[Ryan]

Soooooo I've offered to help a friend record an upcoming event. Just a small part, only a couple minutes, but I'd like to do it right. She's hosting an event and which there'll be a surprise reveal and she wants to get a recording of everyone's reactions.

My plan is to use my Canon SLR to record the video. I won't need to move, so I'll just mount it on a tripod. I feel like that part should be straightforward. I plan on using my 24mm/2.8 lens. The scene will be indoors in consistent lighting.

But what about the audio? I have doubts about the built-in mic on the camera. Mostly it seems to pick up the whir of the focus motor in the lens.

Is there a good way to record audio of a crowd to my laptop? Is there a decent USB microphone that could do this job? Ideally it would pick up the audio of a crowd's reaction so I think I'd want something omni or semidirectional? I know very little about audio. I suppose I'm just looking for a relatively foolproof way to record the audio and get it into iMovie. I'm also open to renting the equipment (I've rented camera lenses in the past but never audio gear).

This is all a favor and expectations are fairly low since she knows I've never done video work before.

edit: Given that what she's really after is seeing the reactions of people at the moment of the reveal, should I just keep things simple: buy one of those iPhone gimbals so the video is steady and call it a day? Then as long as I was near the front I could pan around the audience. I wouldn't need to figure out any new equipment with that approach.