The Best Value Smartphones for Creating ASMR Videos (March 2018)

As a new financial year approaches I've been assessing my needs for producing my YouTube videos using the AirNinja Movie Method with the added parameter of vlog style production.

With Sony releasing the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact (and currently shooting using the XZ1 Compact) I was pretty disappointed to see Sony drop the headphone jack and downgrade the front-facing selfie camera in the new releases. So they are scratched off the shortlist :(

The front-facing camera has become more important to me as often my videos are created with it and using the selfie camera for video allows a one-man-band to monitor the framing easily.

Losing the headphone jack means also losing the ability to plug in mics, including binaural mics from Sony themselves.

I noticed that the Samsung Galaxy S9 kept the headphone jack still, but no way my budget stretches to £700+ for an unknown binaural performer. Obviously the Sony binaural mics won't be compatible, but my Røde smartphone mics will be.

After reviewing a bunch of sample videos on YouTube I came to the conclusion that the S8 is as good as the S9 for my purposes.

Read on to see what attracted me to the S8 and other phones I would still consider top quality for creating ASMR content on a lesser budget. All these phones record decent stereo-audio video  using either back- or front- camera. Many many phones only record mono including every single iPhone ever produced to date, yes even the X.


1. Samsung Galaxy S8 (£500-ish)

THE GOOD
Decent front camera with autofocus and binaural-video recording.
Amazingly fast and reliable autofocus in 1080P.
Great 'Pro' mode to selectively lock ISO and White Balance.
Looks good with minimal bezels. 64GB onboard storage (which tends to be my sweetspot shooting 1080P as I do).
MicroSD card slot.
Price has been cut with the release of the S9 and it's pretty much the same phone :)

THE BAD - This thing is gonna crack into a million pieces when it's dropped on-set or even just casually falling out of your pocket day-to-day; best buy a case too.
Touchwiz and duplicate Samsung branded apps kinda annoying for your soul.

THE UGLY - wtf is that dedicated Bixby button lol


2. Sony Xperia XZS (£250-ish)

THE GOOD
Really low noise mics, great audio engineering all around, can plug in a set of Sony binaural mics. 64GB internal storage is worry-free for me when shooting 1080P although can be expanded using the microSD too.
Doesn't overheat (honestly on older Xperia this really was a major concern when shooting long video takes, the camera app would just shut down d'oh - not on this one though and not on the XZ below either).
Dedicated camera button is sweet. Really fast autofocus though maybe a tad slower and less reliable than the Galaxy S8 above.

THE BAD
The 960fps is a bit of a gimmick and doesn't record any sound anyway.

THE UGLY
Whilst the phone itself is not particularly ugly looking I did always find it a bit annoying to hold one handed. I have long fingers but small-ish-to-average hand size what ya gonna do.


3. Sony Xperia XZ (£150-ish)

THE GOOD
Great value for the results you will get from it, shares many features with the XZS above including the low noise mics and ability to plug in Sony binaural mics to the minijack.

THE BAD
It 'only' has 32GB internal storage which whilst usually enough if you dump your rushes every day, I would start to stress if I was shooting over several days without a rushes dump. Thankfully it does have a microSD expansion but, y'know, it's extra admin and another thing to remember.

THE UGLY
Whilst the XZ never crapped out on me it can still tend to get on the warm side and it's not a great choice if you want to film long takes at 4K resolution.

Selecting The Right Tripod For Your Smartphone

Everyone shoots photos and videos with their phone nowadays right? Who wants to carry a tripod around everywhere? If you do need a tripod which is best for you?

Here's one airninja's take on specific tripod requirements:

Best Value Binaural Video ASMR Recording Device (£129)

So my journey has continued from iPhone through Sony offerings and I thought I'd settled on the ZTE Axon 7 (because Dolby Atmos and playback dynamic compression). However the size and weight of the Axon made it somewhat klunky in the pocket which was bugging my airninja-ness.

So I started looked for smaller, lighter phones that weren't the Sony Xperia X Compact (because the binaural mics on that phone are sub-optimally positioned). I happened across the Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 - a refurb at just £129, so I thought I'd take a punt after some critical listening to example video footage.



Bear in mind the A3 2016 does not have any optical stabilisation and is somewhat "stripped down" compared to more current smartphones - no fingerprint scanner, no water resistance, 16GB internal RAM - yes just 16GB internal RAM (ah but expandable by 128GB using microSD so perfect for my video needs!)

The camera is "only" 13MP but it is f1.9 which is great, but "only" records at 1080P @30fps (and does display some minor minor uglies in 50Hz lighting). The camera is however better than the camera in the ZTE Axon 7 (richer colours, snappier autofocus - though nowhere near Sony Xperia XZ snappy).

So for a phone that was released to the world in December 2015 it aint looking too shabby even now almost half way through 2017 - and it's "cheap", I mean £129, I've bought pairs of shoes that cost more than that! (Yes I'm an idiot).

I've been so pleased with the A3 2016 that I have now taken a punt on the A3 2017 model (released January 2017 IIRC) which also includes a fingerprint scanner and is IP68 dustproof/waterproof (can be in a metre of water for 30 minutes). Internal RAM can be expanded to 256GB and it's a USB-C connector.

Using relatively low cost equipment has been a goal of airninja for quite some time and it looks like I can finally put a tick in that box :)

Here's a couple of binaural stereo video recordings I made to test the Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 phone that cost me just £129 -







As always I'm happy to hear your own opinions in the comments so don't be shy!

☴ REVIEW: Sony Xperia XZ (Platinum, unlocked, 32GB, F8331)

Nowadays it seems a new smartphone release must be a controversial affair for anyone to pay attention and it's against this landscape of headphone jack removal and exploding batteries that Sony have released the Xperia XZ into the world.

Sony Xperia XZ (platinum)

What to say.

There's nothing very controversial about the XZ. It's elegant. Understated. Solid. Tasteful. Minimal. Designful.

Whilst other companies shave off everyday interfaces and leave an empty space with the excuse it helps the acoustics of its product's speakers (and co-incidentally drives sales for its brand of wireless headphones) and call this courageous, Sony has none of it. Instead Sony present (yet another!) iteration of its smartphone design know-how.

