Sound out of sync with the speaker and distorted sound often destroy a student film. You can have a real nice looking short film, but if the sound is bad, the film itself comes across as bad. Nothing gives away a student film like the soundtrack. Budgets are tight, sure, but many student directors simply don't place any importance and give any thought to what their film sounds like. The result is often a beautiful picture with a badly mixed, distracting audio experience.

It’s also important to choose the most experienced crew possible. Don’t simply work with friends. Find another student who has worked as cameraman on several other student films so you have someone with experience. Filmmaking is expensive. Be very selective when picking your crew and actors. Always try to surround yourself with crewmembers who are more experienced than yourself. Hopefully they will help save you on this first film project.

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When editing sound and picture, you should stagger the cuts. This means NOT aligning the video and audio cuts - they should be separated by at least a second. If the cuts are aligned, the change in background noise when you cut from one sound clip to the other will be simultaneous with the visual cut; this breaks the illusion of continuity and will make your project look amateurish.

Poor sound is the biggest technical shortcoming of independent films and videos. For some reason few newbies bother to record decent sound, and making the effort to do so will make you stand out immediately. For professional results, it is imperative to record sound with proper technique (see How to record great location sound - Sound recording tips).

Avoid using the camera's onboard mic at all costs, as the sound will be full of echo and will make your project sound like bad newsreel footage. The two worst things that can happen with your location sound are:
The best way to record great location sound is to hire a competent sound recordist!

The importance of recording quality sound By far the biggest technical shortcoming of many videos and independent films is the sound. The dialogue recorded on location, which in most cases is the project's only source of dialogue in post-production, is not always recorded with correct technique, which results in poor audio quality. Location sound recording is a huge topic, but I will attempt to cover the salient points based on my past experience.

It is worth giving high priority to the quality of the sound you record for your projects. Remember that an audience can forgive imperfect camerawork if the subject is compelling; what they will never accept is poor sound.