– Monday 7th November
Booming and Plant Mic Techniques
In order to prepare myself for the location shoot in a week’s time, I have been reading Ric Viers’ The Location Sound Bible (2012). There are many chapters I still need to read to develop my skill set, but I focused on booming and plant mic techniques to focus on improving my learning outcomes.
Boom Techniques
When conducting this research, my aims were to gain more knowledge into how to be a more professional Boom Operator, improving boom movement and position skills.
Boom Movements
Viers illustrates five types of boom pole movement, and six booming positions. Pole movement includes:
- Cue: The rotation of the end of the boom, perhaps to used when single booming two interviewees facing each other
- Swing: Keeping the back end of the pole still while the mic end moves in a circular motion left to right
- Raise/lower: Self-explanatory, lifting or lowering the pole parallel to the ground
- Pivot: The back end of the pole is held still while the hand in the middle of the pole (at the “fulcrum point”) moves up or down
- Follow: The boom op shadows the actor with the boom pole
Booming Positions
The most common booming position is the “Standard ‘H’/field goal” position. The boom op holds the pole horizontal to the ground, above their head with the arms bent at the elbows. Other positions include the “Flagpole/lazy ‘H’”, which is similar to the H position, but the boom ops arms are by their side while their elbows are bent. The “Crucifix” position is held behind the neck with the arms outstretched, much like a crucifix. There is also the “One-handed” position, allowing the boom op to alter levels on the field recorder simultaneously, the “Joust” position which is the same as the one-handed just reverted into a scoop position. And finally the “Head” position which looks incredibly difficult to pull off, as the boom is resting on the head while one hand holds one end, and the other can mix levels on the field recorder.
I imagine we will use the Flagpole/Lazy H technique most as the location is very small and tight, with a fairly low ceiling (like any household) which may not allow us to boom as effectively overhead.
Plant Mic Techniques
When onset, we are aiming to use as plant mics as much as we can. This will hopefully improve our audio by picking up any lines unavailable to use for boom (so as reference), but also capture any natural reverb of the room, which can either be used for wild track or layered underneath to add natural reverb instead of artificial, in-the-box reverb. Viers suggests that lav mics are most commonly used for planting. They are small so are easy to conceal while directional lavs can capture great sounding audio. Furthermore, Viers illustrates creative places to situate plant mics, such as on/underneath tables, on flat surfces, desktops, plant pots or even fruit bowls. Hopefully we can muster-up this creativity onset and put lavs and boundary mics in interesting, creative places to capture the best sounding audio, i.e. Closest to the actors for dialogue. Viers outlines many creative places to plant mic a car interior which is very useful to know, and highlights to me the importance of thinking outside the box and being experimental whenever the time comes.
Conclusion
To conclude, Viers has given great insight into boom movement and techniques that I will definitely try out on set, my only worry is the small space we will be shooting in, which could mean using the “Lazy ‘H’” quite often, with a retracted pole. The location could also mean a lot of scooping and less need for extended boom pole positions and techniques, I can’t see the need for the “Crucifix” position in a spare bedroom. Additionally, after reading Viers’ chapter on plant mics, I get the impressions that creativity is key. Wherever we can be imaginative onset to hide mics will be great and I am very much looking forward to experimenting with the lavs and boundaries we shall be using, the aim is to use them as frequently as possible!
Reference List
Viers, R. (2012) The Location Sound Bible. California: Michael Wiese Productions.
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