The days of being delighted by a smartphone - any smartphone - are long past to anyone who has owned more than a couple of handsets over the last decade. Dare I say the user experience is at a plateau and the land-grab is in full swing. Humans are irrational beings and it's our emotions that are appealed to and right now Sony is the brand that appeals to me - but let me rationalise :)

I'd barely owned my Xperia X Performance (XP) a few weeks when Sony announced the XZ. If you're not interested in videography improvements than I'd say get a deal on the XP now.

The Sony Xperia XZ back camera sensor augmentation

The XZ introduces some new sensors for the videographer, whilst keeping the superior Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS) which produces much better results with the moving image than any current smartphone Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) - especially in environments with high frequency vibrations (for example the dashboard of a car).

I won't bore you with the marketing speak, but basically the XZ camera is augmented with a couple of extra sensors. Once deals with white balance, one with focus. This results in incrementally better video results than the XP (which to my eye is already very good).

The XZ keeps the f2.0 wide lens but still produces very acceptable results in low light compared to any other contemporary smartphone, including those with f1.8 lenses (such as HTC 10 and new iPhone).

The binaural sound recording has been a staple with Xperia since at least the Z2 (my first Xperia purchase) and here again it appears incrementally refined, certainly a better signal-to-noise ratio than the entire Z series by around 3dB.

I still love the fact that the face of the Xperia is uncluttered with any physical button, and I regard the placement of the volume rocker as a distinct advantage in everyday use (I have never accidently changed the volume on an Xperia device, ever - the same cannot be said of the other Androids and iPhones I have owned with more traditional placement of those buttons).

The dedicated camera button on the XZ remains welcome, and is by far the most responsive including versus the XP.

The fingerprint sensor is another button placement that I find perfectly acceptable, and it's very quick to recognise my prints.

Sony Xperia XZ front facing camera records 1080P video

I'm not much of a vlogger but it's good to see that the XZ front-facing camera keeps a wide field of view and records 1080P and looks decent.

No SIM tool is needed to change the SIM or access the microSD slot. Storage expandability is another plus to the Xperia line in my book.

Finally, the XZ brings USB-C to the Xperia X line which is just a much more convenient and potentially more versatile connector than either microUSB or Lightning.

I've noticed the popular press has been kinder to the XZ after pretty much universally slating the XP - which is funny and cements my opinion that if you want a smartphone for a specific purpose you should do your own research; if not it's pretty difficult to find a truly awful smartphone in 2016. Which shows just how far the category has progressed and is an indicator of that plateau.

Did I mention the XZ carries forward the ingress protection (IP68) 'waterproofing' of the top end Xperia line. Although Sony seem to be keen to play this down, and it seems the camera app has had Touch Block removed - it remains to be seen how recording video performs underwater! But it does mean accidental dips should be nothing to worry about.

The Good
Well placed microphones for binaural recording.
Around 3dB (estimated) improvement recording SNR over recent Z5 handsets.
Elegant design.
Improved sensors including addition of laser assisted focusing.
Expandable storage via microSD.
USB-C.
f2.0 / 24mm lens.
Front facing stereo speakers.
Ingress Protection IP68 waterproof.

The Bad
It's quite big and relatively conspicuous.

The Ugly
Sony bloatware cannot be uninstalled.

☴ ANALYSIS: iPhone 7 binaural videography

iPhone 7 not available in blue.

There's a saying in the film industry: "nobody gives a f5ck about sound". Although that's not strictly true, it is one of the first areas to be compromised in a tight spot during production.

Apple does give a f5ck about sound having employed the likes of Tom Holman to consult on audio direction.

Whilst I believe the iPhone 7 lack of headphone jack is no big deal considering a wired connection remains possible with an adapter, and everything else like dual lenses, stereo speakers, and fast f1.8 lenses is playing catch-up with Android and Windows 10 Mobile Lumia, there remains a glaring omission in the contemporary iPhone spec sheet.

After nearly 10 years the iPhone does not record binaural video (I say binaural video because saying stereo video could mean a stereoscopic 3D effect, but I mean the two-channel sound with video).

The iPhone certainly has enough microphones to have a binaural recording capability. From what I've seen of mic positioning there has been no major changes with iPhone 7 - it has three - one on the front, one on the back, and one on the bottom edge.

This is precisely the same mic positioning as the HTC 10 which does record binaural video. So this is a choice being made by Apple to not record binaural video, not a technical limitation.

Now it might be that Apple are waiting for another design iteration to "do it right" (the HTC mic positioning records mildly biased stereo because left and right channels are not capturing vibrating air molecules equally and it is applying algorithmic compensation and noise cancellation DSP which increases the noise floor with digital uglies in certain scenarios).

Tom Holman's initials form THX (Tom Holman Crossover).

But when? It's been almost 10 years since iPhone dropped and we are in a vibrantly sounding 21st century that would be lovely to capture binaurally with all that hosing of iPhone video.

Clearly, binaural video recording is not important to corporate Apple since Sony Xperia have been offering high end models with binaural video recording for years, and very good it is too. Again it is clearly a choice by Apple not to offer the function because they see it as not important enough to make their list of priorities.

But here's the thing. If you're someone who appreciates sound and making your own recordings, once you've experienced the depth and breadth of decent binaural recording you just don't want to go back to monaural.

There are third party mics that record stereo (the Shure MV88 comes to mind - very good it is too but ultimately creates a biased stage due to it being on the other end to the lens) but the Airninja Movie Method is about less - less to carry, less to remember, less technicalities, just record your damned movie and be assured of decent results by default with a device straight out-of-the-box.

I appreciate that the telephone is a monaural device but an iPhone is so much more than that. It's a pity that out-of-the-box iPhone only creates monaural content. Proof, if any were needed, that binaural sound remains a niche interest - and therefore, opportunity.

The iPhone 7 is also 'water resistant'. The top end Sony Xperia are essentially waterproof in freshwater shallows (IP68) as demonstrated in the following binaural video which ends up fully submerged underwater.




There's just zero reasons for current iPhone to be the airninja's first choice.

☴ Ear On The Nokia Lumia 830 (yes Microsoft Windows Phone)

As I do airninja prep on PAINthemovie I am reminded that my current ASMR recording setup still involves a bunch of faff with an external microphone. Wouldn't it be great if there was a video device that could record rich stereo sound along with the picture?

Turns out, there is. And you'll find it that it's not from Apple - their devices after almost 10 years are still only capable of recording mono sound with the onboard mics (as crisp as that may be).

