Category: Location Sound Process

 

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 11^th) 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.

 

Friday 28th October

Spare Bedroom

After finding difficulties with the space that Drill Hall offered us, we wanted to find another location that would be more suitable and preferable to shoot the film. Luckily, Hannah has a spare bedroom in her house that we could use, and suggested we come over to take a look at it.

The house was located on a connecting street to West Parade Road. The room itself was averagely sized for a two-bed rented house. In terms of sound, the problems would occur from: the boiler; which would be switched off when shooting, the fridges and freezers; which Hannah said could be switched off too, depending on whether they could fit all the food into one. This may not be much of an issue anyway, as the room is two sets of doors away from the kitchen which will hopefully provide enough barriers for the sound to not travel through. Dan brought his Tascam to listen to the space itself. There were cars passing on the main road which were unlikely to be heard, but any cars on the house of the street would definitely be picked up. We could also hear music from the house next door, but during the shooting days we would ask them to turn this off, and hope they are understanding, reasonable people who will oblige.
Apart from this, the space was good. Big and high enough to boom, unlike the Drill Hall. Free of course as it is Hannah’s house, which also allows more flexibility when dressing the set, setting up the shots, etc. which are all positive outcomes.

The only issue that did arise was the double bed situated in the room, which Hannah was unsure of whether could be removed. As a team we agreed to try and move it at a later date, and also come up with solutions to the problem if it can’t be moved out of the room, such as were and how to situate it so it is out of shot. The team seemed reasonably happy with this location and it was agreed that this is where we’d shoot. Furthermore, the shooting dates were altered to the 14-16th November by recommendation of Mikey who wanted us to have as much preparation as possible before the shoot. Attached below are some photos of the location.

  

 

Tuesday 18th October

Lincoln Drill Hall

Before the film crew meeting in the afternoon, some of the team headed down to the first potential location to shoot the film – unfortunately, because it was a small space, only Hannah, Lauren, Jamie and Rob could attend. The location was Lincoln Drill Hall, a local theatre in Lincoln, specifically inside one of their storage basements.

The location had many positives, such as its aesthetics. It appeared as the perfect location to suit Lauren’s vision of a small, cramped, aged basement with uncovered brickwork suiting the script’s description excellently. Additionally, the management were willing to offer it to us for free, which is the ideal scenario being students.

However, there were many more negatives which sadly outweighed the positives. The first was that although the small space suited the script and the cinematography of the film, it would be impossible to boom overhead. “The boom mic will always capture the most natural audio when positioned overhead and pointing downward toward the talent,” (Viers, 2012, 39). Therefore, this would not allow us to record audio as effectively as possible, we would have to scoop the majority of the shots. Scooping is be considered as the opposite of overhead booming. The mic is positioned underneath from torso-knee height with the same angle of use with overhead booming, pointing upwards. There are several downsides to this technique, such as: losing high frequencies (as the main character is a woman this would be adverse), capturing overhead noise (in this case light buzzes), and the large increase of difficulty added to the Boom Operator who will have to manoeuvre around objects, as well as stay further from the frame as they cannot appear invisible overhead. “Scooping can be a lifesaver, but should only be used as a last alternative,” (Viers, 2012, 41-2).

Additionally, Rob mentioned loud traffic noise as the location is adjacent to a busy main road, with some sorts of irregular holes in the walls allowing this sound to seep through into the basement, which would be captured on all of the location sound dialogue/room tone/atmos/SFX or wild tracks.

Finally, the availability of the location was poor allowing only three dates for us to film. We would be given time slots of 10am-4pm which would simply not be enough. With the location being so cluttered (see below), we would have to allow at least one hour at the start and end of the day moving these objects out and back in, before setting up and preparing, then shooting and having breaks. This would not be logical and would make us way too rushed, uncomfortable and stressed.

Therefore, as a team we agreed that this location would be used as a backup, last resort placement. Even though it looked great, the logistics of the availability, time on set, space to fit the actors in, and most importantly SOUND would not allow us to shoot to the best of our abilities here. However, it was a positive action to at least have checked it out and have prepared a back up option.

 

References:

Viers, R. (2012) The Location Sound Bible. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Production