I arranged a meeting with the production group on Thursday the 22nd. Overall it was a huge advantage to attend, as well as meeting the group i will be working with, I managed to learn a few more details about the film and have a few of my questions asked. Before i went to the meeting i thought about a few details i wanted to know more about. Things like:
How big of a team i will need for the project
How i’m going to deliver the audio to the editor
When are we expected to record
Any extra responsibilities they require from me
The meeting was very useful and and I pretty much got all the information i came for. The film has only two actors in it, therefore there will be no need for another person to help out with the location audio. With experience in a couple of third year films, i have found that it is doable to location record with one person, as long as theres no need for a second boom. On a previous project i used radio mics and a boom, switching the angle of the boom depending on the actor who’s delivering their dialogue. When three actors are in shot, a second boom may be required. However in this case, i can get away with recording this my myself. However, if i find that i may need a helping hand, there are team members on set that would be able to help with my direction.
Because the university cameras do not have the capability of timecode, in previous projects we have used a clapper board as a tool for the editor to sync the audio and picture. We deliver the audio to the editor and he then synced in up and delivered the OMF file to us. I explained this process to the editor of this film and she said she was more than happy to be provided with the audio in this way.
With regard to when the shoot is going to be, the producer explained that they are planning on shooting in four days on location anywhere in between the 2/11 and the 18/11, depending on location and actor arrangements.
They also stated a few extra points of which they expect. They talked about providing a sound log, sound editing notes and individual research & notes. The group also mentioned a dream scene in which they wanted some surreal soundtrack, so that the audience are aware that the character is in a dream. This is something that i could research into a bit more. With regards to issues, a field scene was mentioned, this could be an issue with regards to audio (weather, background noises) , therefore depending on dialogue, may need ADR. I will find out more soon once the script has been fully written.
The next stage is to prepare for location sound recording. For this I am going to be research various techniques, equipment, practices etc. And putting this into practice by loaning out some equipment and testing it. This will prove helpful in pointing out some issues that i may find.