This post is related to LO1

There were 6 shooting days between the 10th November and the 20th November. The main location was in a house, garden and in a crop field.

The first 4 shooting days were in the house and garden. Within the house, scene locations took place in a bedroom, stairway, kitchen, dining room and hallway. There were different challenges within this. I found that it was very difficult to boom in the house as there was limited space.

Because the film doesn’t have much dialogue, i was mainly recording movements and breaths. Therefore had to try and get the boom as close as possible. I attached radio mics to the actors for the majority of the time to capture breaths and dialogue.

Location Sound recording.

The location recording process required recording in a range of different environments and adapting to those environments to ensure the best quality recording. The main issue was with outside scenes, that being because of the wind noise. The other issue was with noises leaking from the outside or other rooms. As well as sometimes not being able to get close enough.

In the recording process i used a windscreen. “Windscreens are essential in virtually all video applications because just moving the mic even indoors creates win that can cause obvious low-frequency noise, which progresses up through being so bad that the signal from the mic may intermittently bobble or be cut off as the wind blows the diaphragm into extreme positions.” (Holman, 2005, 64)

This was used in all cases including all indoor and outdoor scenes. However the windscreen wasn’t enough for outside locations as it was extremely windy throughout the recording process. therefore when it came to outsider shots i attached a windjammer. “In more extreme cases outdoors, the silk windscreen can be covered with a windjammer, a furry covering that progressively reduces the air velocity as it encounters denser fur toward the inside of the device lowing down the air velocity with which the internal windscreen must deal. “ (Holman, 2005, 65)

To deal with not being able to get the boom mic close enough attached a radio LAV mic to each actor in scenes that contained dialogue. This helped with regards to picking up other sounds such as planes going past in doors and other atmos sounds that i didn’t want to pick up. Other issues included noises leaking from other rooms, outside and crew noises in which i ensured there more than one take when i noticed any strange noises in the takes.

Ric Viers wrote in his book ‘The Sound effects bible’ Ten commandments a sound recordist should follow for a professional recording. The commandments are as followed:

“Thou Shalt Have a Pre-Roll and Post-Roll of Two Seconds on Each Recording.

Thou Shalt Record More Than You Need.

Thou Shalt Slate Every Take with as Much Information as Possible.

Thou Shalt Check Thy Levels Often.

Thou Shalt Listen to Thy Work by Always Wearing Headphones.

Thou Shalt Eliminate All Background Noise.

Thou Shalt Not Interrupt a Take.

Thou Shalt Point the Microphone at the Sound.

Thou Shalt Check Thy Equipment Before Going Into the Field.

Thou Shalt Remember the Copyright Laws to Keep Them Unbroken”

The majority of these commandments were used throughout the location sound recording process. However it was particularly difficult to follow the commandment “though shalt check thy levels often.” Although i was checking levels as much as possible, being a one man team had many limitations, one of them being i had to concentrate more on the positioning of the boom than checking the levels. If i was constantly looking back and forth, i would end up producing noise when recording a take. Therefore if i was to do the location recording again, i would make sure i had another team member, one for checking the levels, recording and taking notes; and one for booming.

Sound report

During the recording process i used a sound log to record the file name, and comments of each shot. This will prove useful in the post production process when looking at other takes for better recordings etc. “The sound report is the key to the mixer’s hard work and efforts; it is the road map of what is on the recored tape and where to find it… The most valuable notes are those regarding wild tracks (listed as WT). When I begin a project, I immediately get a copy of the mixer’s sound reports and quickly scroll through them, looking for wild tracks or miscellaneous recordings that may determine what other recordings a may need to refer to or authorise to have done. It is equally as important to list a shot in which there is no sound. For one reason or another it may be decided to shoot a set-up in which the sound mixer is not rolling sound. “ (yewdall, 2003, 55) Here is an example of what the sound log looked like:

Example of my sound report.

However during the filming it was quite difficult for me to record all notes, swell as trying to boom, record, and continuously checking levels. Therefore on some shooting days it was very difficult to keep on top of.

“Truthfully, the best sound recording can be obtained by holding the fish pole high above your head and pointing the microphone at a downward, but slightly tilted, angle, aiming right at the throat of the actor. Some boom operators will tell you that the ideal target to aim the directional pattern at is the brig of the nose. others will tell you they aim at the upper chest, where the voice originates” (Yewdall, 2003, 65)

The three main microphone techniques in use to produce coverage are boom, lavaliere on the actor/subject, and a planted mic on the set/ location…. Planted microphones have their place too. In situations where an actor or subject is moving through set or location, there may be positions where a boom can’t follow, such as through a doorway where it would have duck into the picture. page (Holman, 2005, 49)

In my production i used a planted microphone in a few situations. There first being the art scene, in which i planted a radio microphone on the painting. This was because it was hard to get the boom in the right place for recording breaths, therefore i wished to plant a microphone to give me more choice of recordings to pick from. The other is the first scene where Joan is on the phone. The room was quite tight, especially with the crew in the room, therefore hid a microphone in the plant pot on the window ledge. Incase the radio mic attached to the subject recorded poorly the there was another one close to the subject.

Recording reflection. The two most difficult limitations i saw in this process was having a one person team. This proved difficult when trying to do a multitude of jobs in one, and i feel like that may of reflected in the quality of some of the recordings. The other limitation was lack of space, this sort of links with the other limitation as if i had another person i wouldn’t of needed to carry around a huge mixer bag. This would of been easy to get into tighter spaces and get the boom microphone closer to the subject.

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.

Before meeting up with the group and confirming my involvement in the project, i wanted to make sure that i had at least 1-2 weeks to be able to work on the post production of the project. Any less than this, and it could jeopardized the overall quality of audio. The producer send me a rough proposed schedule:

The schedule gives me 5 days to work on the audio post production, before the music is scheduled. However i have 11 days before i am required to collaborate with the music composer. Therefore i have 11 days to work on the post-production. I will be working with the music composer closely, therefore when the music and audio is collaborated, there shouldn’t be many changes to make. They have also allowed for 5 days of written reflection and paperwork. Therefore if any issue come around, there may be a slight leeway in providing the audio.

I then arranged a meeting with the group for Thursday 22nd October.