The advances in technology have made this problem worse. We used to shoot most things with film which required a separate audio system and professionals. Now with everything going digital and budgets under attack, some people are questioning why we need to spend all this money on sound when the camera records it already.

With this background, I present the 10 most troublesome myths about production sound:

You don’t need a dedicated sound department: Yes I said department. Even on a small shoot, there needs to be someone responsible only for getting great sound. If they’re worried about the camera and lights, odds are they will miss something.

Picture is more important than sound: Ever see a good movie with bad sound? Ever see a low budget indie movie with not so great camera work but was moving thanks to a killer soundtrack and dialog? Or how about a television commercial that was all type and sound but no moving pictures?

Cameras are a great way to capture sound: Very few cameras actually capture sound at the same quality a professional location recorder can. And none of them are manned by a dedicated sound professional that will be able monitor and control the input for best results.

Lavaliers (or any other type) are the best microphone: There are lots and lots of different types of microphones created for different purposes and environments. They all have their pluses and minuses. Lavs for example are great at isolating voices and are almost always better for wide shots. But they’re also susceptible to interference, rustling, and don’t do a good job with environmental sound.

It’s better to scrimp on sound than anything else:  Good audio is going to cost you. But not nearly as much as your camera department or talent. May as well save money on something like lunch, maybe hotels or how about that masseuse the producer wanted.

You can easily fix spoiled audio in post:  If you have enough money you can do just about anything in post. Just ask George Lucas. Big budget movies use a lot of ADR. But reconstructing audio in post is no easy task and it requires reassembling your cast, potentially weeks later, for a costly audio session at another location while trying to match the same energy captured on screen. Good luck and please don’t send me the bill.

What a location looks like is more important than how it sounds: This is only true if you are not shooting sync sound. If you are shooting sync sound, the way a place sounds if far more important than what it looks like. Sorry art directors.

A PA can do it: A PA probably shouldn’t even be holding the boom. If a PA can actually do it well while following the dialog, she probably deserves a promotion.

Shotgun microphones are for capturing sound from across rooms or are supposed to be attached to camera: They’re designed to be on a boom or stand, and usually just above the talent. Period. No matter how sensitive, a poorly placed microphone can sound perfectly awful.

You can easily enhance an actors voice or a thin recording in post: Yes there are post production tricks to make someone sound different. But if the recording is weak it will only get weaker the more affects are applied to it. Think of it like making a photo copy and then making a photo copy of the photo copy. The more times you repeat the process the fuzzier the image becomes.

This is probably one of the more shocking numbers on the rise of video on the Web but maybe not the only one that will amaze you:

Did you know that Netflix accounts for 30% of internet traffic.

Or that iPad users watch three times more video?

Or that video traffic will exceed 50% of mobile traffic this year?

I don’t need to flog the newspapers. We know that printed word has lost its dominance. Video content has established itself as the primary form of mass communication. And web distribution is quickly becoming the best way to reach diverse audiences on their own terms. And as connected devices including tablets, smartphones and set top boxes become more important that computer desktops, Web video will not only be important but essential to a brand’s success.

Your audience no longer just has a lean in, “interactive”, work relationship with the web. Today it’s also social, relaxed, playful and fluid. It goes where she goes. And you have to too. That’s where Fluid Films comes in.

Studios are reporting the biggest Memorial Day weekend ever.  Why is this important? The advertising industry is consumed these days with articles about the “changing” media landscape, detailing why it will never be the same. While it’s important that we keep up with the advancement of media technology, it’s also important to recognize that we’re not experiencing a rapid, wholesale transformation of an entire society’s media consumption habits. People still love to go to the movies, watch cable television, and, gasp, read the occasional newspaper.

What we’re experiencing is more of an evolution. Some people are quickly adopting  new technology – but not everyone. And many of the adopters aren’t necessarily dumping the old media but rather adding another way to consume media to their diet. Here are nine statistics that might surprise you if you’ve spent too much time reading and listening to the gurus.

• While every social media expert may own an iPhone, most Americans still don’t own any smartphone at all.
• Unlike me, most people aren’t dumping cable for Internet TV. More people than ever are subscribing to broadband Internet and cable TV.  Only 3.9 percent have broadband.
• 45 percent of all ads recorded on DVRs are actually viewed.
• Only 10 percent of Americans have devices that connect their TVs to the Web.
• The top bandwidth hog for mobile is e-mail, not social networking.
• Pop stars are still selling millions of singles.
• E-book sales may be skyrocketing, but only 5 percent of people own a dedicated device to read one on.
• People are using iPads with TV, not instead of it.
• Most people are not interested in owning a 3-D television. In fact, most don’t even own an HD set yet.

So what’s the takeaway for a marketer who wants to make the most out of the latest technology? Know your customer, learn her habits, and you’ll find it easy to speak to her where she is.

Maybe it’s because the people that I know that are big fans of resolutions are not as serious about goals as I am. Or maybe it’s just a bad way to go about setting goals. I’m going to assume the latter.

