Monday 14th – Wednesday 16th November
Location Sound Process
After all the meetings, preparation and organisation for the film, the time had finally arrived to get shooting. We had three days to capture all the footage and sound we needed to give to Tom, the editor, before he gave us the final picture lock, when we would begin work on post production.
Equipment
All three of the team had been reading Ric Viers’ Location Sound Bible (2012), a brilliant resource for learning everything we needed to know, from what location sound is, to what mics to pick, to boom techniques, to set etiquette, and so forth. Because of this, we were all feeling confident about the shoot. The equipment we decided to rent from Media Loans included:
Field Recorders
Sound Devices 633 Field Production Mixer (inc. 3 x Line Input Cables)
Tascam DR-100MKII Linear PCM Recorder
Microphones
2 x Sennheiser MKH 416 Shotgun Mics
4 x Sennheiser SK100 Wireless Mics
Rode NT4 Stereo Mic
Boundary Microphone
Accessories
2 x Carbon Fibre Boom Poles
2 x Rycote Modular Windshields
3 x XLR Cables
Location Change
However, a few days before the shoot (Friday 11th) we were informed that a last-minute location change had been confirmed. This was after a discussion between the Media Students and their tutor Mikey. The location had moved from Hannah’s spare bedroom to Lincoln BIG, a large office building with a lot of unused room and space. Luckily for the visuals, Lincoln BIG had an attic space which had not been used for a long time, and when dressed the set looked very aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately for the sound team, the building is located only a few steps from the A15, a constantly busy, loud main road which was very audible from the attic.
This sudden change of location meant that the crew were now very rushed when shooting. Not only because we had the actors for just three days, but also because the storyboarding and light plans from the spare bedroom were scrapped. In turn, this meant that we had less time and information to experiment using plant mics and there was less time to put lav mics on the actors after their makeup was done.
Plant Mics
Nevertheless, as the third day was primarily scheduled as a reshoot day, we were afforded some extra time to use plant mics in the morning. In the opening scene, Susan wakes up in the hallway, walks down a corridor, up the wooden stairs and into the attic. For this section of the film, we planted and moved radio mics to capture the sound. We attached one lav mic to one of the door frames to capture her heavy breathing as she walked through. One to the ceiling of the corridor, and hid the boundary mic just inside an adjacent room to capture the footsteps and reverb of the corridor.
After this, we moved one lav to the wall above the doorframe of the stairs to capture the opening swings and creaks of the wooden door. The other was placed at the top of the stairs positioned down the steps to capture natural reverb of the boxy staircase, and hid the boundary on the inside wall of the staircase for footsteps and stair creaks. The radio mics were fixed with tape and concealed out of shot.
Fortunately, we were able to use the boundary mic to record some dialogue. While Susan was sat at her desk, we hid the microphone underneath a folder. This captured some very nice audio but we’ll have to wait until post to see if we can fit it in. Additionally, on the second day of shooting we were able to mic the actors with lavs. However, this scene included a fight and a lot of struggling, which didn’t come out great due to the position of the mics rubbing the cloth of the actors, as well as being very loud (there was some shouting), and one of the mics was possibly knocked by the actors during the struggle.
Booming
For the dialogue, we mainly concentrated on using the boom mic. As there were not many lines to capture, we were able to get several takes of each and in some instances, we could also double boom with the Sound Assistant stepping in. With the location being an attic, it was very small and enclosed as you can see from the photos. This was good for some shots as we could get in very close to the actors to capture the cleanest dialogue possible, but for the wide shots which included most the room, we had to get into some strange positions (see below). Fortunately Viers’ book had prepared me for such occurances! Additionally, the low ceiling meant that we did have to scoop some scenes, which was not the most effective way of capturing the dialogue, as some high end is lost in the process. Unfortunately, the small location did not allow us to utilize all of the techniques listed in Viers’ book, but we were able to practice our pole movement which was great.
Set Etiquette
When we became aware of the location change, I remember thinking back to Viers’ book about being ready, adaptive and flexible to change – and this is exactly what was needed for this situation.
Onset, I believe we were all very professional and hard-working. Hannah is an excellent producer and excellent time-keeper. Many times she would warn us we did not have much time for the next shot, so we would pull together and work our own areas before combining together to shoot the scene as efficiently as we could. Everyone got on very well, and on the whole there were not many disagreements and no arguments or falling out on set. I shall be giving the team the feedback forms to fill in soon.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe the we did the best we could with what we had. The location itself was very loud, mainly because of the traffic nearby, or occasionally because office workers downstairs could be heard chatting and walking around. Because of the lack of info on the location, such as storyboards, we were unable to plan plant mics as often as we would have liked, but I am pleased that we at least got the opportunity on the third day to be experimental and creative with them.We were also able to use the boundary mic for some dialogue which was great. The communication between everyone was also very good. Again, because of the lack of storyboards we were constantly asking whether or not our boom was in frame, the movement of the actors, etc. but we overcame this challenge well, wasting little to no time from the director telling us what she wanted, or the DoP telling us where we could/not position ourselves.
We were able to practice some booming techniques but not as many as would be easier in exterior locations. I really enjoyed the shoot and I’m looking forward to working on the post-production.
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