I've been vaguely aware of Nokia's HAAC mic arrays for a while but, well, since the phones that carried them were always out of my price range for a punt and carried a 'losing' OS, I could never bring myself to take that punt.

Until now.

Two things have happened.

Firstly, the Nokia brand has tanked, hit the ground hard, so it's now possible to get the stereo HAAC devices much cheaper - worth taking a punt. I'm not talking about the newest Microsoft branded Lumia devices but ye olde Nokia branded Lumia devices - specifically the 930 and 830.

Secondly, amongst others, the embedded video below - why was I not informed? I am amazed that this sound (as dynamically compressed as it is, natch) could be captured so articulately by a phone released in February 2014.


Oddly, on paper, the mid-range Nokia Lumia 830 offers better value to the ASMRtist than the one-time top-tier 930.

Why?

Well for video the 830's smaller sensor is adequate, the 16GB internal storage on the 830 all but useless for video takes - however the 830 also offers expandable storage via micro SD card and a removable battery - whereas the 930 is fixed with 32GB non-expandable storage and a sealed-in battery that can't be removed.

I've found used carrier-locked 830 in the UK for as low as £50.

I've taken a punt on a £60 "excellent condition" used handset locked to EE - it could yet all go pear shaped (how annoying is it going to be to get video off the device for example?) but, man, it records sweet stereo audio to my ear - rivalling my expensive iOS gear for ASMR video recordings.

One MAJOR caveat for my with the 830 is that it cannot record 60fps video, and that does limit its appeal to zero for HFR ASMR projects I am involved in. But, did I mention, the 830 records sweet stereo audio to my ear - with no extra gear required. Sweet enough to make me consider 30fps ASMR projects.

I expect to get my 830 by early next week. If it's easy to get the videos off I think this will be a great device for ASMR recording. Microsoft's marketing department are missing a trick, I think!

iPhone SE - A Lot To Like

So the 4" screen iPhone SE is here, retailing in the UK for £439 with 64GB storage onboard.

The real kicker? It has the guts of the latest iPhone 6S inside in terms of A9 processor and 12MP iSight camera with focus pixels.

For an airninja like me that is very very tempting. Why? Apart from the fact it is simply light and powerful and strips away a lot of the flimflam.

Over the years my iPhone usage has matured, much like my iPad usage - which has fallen away completely. I'm old, I'm boring, I don't play games (at least, I have played my favourite genres to the point of boredom) - the idea of having an understated - yet powerful - iPhone appeals.

And I've had extensive use of all the public iPhone form factors at this point.

I started using big screen phones with the Dell Streak, believing that I would soon be able to get real meaty work done with the occasional attachment of a keyboard. It's never really happened though - my usage pattern has basically reverted to iPhone for comms/navigation/camcorder and any heavy lifting done on my 2013 13" MacBook Air - if that computer is tied up doing a heavy render I reach for a ChromeBook to do stuff.

I think this is a result of failed mobile UX paradigms as much as my own brain calcification. Which ever way you look at it, editing a video is fiddly on a small screen (I attach my 13" MBA to a 24" display for proper narrative video editing sessions - though I did edit my first feature film on the 12" screen of a PowerBook).

There are a couple, and only a couple, of reasons I will resist pulling the trigger on a 64GB iPhone SE purchase:

1. My current 128GB iPhone 6S Plus has 61GB storage free - this tells me that 64GB max storage just isn't going to cut it for me without additional admin/habits.

2. The size of the iPhone 6(S) Plus means it has a huge battery relative to smaller models. I am just not concerned about shooting video all day whilst powering a microphone on the lightning port. Take that battery away and it becomes a choice of lightning microphone or an external battery pack - and, that's right, potentially a whole bunch of admin.

It's a case of iPhone SE at £439 (still a significant chunk of change) vs my iPhone 6S Plus at £789 though - and the airninja movie method has always been about grasping value propositions early on. For my actual usage, I suspect the iPhone SE with 64GB would do just fine (after all, I have made feature films using iPhone 4S - albeit with onboard mics and an external battery pack).

Remember, zig when they zag. Avoid the mushy middle. It is tempting.

Economics of Filmmaking & Finding Your Audience

Hands up if your film has made a net or gross profit.

OK, anyone with their hands up, they can leave the room. You have nothing to learn here (although you are welcome to stay and gloat).

If you want to give up the day job and earn a living through the business of show, you have to have your content make money, right? I mean sure, "do what you love and the money will follow" is something people say to the aspirational but at what point can you make a profit from passion?

I'm not sure I have any answers, but I do have research. Data. 18 months worth of data.

I present to you, Exhibit A - an award winning short film made by a team of dedicated filmmakers with much care and attention - and a passion for storytelling. It was shot over a few nights in November 2014 and cut into its final form and uploaded to the public in January 2016. The film has been marketed to festivals across the world (as well as a lot of admin time this costs real money in terms of entry fees - arguably tax deductible as part of the marketing budget). It's now on Youtube with appropriate metadata tags for SEO.

208 views at time of writing.

Here I present to you Exhibit B - a genre and brand exploiting short video made in a few minutes by a single hack of a filmmaker with a focus on delivering an experience for a defined audience - and a passion for stereo sound. It was shot realtime and uploaded with no editing. Tagged in Youtube within minutes. The film has had no active marketing; only passive metadata tagging for SEO. Arguably someone had to buy the product in this video which is a negative cost - however, it is a tax deductible line item from the marketing budget, right?

423 views at time of writing.

I said I don't have any real answers. I don't. There can be no absolutes when markets are fluid.

Which movie would you rather watch, and why?

Which movie would you rather make, and why?

What I will say at this point is that both of these movies have generated revenue on Youtube - and at time of writing one of them has generated almost 400% more revenue than the other.

Top 5 Things I Learned Directing for TrashArts

Tuesday evening during a live film screening event an episode of "Making Of" being produced by TrashArts was shot before, during, and after. Directed by me.

DSLR and stereo X/Y mic atop for POV experience

Fortunately the actors knew their characters really well so it was more a case of AD'ing myself and being continuity person (fuck continuity) to ensure enough coverage for the edit.

What a luxury to just turn up, direct, and go home!

The current cut of "Episode 2" is a shade under 20 minutes. We shot it all in one location in just over four hours.

