On the topic of sound

The way your film sounds is more important that just anything else.  The way to prove this is to watch a clip of someone talking.  If you unsynch the sound by just half a second, the clip becomes unwatchable because the lips are moving out of synch with the voice.  It is confusing and makes it almost impossible to enjoy.  While this is an extreme example, the point is that you need a clean and full sound with your film. Even without a soundtrack this will instantly upgrade your film from complete amateur to being taken seriously. You don't want your film to sound like a webcam clip from YouTube, even if you will only be showing it to friends and family.  Think of sound of your film in layers.  It begins with the actors voices, then the sound effects in the scene (like a car horn honking), and ends with music (if you are playing any during the scene).  The second and third layers are important, but these can be added and adjusted later on during editing.  The actor's voices will be what you are most concerned about recording.  This is why a mic input is so important for the camcorder.  If you don't have a mic input, then you need another way to record the voices of the actors.  Keep in mind that sound effects and music will be added later on.  For now, we want to make sure that each actor gets his or her voice on the tape.  A cheap method is to buy a digital voice recorder like a $50 Olympus VN-8100PC with an external microphone.  You'll want two types of microphones.  The first is a lavaliere mic and the second is a shot gun mic. The wired lavaliere is designed to be placed very close to the actor.  I will explain later on the best times and ways to use this, but for now keep in mind that this is the best way to get a clean voice off of the actor because it is placed the closest to their mouth.  It is limited in its abilities and so the shot gun mic is needed.  This is a microphone that can be placed above the actors (but not in the shot) and will record multiple actors talking instead of just one.  I have found that most budget microphones have their own "problems", but most can be worked with.  Figure out a budget for your microphone and stick with it.  For those with a large budget, a multi-track recorder is the best way to record sound and voices on your actors.  This machine will record from multiple microphones all at once and keeps them on separate tracks.  They are great and will save you time, but the cost is restrictive.  If you have interest in this type of recording, please send me an email and I can recommend my favorites.  For now, I will stick with the budget method.  Keep in mind, it may be budget but a few tricks and methods will elevate your film greatly.