Hiding a Mic in Plain Sight

Griffin shares his hidden microphone trick—how to place a mic blatantly in a locked-down shot, and use masking to hide it in Final Cut Pro X.

Microphones featured:

John Luna helped me shoot and edit this video. He’s on YouTube:

[dawsonboyle]

Some vfx guys may consider this basic but I always love how griffin shows creative examples I would have never thought of

[AdamMurtland]

I accidentally discovered this technique a few years go while filming a doc about my grandmother. As I interviewed her, the boom mic slowly dipped into frame. A little masking saved the project. Thanks for sharing!

[DanielSawin]

The technique is awesome and this video just all around makes me happy

[safetyhomeloans]

love it love it please bring back more episodes of Cheap VS Expensive Things

[YoungBlaze]

how do they film movies where its a wide shot and the camera is moving and 2 people are talking from a distance, are they being laved up?

[biblebasicsinternational]

I really enjoyed this video. Well done, nice sense of humor, I never would have thought about masking out a mic. Cool.

[stkers]

blown away. this is one of the coolest tricks ive seen since i started doing video!

[BenCrossley]

Nice video! The presentation of the way you visually explained everything looked great. Super clearly presented.

[jameskolsby]

A lot of people I've worked with thought it was crazy that I did this. A few hours of masking is well worth the vastly improved audio in my opinion.

[plotcoalition]

A method I've used involved moving tree leaves so I took the clip from right after the Mic left the shot, time reversed it, dragged it to match up with the start of the original and masked accordingly. It worked seamlessly

[footycheck]

I am glad you are making these videos again

[jaredbruning]

Such a no brainer once it's been pointed out. Thank you so much!

[BigFishSmallCamera]

I recall you giving this tip in another video before. Great tip! Something that I've learned from you and used myself. Thanks Griffin.

[DibyenduJoardar]

Hi,
it really feels good to find someone like you too use this trick like many of us. Some times I crop / mask the same clip and run them simultaneously at different speed to get certain creative effects. Tools are wonderful if we know to use them rightly. Please do share more of your tricks....

[andrewong]

This is such a great video! Looking forward to testing it out in FCPX. Thanks!!

[SoundSpeeding]

We need more videos like this! Encouraging cooperation between the post & camera departments with the sound department, to get better sound for the audience.

[barrycrowder]

Nice explanation. I've done some DIY videos and just left the microphone in the shot, but I'm going to do this going forward.

[travistyler]

BRILLIANT. Simple. Can't wait to try this!

[coolcubestudio]

Thank you for the helpful tip! Your videos are always so well done and have helped me grow as a filmmaker.

[hayatohuseman]

I learn something new and useful with every video you upload. Didn't even know about dragging with the trim tool! Thanks for always making great and easy to understand tutorials.