Let’s just say a goal is worthy like say, losing 30 lbs. Why would you need to wait till New Years Day to begin achieving it? Should you really put your health on the shelf for a month or two? Absolutely not.

This is prarticulary nerdy, but I’ll admit that I used to post my goals, usually writing goals, on my refridgerator.

This is a little harder to do these days with a house full of women so I try to keep this list more mental these days. But it works a little like this.

Daily: Write every day for an hour.

Weekly: Write at least five days a week.

Six Months: (For larger goals) Finish rough draft

One Year: Finish first draft

18 Mos: Complete project

Then every six months the list is revised based on how well I met my goals and hopefully it reflects that I’m moved closer to completion of the project.

The point here isn’t that my system is any smarter than anyone else’s. It’s certainly no GTD system. The difference between my little lists and a New Years Resolution is that it isn’t based on any outside force of a static date or peer pressure. It is created because I put it there for my own, very personal reasons.

So, if you have developed a New Years Resolutions to lose 30 pounds, please go ahead and work towards your goal. What I’m suggesting is not to call it a “New Years Resolution.” Make it a personal goal that won’t be cast aside like last years Christmas tree when the season comes to an end. Set your goal and own it.

OK, so what are my personal goals?

Within 6 months: To run the ING Half-Marathon 15 minutes faster than I ran the Atlanta Half-Marathon on Thanksgiving day.

Within year: To complete a century mountain bike race. (I’ve registered for the Leadville lottery, will find out more in February)

6 months ago my goals were to run a half-marathon and post here twice a week. Check.

I do have some caveats to my being over Flash statement. Flash video and banners are effective uses of media that’s not meant to be search able. It’s, served paid media after all. So if you’re browsing with a mobile browser, you shouldn’t be served it anyway. Also, some specific sites and applications inside a site that do not need to be searched and are not intended to be dynamic content are fine as long as it’s properly tagged and you have some other content to drive your SEO. But you just better be ready to live with the Flash content for awhile.

So where does this loathing of Flash come from?

Search engines still hate it.

It’s a pain in the ass to make changes.

It takes more time to execute most things in Flash which can be a real drag on making deadlines.

The biggest reason though is incompatibility with mobile. And mobile is more important than ever.

Some accounts have 1/3 of all internet usage on mobile devices. And mobile web usage is supposed to double in the next three years. So why the hell would you build a site that doesn’t work on mobile? Of course, you could just build two sites and have one served to mobile browsers. But why not just build one great site?

Ballet is new to them and they’re finding great joy in it. However, the longer us adults do something the more inhibited we become. We’re afraid to show that we’re amateurs and end up paralyzed.

But the fact is, most of us are amateurs at social media. Even the media professionals are. They may spend the day working on old media but they too are fish out of water when it comes to blogging. And even though social media is part of my job, it’s constantly changing, putting me and any participant on a perpetually steep learning curve. A curve that I embrace – it keeps things interesting.

So why not loose your inhibitions a bit in this space? Reach out, engage and be creative. Be that three year old just doing it for the joy of it. How can you make a fool of yourself if we’re all still learning?

So what the @#%^ am I thinking running a half marathon tomorrow?

Actually I’m not mad. I’m simply using some principals from social media.

I’ve listened. I’ve done my research. I know what’s expected to participate properly.

I understand the community. Sure, there will be some serious athletes there, but most will be weekend warriors just like me.

I’ve created a strategy for both success and failure. If I make it to the finish I have a ride home. If I don’t, I’ll have 20 bucks for a cab.

I’m getting in the mix. I’m engaging. I’ll have a chance to connect with other runners and have a great time. And that, not my time, will be the reward.

So I hope you have a great turkey day. I know I will.

Update: I finished the Atlanta Half Marathon in a not so respectable two and a half hours. But I was pleased that I did it. I learned that I was capable of doing it, even when I wasn’t completely prepared. And now I have a more clear idea what I need to do to be better prepared next year and have greater success. These are good things that far outweigh the unpleasant lactic acid build-up that’s already passed.

Andy Sernovitz had some important points on ethics and disclosure. He outlined dangers to a brand of not having clear, legal agreements with vendors acting on a brand’s behalf and opined that the new FCC guidelines a positive development for the industry. His belief is that social media will be much better served by government policing than it would by being allowed to evolve on its own the way email did.

There were some compelling BtoB stories. Orange and SunGuard had showed how social media benefited their bottom line through providing helpful information to clients and potential clients.

Also there was a terrific UPS crisis management story. And I enjoyed hearing about Coca-Cola’s Expedition 206 campaign.

But what did I really learn there? That there’s a vibrant community of professionals trying to figure this social media thing out. That it lives beyond the blogs and tweets. That people are engaged, smart, and want to do the right thing. And frankly that’s damn refreshing place to be compared to discussions about direct mail, email marketing, or print advertising. People really are seeing a brighter horizon in this space while in traditional marketing the world is shrinking.

So even if Twitter does turn out to be a stupid fad, I think social media is a pretty great space to be in.