Anyhow, what did I actually learn?


1. Microphone technology, and audience tastes, have shifted to the point where the camera can truly become a character (indeed this was part of the brief).
Despite shooting at a noisy event in a pub screening the football and a short film night the Røde Stereo Videomic picked up a fine stereo soundstage and intelligible dialogue (at my direction, natch - move closer!)

2. The film clips of the late Michael J Murphy went down a storm.
Part of the script called for reactions to local low budget films. I opted to show excerpts from Murphy's Avalon (German release) and his commercially unreleased super8 Bloodstream.


Boy did those clips get reactions! Secretly, I think MJM would be proud even from the afterlife.

3. Let go but keep time.
This was shot from a five page treatment (by the time I'd added my notes) and then completely performed improv. In the chaos of the venue it was pointless to have done too much planning - but doing just enough to, well, provide direction (as the director, see?)

Antagonists

4. Texan four bean soup sure does look like puke.
I wasn't sure whether to go for the brown realism or the camera friendly yellow-y GAIN style demonic possession vomit. The brown stuff worked out just swell in context.

5. Great actors can appear from nowhere.
I don't know where Sam Mason Bell finds them, but the casting really works. Like I say it probably helps that the majority have already been through the award winning "Episode 1" experience. Those that hadn't were well prepared and researched - leading to some great ad-hoc exchanges between the protagonists and antagonists.


So despite the football running into extra time (I have no idea what the final score was) and a room full of local film nerds watching what film nerds watch at these events I brought a 20 minute episode in on time and under budget (the Texan four bean soup is a tax deductible line item I assured them).

All in all, 21st Century Fat Fox movie magic.

Relax. You're Quite Safe Here.

How new interest in VR could re-ignite the music video and album sales.

Not wearing headphones.

There's been a lot of chatter recently about VR (and AR) from the usual suspects. Apparently the tech is a lot better looking now, you know, realistic and immersive.

The immersive part always makes me laugh. I can be immersive with a pair of headphones and a decent binaural recording. I can be immersed reading a book. Imagine! I digress.

The point was, the narrative goes, VR failed in the 80s/90s because it was clunky low resolution shit.

True dat.

VR - then.

VR - now.

It was also true that gaming in the 80s/90s was clunky low resolution shit. It fucking rocked and a new industry was born - well documented in crowdfunded Bedrooms To Billions for one (I particularly like the founder of U.S. Gold admitting that he had no idea what he was doing).

So VR failed, 8-bit gaming skyrocketed through to the consolidated industry we know today. Stay with me.

Sitting passively wearing headphones. And that other thing.

I believe that VR may continue to fail whist it is physically non-passive. It will appeal to paintballers and lots of other people but who will actually prance around all day in that get up? I don't see it being as big as console gaming (famous last words of course). You can sit playing games at a console all day. VR all day? Be my guest.

Gaming, in common with watching movies, or watching a hybrid of the two - a Twitch stream - is largely passive, hypnotic.

Contemporary VR you must be awake standing up looking around bending reaching tripping over your furniture.

So even though today VR may look amazing it's is not a medium to be frolicking in for hours on end around staircases.

So, by my reckoning, VR must become a more passive activity to succeed - whatever success is nowadays.

VR reminds me of 3D in the cinema - it's going to be rolled out every generation to see if it sticks.

Anyway.

Passive VR. Immersive. Remember what I said about headphones and binaural? This has lead to a boom in Youtube videos promoting ASMR - sounds that make you feel good - and discussions around frisson - music that makes you feel good.

Strikes me that ASMR and frisson typically occur when the subject is passive rather than running around having all senses abused and bruised.

Still no headphones.

So if VR is to become a household medium, how could we shoehorn VR with sounds that make you feel good? Music, of course. Ambient soundscapes. More. No doubt over time a grammar would develop more akin to cinema than gaming (but Twitch is evidence that lots of people enjoy watching games passively and this goes right back to the days when computer games were in the arcade at the seafront - I remember watching that guy beat Space Harrier, awesome!).

Music video can be a great experimental landscape, as indeed can music itself.

VR is so fixated on the vision it forgets the wave.

Ignore the tech companies, ask an anthropologist.

Or, of course, not.

Persuading anyone that they need a helmet to listen to the latest album by the current big thing won't be easy. That's why a new category needs to be invented, and a progressive company needs to be first in it. Which is where it all falls apart. No smart money here! (unless the helmet plugs into a lightning port).

'EyePhone' VR, 1989. Note single cup headphone, d'oh.

Problem Solved: If Apple Ditch The Headphone Jack

The sky is falling as Apple is rumoured to be ditching the headphone jack in iPhone 7. Aside from the fact it is merely conjecture at this point, the entire planet seems to have forgotten that Apple are unlikely to ditch Bluetooth and, that being the case, instead of lining Apple's pockets you can buy a third party Bluetooth receiver to use with your old headphones.




Sure, this is not perfect - if you are able, use a cable - because of course the Bluetooth receiver costs money and is another battery to charge, another device to pair, another complication in your life (simplicity at Apple died with Steve Jobs?) - but it does make Apple's decision easier to deal with if they do indeed ditch the headphone jack and you really want to keep hold of your old headphones (I'm quite attached to my iGrado pair for example).

Actually, it's a TRRS jack, and I'm kind of more annoyed that it will render my Røde Smartlav+ microphone obsolete without some Lightning adapter or improved Bluetooth protocol inclusion.

There's always Android!

Wireless Binaural Recording Coming To Smartphones ... probably

Whilst I refine my own smartphone binaural recording technique (very much wired as at now - if you are able use a cable, right?!) it seems at least two wireless bluetooth binaural products are in the works.



One is OpenEars by Binauric.





The other is the Hooke Audio Verse.





Whilst prototypes are in use in both these wireless cases, I've been using my wired OKM-II for quite some years now and always pleased with the results when the iPhone actually bothers to record the video with a stereo soundtrack.



That's the biggest issue turning me off my current wired solution: unpredictable with iPhone video recording - sometimes you end up with a mono video. I could record double-system reliably but it's just not cost effective and just adds a layer of complexity.

What turns me off the wireless solutions, assuming they make it to market, is yet more battery management/recharging in the field. Boring!

This does however show that binaural recording is getting a respectable foothold in the modern market, albeit nascent from the mainstream perspective right now.

