorder), an optional Phono
Jack and some Wire. You will need a Soldering Iron to
connect them together, or you can pay an electronics shop to do it for
you. You will simply solder these parts together to produce a Pause
Switch as shown in the Schematic below. [The Pause Switch shown
below has an optional Transformer Jack to power your Movie
Camera from regular household electricity using an AC/DC Transformer --
if your Movie Camera doesn't already have a Transformer Jack. This will
be explained later.] The Pause Switch will simultaneously turn your
Movie Camera and Tape Recorder on and off, and will thus keep the Sound
Recording synchronized to the Film through any number of pauses in
filming. To make the Pause Switch you simply solder two Wires to
each Pole on the Switch and to the Phono Plug which fits
your Movie Camera and Tape Recorder. Presto, you can now turn your
Camera and Recorder on and off synchronously. Simply leave the Movie
Camera and Tape Recorder in the Record-On Mode.
[N.B. Make sure you insert the Pause Plug into the Camera and
Recorder before you press the Record Button, and do
not remove the Pause Plug until after you release
the Record Button or the Camera will suddenly start recording.] /
If your Movie Camera is not equipped with a locking mechanism to keep
it in Record Mode, you can simply use a small piece of Popsicle Stick
or a Nail as a wedge to hold the Record Button depressed. With the
Button depressed, push the Stick or Nail between the Button and the
Camera Frame, and it should stay depressed. / The second aspect
to synchronization that you need to know is the beginning
of the Sound Recording and the Film Reel. Before you
begin a new Reel of Film, simply record a Buzzer Sound on the
Tape for one second and press Pause. Presto, you now know that the
Sound Recording for the Film Reel begins at the exact
instant that the Buzzer Sound ends. [You can
record the Buzzer from a clock radio or make the sound with your
mouth.] / To carry the Tape Recorder on the Tripod, you will
need to use a Camera Bag or equivalent, and hang it on the Base of the
Tripod. / To minimize the noise from the Movie Camera being
recorded on Tape, I would suggest attaching a 3-foot long piece of thin
Dowel to the lower Base of the Tripod
using a Paper Clip -- by drilling two small holes (3/4 inch
apart) into the Base, and fish the Clip through the holes. Then staple
on the end of the Dowel a short 2-inch piece of the Tube from a Paper
Towel Roll. Flatten the end of the Tube you staple to the Dowel. You
then place a Clip Microphone inside the Tube which, along with the 3
foot distance, will shield the Mic from the noise of the Camera. / When
later watching the Film Reel with your Projector, simply use the Cue /
Review on the Tape Recorder to synchronize the Sound with the beginning
of the Film.
Battery Barrier If your Camera or
Recorder doesn't have a Pause Jack for a Pause Plug feature, that's not
a problem as you can create a Battery Barrier Pause
using plastic saran wrap and aluminum foil. Instead of
connecting the two wires from the Pause Switch to a Phono Plug, just
leave about 1/4 inch of bare wire at the end of each
wire, but solder up the wire because bare copper will oxidize
and create resistance in the circuit. To create the Battery Barrier
simply fold up a piece of saran wrap into a thicker
square plastic piece of about 3/4 inch square. Fold up two
pieces of aluminum foil into thicker rectangular
pieces of about 3/8 x 3/4 inch. Then fold each of those rectangular
pieces of aluminum in half, and glue one side of each
aluminum piece to one side of the plastic square. You now have two aluminum
flaps connected to a plastic barrier. You simply
insert each of the two wires from the same circuit on the Pause
Switch into the aluminum flaps, and place that Plastic Barrier between
the Pole of one Battery and the Battery Terminal
in the Battery Compartment of your Tape Recorder or Movie Camera.
Presto, you are now able to turn your Recorder or Camera on and off
using the Pause Switch.
AC / DC Transformer Jack (optional) If
your Movie Camera does not have a Transformer Jack, and you
wish to connect one to the Pause Switch, you first need to use a
Voltmeter to verify whether your Camera uses 4.5 or 6 Volts.
Even though your Camera has 4 Batteries, one Battery
may be exclusively devoted to the 'Auto Aperture and Light
Sensor', and the Camera may only use 3 Batteries (4.5
volts). / The Pause Jack on your Camera
most likely interrupts the Ground (-) Circuit between the Negative
(-) Ground Terminal in the Battery Compartment and the Camera's
Circuitry (with the Center Pole of the Pause Jack going to
the Ground Terminal and the Side Pole going to the Circuitry).
Use an Ohm Meter to verify this by testing the Resistance
between the Pause Jack Poles and the Battery
Terminals(+&-)! You would simply use a
Paper Clip or Wire to ground-out (connect together) the
Negative and Positive Terminals in the Battery Compartment. The Film
Cartridge Motor (in the Film Compartment) turns Counter-Clockwise
-- so make sure that you get the polarittty correct or it will run
backwards which can damage the Camera! / If you wish to use Batteries
to power the Camera, you will need to plug a Grounding Plug (as
shown below) into the Transformer Jack. The Grounding Plug would simply
have a wire connecting the Center and Side Poles together.
Why use a Film Movie Camera instead of Video or Digital? Unlike a Video or Digital Camera which can only record a few thousand pre-determined colours, Film can record every single colour that exists in nature -- literally billions of colours! Furthermore, an 8mm Frame of Film has a resolution of about 1 Billion Molecules of Dye which puts even a 16 Million Pixel Digital Camera to shame! Film is also a durable low-technology medium that will last hundreds of years with easy retrievability -- unlike hi-technology. May you have good fortune in your Movie-making endeavours.
Mr. Terry Mester, Canada
E-Mail: [email protected]