Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1179544
25 assistant sound (UK term for boom operator) to start work. Arthur Fenn has worked on every single one of my fifty-eight movies. We have a collaborative approach and I consider Arthur to be one of the best boom op's in the world. The industry has changed over the last fifteen years with large, multi-camera VFX movies becoming the norm. Arthur has, in turn, become a radio mic expert. His skill is collaborating with the actors. He has an engaging personality, an easy rap- port, and a fearlessness that quickly means he is considered in much the same way a personal costumier would be with the cast. He also collaborates very closely with the Costume Department from the beginning and creates a strong work- ing relationship with that team. I approached production and explained that it was time for both myself and Arthur to be hired full time, fourteen weeks out. That would be the requirement if they wanted us to be ready on time. They agreed and I sat down and brainstormed with Arthur regard- ing how we could attach the mics to the cast's foreheads. Arthur strongly advised against trying to stick the mics on their foreheads for the reasons mentioned previously. When told about the IEM's the cast would be using, he expressed his concern about the practicalities of so many cables being unattached and pulling on the mics and IEM's during explo- sive choreography, so we came up with a plan. It was born out of the knowledge that some puppeteers have used tennis players' 'sweat bands,' so we started discussing that strategy and that led to 'lav straps' which are a relatively new product that actors wear around their chests. Arthur said, "What we need is a lav strap for the head which keeps the cables tidy, can be washed overnight if necessary, and can also double as a sweat band which could be helpful to the performers." This is where our strong relationship with Simon Bysshe of URSA straps came in. We have known Simon since he was a young trainee who did a film with us, and when his company URSA was in its embryonic stages during Guardians of the Galaxy, Arthur and myself did a lot of work with him on product development. We also tested his prototype straps on set. I sent Arthur off to meet Simon and together, they came up with a design for the bespoke Cats mic and IEM head strap system. Arthur and I went to watch a choreography rehearsal to get a feel for the movements and to start to consider where we would rig the mic transmitter and IEM receiver packs. The choreography team had continually expressed concern to production that the performers may get injured if they landed on a pack. Tom Hooper had called me into a meeting to ask that we use the very smallest packs available. We arrived at the rehearsal with a bunch of different generic URSA straps (thigh, ankle, waist, etc.) and two wire- Splitter/DAC Rack IEM Mixer CAST IEM TX x 12 Pro Tools Playback Rig Pro Tools Record Rig Induction Loop Amp Video Village Prod TX Simon Hayes World TB TO CAST Keyboard Keys Talkback Mic Keys Personal Monitor System Music Department Mixer Perc Talkback Mic Perc Personal Monitor System PERCUSSION Private Music Comms TX Music 1 TB Music 2 TB Dir TB CATS IEM BASIC FLOW CHART Simon Hayes AMPS CAS - Production Sound Mixer Tom Barrow - IEM Mixer