☴ Watchlist: HFR & ASMR

I've noticed an emerging trend amongst progressive filmmakers. Firstly they treat online as their primary global distribution platform (natch) but secondly I am seeing more and more content produced with HFR and ASMR.

HFR has largely been rejected by cinema going audiences, but I believe long-term it will become de-facto standard and 24fps will be regarded by my grandchildren as I regard the quirky looking 18fps footage of a hundred years ago incorrectly played back at 24fps.

Everyone can be a filmmaker using a single device.

It's ironic that as a young filmmaker stuck with 50Hz PAL video, I hated that horrible 'soap opera' look of 50i. I strived for that 'film look' just as some modern filmmakers strive for that 'VHS look'. Madness! I yearned for D1 720x576 but when it was finally affordable it was basically obsolete. I wish I'd discovered Laver's law in my twenties then it may have all made a lot more sense to me.

I remember reading, I forget where - other than in print in the early 90s - that when developing Star Tours the boffins got great reactions from audiences when subjected to HFR (60fps was trialled IIRC) - not interlaced like TV, but progressive, actual frames, like film. It wasn't to be though, probably due to reasons of expense and available bandwidth in existing technology. Wish I could remember what the article was and where I read it!

Reading that, it stuck with me to this day. So HFR came as no surprise to me. I believe more motion data is just as important as UHD and beyond. Kids growing up on console gaming just see a blur when they go to the cinema. In fact, so do I (and I don't even own a console).

Cinema may stick with 24fps (for that extra stop in low-light during acquisition), but it's doubtful if IMAX will. I firmly believe IMAX will supplant contemporary cinema as the 'narrative event experience' because home cinema is more comfortable (and a whole lot cheaper) than going out to the cinema. Audiences are split about 3D at the cinema but frankly that's a big fat red herring that gets rolled out every couple of decades. If you want 3D go see a stage play, they are awesome nowadays.

There's an argument that the dating scene will sustain modern cinema. I call bullshit on that, as Netflix & Chill has been marketed so successfully to the younger generation who have grown up with choice and abundance.

EXT. Star Tours.

No way home cinema will stick with 24fps, it will cater to the console kids who grew up gaming at 60fps and will demand their own normal when voting with their wallets (well, assuming the concept of a wallet survives ...)

HFR, especially at 60fps, solves a lot of problems for the progressive filmmaker.

ASMR hasn't made it into cinemas, mainly because 'true' ASMR required the listener to be wearing headphones. It's unlikely that traditional production technique will ever cater to ASMR. However, again, I believe my grandchildren may be more au fait with it than the general public of today. Whilst it may never be mainstream, I believe its benefits will ripple out just as Hi-Fi has done over the last 40 years or so.

There's no doubt that ASMR is pseudoscience, however I have definitely experienced emotional and 'tingly' responses to sound and ASMR is a good an explanation as any.

Essentially ASMR boils down to two things, of which in my experience only one needs to be present (but both is better).

POV often neglects audio completely.

Firstly, perhaps most importantly, ASMR is positional stereo. This usually means recorded binaurally POV. Not practical for most narratives (great for first-person-shooters that the kids play on their consoles - are you detecting a theme yet?). However, I believe a good stereo sound stage reproduction will suffice (more practical for production of traditional narrative).

Secondly, frequency response. Not necessarily flat, but it needs to be 'clean' rather than 'muddy'. This is because the ear cannot discern the direction of bass frequencies but higher frequencies can be highly positional. Higher frequencies tend to lend more air, and thus feed into those ASMR tingles.

It's totally possible for ASMR to be mono, but it is far more effective in stereo. Stereo allows the ear to pick out positional details due to time differences in the sound wave hitting each ear.

This is why it annoys me that Apple's iPhone cannot record stereo with its three (count 'em!) onboard mics. In every other way, the onboard audio always amazes me except for this glaring omission. Sure, external mics are available (and very decent M/S mics they are too - see video embedded below) but sometimes the onboard mics are all you have - typical during the frugalwave. Onboard stereo mics on an iPhone would no doubt be thought about and positioned correctly in relation to the camera lens (or the corrective/adaptive DSP would be spot on).



So Apple has 800 engineers working on the iPhone's camera that they buy from Sony - so what about the audio-visual?


UPDATE: Yes, I should have mentioned the digital bits that represent latitude and all that good 4:4:4 stuff but I think something akin to Moore's "law" in CCD / CMOS / NEXT TLA will see better and better low-light performance over time - it's going to happen anyway.

Sound Really Is 50% Of Your Movie

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God – it’s the big bang that started it all, not the big picture!

The sound wave, not the light wave.

Sooner or later you’ll hear someone say how important sound is – but rather than wave them on and uttering “we’ll fix it in post”, have you stopped to consider what it is that sound actually brings to your movie?

Here’s a quick test. Watch your favourite movie with the sound turned off.

Does it still engage you fully? Honestly? Would you sit so long through the end- credits (or opening title crawl) if it weren’t for the choice of music?

Does that really constitute 50% of the movie? Well, on a purely “count the senses” – vision and hearing – yes, yes it does. Arguably sound can improve the visual, and even make people see things that aren’t there.

Good sound can really help prop up a substandard visual but bad sound is, well, just bad sound. Our eyes provide vision as a dominant sense, our ears provide sound almost as a secondary sense – a sense waiting to alert us to events rather than continuously inform us in the foreground. Vision gives us actual information – “that bloke is closing a door” – sound gives us implication – “I heard the door shut, it must be shut”.

Seeing is believing; hearing is implication. Implication can exercise far more of the imagination than actual seeing (afraid of the dark? things that go bump in the night?) – yet so much sound today is used with direct correlation to the visual, giving little room for imagination amongst the (im)perfectly rendered CGI.

Imagination is possibly the most visual weapon in your arsenal as a moviemaker – and that can be driven by sound moreso than picture.

It’s not all about imagination though. Most directors agree that a performance recorded on-set will be better than any looping session (looping, or ADR, is the re-recording of dialogue in controlled studio booth conditions), although often certain environmental conditions will mean that the production sound recorded on-set or on-location is not useable.

Sound is also positional in a way that vision is not – the cinema screen is immersive, yet sound allows you to hear things off-screen (given at minimum a stereo soundstage to work with). Even with the latest 3D visual technology, you still need glasses and everything is still contained within that rectangle. Sound is reproduction of actual physical waves in the air, broken free and authentic in ways that photons are not (and, of course, vice versa – arguably – headphones are entirely optional!).

We could get into stereo miking techniques here, but I suspect that’s best saved for another post. Suffice to say I’ve been a convert to stereo recording for several years, yes, even for production audio. It gives so much more depth and spatial precision versus the cost of full sound design – cost usually being a major factor in the indie moviemaker’s world (whether that cost be in time spent or money spent).

“Real” sounds obviously work best at “real” locations and not those recorded in the fakery of the staple studio system. In the late sixties, “Easy Rider” and “Midnight Cowboy” promised to liberate the moviemaker from the shackles of over-engineering. Then Star Wars happened and moviemaking was never quite the same again.

What do you think? Is sound under utilised in modern movies? Can indies get one up on contemporary Hollywood by tapping into imagination drawn from intelligent sound rather than absolute CGI that uses sound as a crutch only?

Since originally writing this article in 2012 for OTTfilm (now defunct), it's interesting to see the rise of popular ASMR related content on YouTube vs the cinemas push for 3D glasses and a general overall industry push to 4K imaging, IMAX, and resolutions beyond.

Taking Stock

No, not some euphemism for my Little Shop work on Hayling Island, this is more to remind me what the Deer Studios production slate is at this moment.

Whilst the world must wait for the Provincial's chilling horror short Dark Is A Long Way (coming 2016 ... we hope!), the Airninja movie method has been persistently seeing acquisition and edits through to final production.



1. After successfully collaborating with Mark Handley for Pompey Princess, we are now discussing potential for a video for his Christmas single. If it happens it will happen fast and within a couple of weeks.

2. On the theme of Christmas, I shot the interview with Graham Stansfield (famous keyboardist of Rare Bird fame amongst other fascinating things) to support the upcoming release of his new Christmas album release.

3. Earlier this month we had the first production meeting for another Mark Handley video, this one called Bella Ballerina - expected to shoot Jan/Feb 2016. We have great talent and crew lined up, technically elevating the production away from pure airninja-ry but remaining true to the spirit!

4. The next short film by award winning director Chris Jupp. Currently in pre-prod/development. I expect to be recording production sound and edit producing on this show. Likely shooting Q1 2016.

5. A dementia related project, or two. I have one ambitious project in development and another more practical, smaller, project slated to shoot over-night some time this winter. The one may lead to the other.

6. Longer term, the making of a feature length documentary on the work of prolific low-budget film director Michael J. Murphy. I have gathered several new interviews to augment the FilmRaker interview with the late director. This is an ambitious project in terms of cataloguing the material and assembling it into a coherent, comprehensive narrative without alienating Murphy's fanbase - but also allowing it to be accessible to anyone else.

Below is a small tribute video assembled from this last ever recorded interview with Murphy, and screened at his funeral earlier in 2015:



7. Recently completed edit of found-footage for the video to Owen Troman's single Winter Child (presumably another Christmas release). I worked on Owen's previous single in a similar fashion - finding footage and mashing it up into something symbolic for the track.


There are many other side-projects I am involved with but I am on the periphery or only providing services on-demand. Two most notable are both for Trash Arts, schedules TBA.

A busy season!

The Switch From iPhone 6 Plus to Sony Xperia Z3+ (iOS to Android)

The airninja switch is complete. As I'm sure you know I am platform agnostic, being primarily interested in the best tools for a given job.

For the last five years I've been an iPhone user, upgrading most years with unlocked devices and running on Three UK PAYG (great unlimited data plans).

Each year I've been waiting for Apple to release an iPhone that is capable of recording stereo sound using its onboard mics when taking video (modern iPhone has three mics). Whilst iPhone mono recordings do sound good, I've always preferred the 'reality' of a stereo sound-stage - and I don't always carry a stereo microphone with me because extra gear is not the way of the airninja.

For various reasons (job redundancy being a huge one) I have been re-evaluating the "things" in my life and when Apple came under the microscope it just didn't hold up. The competition promised to deliver far more value into my life (including the stereo audio video recording).

I bought a refurbished Sony Xperia Z2 for a shade over £200 to see how I'd get on. This phone model is about a year old, records 4K video, has 3GB RAM, expandable storage to 128GB and is made by the company and culture that Steve Jobs himself had great admiration for.

An Apple designer, Shin Nishibori, was asked to create “Sony-like” concepts of phones that carried the name “SONY” and “JONY”. The pictures were created around a year before the iPhone first appeared.

Based on my success with the Z2 (and the release of the Z5) I upgraded to the Z3+ which has an improved camera over the Z2 and a reduced price due to the release of the Z5. They all record stereo audio video and have 4K capability.


I did wonder if Apple's iPhone 6S might offer stereo audio recoding with video, but as far as I know it does not (the iPhone 6 which I owned definitely did not). So, for my airninja purposes, it looks like I made a good choice with the Z3+

Now if you google anything about the Z3+ you'll probably come across reports of how this phone runs hot and overheats. In my experience this is not accurate on the current firmware. Although when taking video it does run warmer than the iPhone ever did. I think it's fair to say that whatever problems may have existed with the Z3+ original firmware has been addressed by Sony in recent updates. HOWEVER a mild annoyance remains with the Z3+ in that the native camera app will report "overheating" and shutdown to cool off. It only does this on looong takes (30 minutes or more continuous) which most normal people rarely do. The workaround is to use an alternative app, such as Google's own camera app (also shoots video).

BTW, I have no compelling reason to ditch OS X or FCPX so I remain an Apple customer.

Competition between vendors is a good thing in general, and who knows I may return to a future iPhone iteration. Yesterday's Apple keynote only confirmed my thoughts on the direction Apple is now taking, and it's not a direction I want to travel when Sony already provides the sufficient destination today.

FilmRaker meet the Hill Valley Preservation Society.

There's a display of Back To The Future props, vintage items and replicas on at the Portsmouth City Museum. I had to take a look, natch!

#DIALW Post Production Update

Going well. The iPhone production scratch sound recording holds up so well. If I did this all over again, I would have the strength in my conviction that the iPhone 6 Plus recorded audio is good enough to shout 'quiet on set' before each take.

The edit has been through three iterations so far -

Example of foley stage at Sony museum.

1. Rough assemble.
2. Fine cut.
3. Locked cut.

What we have remaining to do,

4. Black & white processing.
5. Looping / ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement or Additional Dialogue Recording depending who and when you ask).
6. Music.
7. Sound Effects / Foley.



An initial black-and-white look has been applied shot-by-shot to the locked cut. This will be reviewed by the director tomorrow when he drops by with the lead actress to re-record dialogue (ADR). This was always in the plan, as I say the intention has always been to shoot MOS and use whatever the iPhone records as reference.

So this morning I have to think through the setup for an ADR session tomorrow and render some loops. Although this is a Deer Studios production, the studios in question tend to be where the deer roam - that is, out in the forest (much like early movie studios were about large warehouse spaces and back lots rather than isolated audio booths). So front room it is.

The ADR playback will be from USB stick into a 50" LCD with headphones connected (I'd better check the screen has a headphone output) with pre-rendered loops of existing edited footage with reference sound. I'll record using my super-secret Sennheiser microphone onto SD card in my Nagra SD. Having slept on it, in keeping with the spirit of Airninja iPhonemania I shall be recording using iPhone 6 Plus, my favourite recording app du jour, and my favourite lightning enabled condenser microphone. Simple. Low admin. Airninja.

Recording Voiceover - the Airninja Movie Method

As this video dutifully reminds us, "the objective of the soundman is to record intelligle sound" by considering three conditions/problems:

1. Acoustical treatment of the space.
2. Controlling or avoiding unwanted noise.
3. Choice and placement of microphone(s).



Wait. Isn't 'choice and placement of microphone(s)' two things?! I believe so, but both come under the banner of 'microphone admin'. As you know, the Airninja Movie Method is all about busting admin and minimising gear.

So let's look at how an airninja approaches each condition/problem:



1. Acoustical treatment of space.

Most of the time airninjas are shooting outside rather than in enclosed spaces (and all the admin that entails), or on practical sets where options are limited anyway.

Last night I recorded a voiceover for moakley54's show 'Beyond The Glass Ceiling'. The budget didn't stretch to hiring a sound booth in a studio and I don't own any portable soundproofing material. So we decided to record the voiceover at the writer's house which is situated on a quiet road. I got paid in Haribo. This is where card-carrying union members stop reading. Probably because they work 28 hour days including weekends, or something.

I turned up prepared to go so far as to ask if we could hang a duvet on the wall, but after selecting the front room which was nicely carpeted and knowing this was a voiceover with implications for microphone placement (thus SNR) that was the amount of work that went into that.

Close to zero admin, not bad.


2. Controlling or avoiding unwanted noise.

As I said previously, the writer's house is on a quiet road, so that was the first decision toward minimising potential unwanted noises.

After rehearsing (enabling me to get sound levels at the same time) and then shifting positions a bit so the talent could read off the LCD screen hanging on the opposite wall, I noticed a very faint ticking. Very faint. At first I though it was the director's bionic implant and asked him to move a few more feet away. The sound persisted. Turns out, there was a partially obscured clock up on a shelf ticking away in the mic pick-up pattern in this new arrangement.

So we removed the clock from the room. Problem solved. The director could stay.

The laptop being used to display the words to the voiceover artist was generating a quiet whisper of activity which in a sound-for-picture scenario I would have done something about.

But this is voiceover, with all that implies in terms of microphone placement. So the laptop could stay, and very good too because it was a big chunk of reading our artist had to do from it.

This was the writer's front room, we were making good progress, things sounding great, performance going well. However not even we could stop the Chinook flyover. In a matter of minutes we did another take, problem solved.

Close to zero admin, not bad.


3. Choice and placement of microphone(s).

Okay, I was in a dilemma. Do I go full-on airninja and record using the Apogee MiC 96K directly to my iPhone via lightning connector? I knew from previous experience recording the opening line of dialogue on the Provincials 'Jesus Christ' that it was a sweet sound combo, largely due to the MiC's large diaphragm.

However, I also learned on 'Jesus Christ' that the gain control on the MiC is mostly guesswork. As much as I would have loved to record this voiceover as a full-fledged audio airninja, I decided my confidence levels are not yet high enough - despite flirting with the idea of jacking it into my laptop to more easily monitor the recording.

I did pack the MiC, but only as a failsafe backup (and it takes up a tiny amount of space).

My current go-to weapon of choice for location sound recording is my Nagra SD. It's highly compact and highly capable. Although purists will moan that its pre-amps SNR don't come close to that found in larger recorders - well - that's the point, those ever so slightly better pre-amps are in much larger multi-track recorders. As it is, to my ears, the Nagra SD outclasses every other handheld recorder I've used (with a retail price that knows it). And it's tiny - handheld. Or belt-clipped. Or, perhaps I'll even set it down on a table. What it is not is cumbersome, burdensome, over-the-shoulder annoying.

So knowing my choice of recorder was going to be a dedicated device rather than iPhone or laptop, I then had to decide if I was going to use the Nagra SD clip-on mic or my tried-and-trusty Sennheiser XLR cardioid and adapter cable.

A couple of things made me eliminate the clip-on mic. Firstly, it's stereo and I only wanted to record mono (not a big deal but I can get slightly OCD if things aren't doing what they are supposed to do) but really the reason I didn't use the clip-on mic is because this was voiceover, not an informal handheld recorded interview.

Voiceover. I even dug out a mic stand. Which made me realise that an airninja could do with a more compact mic stand than I currently own. I'm on the look out.

Anyway, it was about mic placement relative to recording controls. I didn't know what I was going to walk into, if the artist would want to sit or stand, so a cabled mic to recorder gives far more versatility in terms of comfort. If there's no comfort there's no cool.

So I decided on my Sennheiser cardioid. It's a model people look down on as 'semi' professional when they are being generous in Youtube comments, whatever that means. Perhaps it means people who work for confectionary somehow aren't capable of being a whiny moany union card-carrying anally retentive professional? I don't know. I whine and moan and am anally retentive, perhaps I should join BECTU.

Microphone Data tells me that the specs of the mic I selected are thus:

I'm not a union member so obviously I have no idea what I'm talking about except as an airninja. Now, as an airninja let me tell you what's important.

SNR - signal-to-noise ratio. It's all a sound recordist is really concerned with. With a good SNR comes that intelligibly recorded sound that is the objective of the soundman, or woman, or small dog. Or cat, let's not forget soundcats. Airninjas too.

What does the frequency curve tell me? This microphone colours the sound at the higher end of the sound spectrum and starts to rolloff at around 200Hz (yikes). It will likely sound 'bright'. Fine by me. Flat EQ is an automated analysis away in post production, will take no more than three seconds to fix, if it even matters. That's right. Audio engineers are increasingly replaced by small snippets of computer code.

What does the polar curve tell me? Cardioid, check. Ah, the 'brightness' is slightly more directional. Since I won't be recording the voiceover off-mic and the most directional aspect is at 16kHz anyway, why worry? Not many human voices have prevalent vibrations at 16kHz.

What do the electrical characteristics tell me? Frequency response from 40Hz will have audiophiles up in arms. But I'm not recording music with live details down to 17Hz (which falls outside of even the Hi-Fi standard of 20Hz - 20kHz). I get concerned when I see significant rolloff at 50Hz but since its less than -6dB, I'm not overly concerned. Perceivable loudness tends to increment in steps of between 3dB and 6dB.

Output sensitivity. This is the physics bit. 31mV/Pa - that's 31 milliVolts per Pascal - tells me this mic is hot. Not hot like your favourite porn star, but hot like sensitive, hot like will provide an awesome range of gain options. Hot hot hot. Some like it hot, and I certainly do. Generally speaking, a hot mic will allow you to maximise SNR. (Compare this to the industry standard Schoeps CMC641 which produces 13mV/Pa but has significantly less impedance to start with  - so can afford to be 'cold' if your wallet can afford it - no doubt about it, Schoeps make amazing mics).

Max SPL - maximum sound pressure level. Sustained noise at 130dB will make your ears bleed and be exceedingly uncomfortable, but won't distort the physical recording apparatus. This is a good thing on a relatively inexpensive mic. The CMC641 does 132dB at four times the price but with only 0.5% THD.

THD? Total Harmonic Distortion. All I know is, distortion is bad. But whether it's distorting at 0.5% or 1.0%, I'd a hazard a guess that your ears won't notice - and if they do, you probably have playback equipment that no mere mortal can afford. Good for you. And your anal retentiveness.

Self noise. Well fuck, 25dB of noise on this mic? Compare that to the CMC641 which has 24dB of self noise and I think you'll agree it's nothing to worry about. However it's measured.

Output impedance. Resistance. 200 Ohms is very very high compared to the Schoeps which is on 35 Ohms. What does this mean? It means a cold mic with a high impedance will have a high noise floor cos you'll have to crank the gain up up up to get a good level. Fortunately, this Sennheiser mic takes the brute force approach and pumps out the aforementioned 31mV/Pa. Meaning the needed gain is reduced along with any self noise.

Recommended load. 1.0kOhm is totally abstract to me. I have no idea. I've never found this stat to affect anything in all my microphone ownership, including the legendary Neumann RSM-191 (sadly departed, though I don't miss the proprietary cabling and annoying external matrix circuitry).

Powering. Can the mic be phantom powered. A different subject for another day.

Supply current and alternative powering? Versatility can be useful for an airninja.

So you may be thinking that microphone selection is somewhat involved. And it can be. Or you can go to a shop and audition a bunch and believe what your ears tell you.

I selected this Sennheiser mic based on previous experience of one of its family members and knowing it was a hot mic. It's the same mic I recently used on Fat Finger Film's show 'Scissor Happy' with much accolade about how great everything sounded.

So far so good.

And for all my praise of MEMS microphones and DSP in iPhone, that would not be best suited to this situation (but if an iPhone is all you have and you know where its mics are at, you can get some very good results).

Where were we.

Microphone selection, check.

Microphone placement.

Now because the mic was going to be close to the artist I used the Rycote softie in lieu of any pop-filter and other foam. Plus, it's easier. Slip on the softie vs setup and configure a pop-filter. Softie is far less admin and takes up less space. I suppose this paragraph really belongs in section 2 above, but I can't be bothered to move it now. (Less admin.)

Placement of the microphone was determined by whether the artist wanted to sit or stand, then I just dragged out a mic stand with a boom arm and positioned accordingly (around 50cm away from her mouth).

Job done. Relax and record some takes. Comfort is cool.

#DIALW Wind Reel And Print - It's a WRAP!

So technically we wrapped production on Saturday and proceeded to discuss future film projects over a great curry.

It's been a fun week and I look forward to turning in the first finer-cut edit to the director, Seb Hunter. But Monday is a day off, I'll tackle that tomorrow.

The film is already loosely cut and clocks in at around 28 minutes sans titles. But too loose to show anyone, just yet.

Floor 6, Chesil Street MSCP. Park by phone.

So let me reflect on what I've learned on this production -

1. To park by the statue of King Alfred on Broadway in Winchester requires 'coins'.

2. In freezing muddy conditions you can do a lot worse than Vivobarefoot Tracker hiking shoes.

3. In freezing muddy conditions at night you can do a lot worse than Nitecore TM26 at 150 lumens with a runtime of approx 41 hours.

4. If the production unit is highly mobile with added agility then kit choice needs to reflect this. Mobile means why not use mobile. Thus, airninja movie method is validated.

5. Even though we are not using production audio from the iPhone 6 Plus, if we had planned for it, we could have. Audio perspective matches the fixed lens, MEMS microphone DSP helps noise reduction (although it didn't reduce the noise of overhead aviation, it won't do miracles nor should you expect it to).

6. All I want from a video camera app is simple - fix the white balance to a preset, fix the exposure, but leave autofocus roaming (AF with focus pixels works very well in iPhone 6 Plus). Currently the native app can't do this, so the closest I have found to my needs is Kinomatic.

7. Parkas are in fashion this season.

8. I didn't need touch sensitive gloves to operate the iPhone - just a naked hand and a spare pocket to keep it in between takes.

9. I used the ShoulderPod S1 + Manfrotto PIXI with wrist lanyard 95% of the time. The other 5% was on a Manfrotto Compact Action tripod.

10. Digital zoom, you guessed it, sucks. Which means all next wave rebellion against airninja must use digital zoom.


Look out for the final cut of Dark Is A Long Way playing in Winchester cinemas with live musical accompaniment from the Provincials - ETA Easter 2015.