Production Sound & Video

Fall 2019

Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1179544

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 39 of 55

40 HOW I GOT MY GODLIKE REPUTATION PART 3 by Jim Tanenbaum CAS IT'S OKAY TO LIE TO THE DIRECTOR … REALLY In my UCLA classes, "Set Politics & Protocol" occupy more than 20% of the class time. No matter how good of a mixer you are, if there is an adversary relationship between Sound and Camera, it may be diffi cult or impossible to get good sound. Ditto for all the other departments. Unfortunately, some directors make bad calls when asked to judge sound on the set. In the fi rst place, most directors want to listen to the production track most of the time, but they don't want to be encumbered more than absolutely necessary. Thus, the ubiquity of lightweight foam-padded open- air headphones. Getting most directors to wear even moderately-isolating closed-cup headphones is a losing battle. (On the rare occasion when they do, they often leave their dominant ear free.) Even worse, some young "mixers" no longer have learned how to mix anything, and simply crack all the pots open halfway through the entire take for the "scratch mix." This results in many directors accepting an excessive amount of reverb and/ or ambience mixed in with the (hopefully) clean dialog track iso as "normal," so when there is a real problem of too much background or other undesirable noises in the production dialog, they are almost never aware of it. Therefore, when I know there is a problem that makes the production track unusable, I have learned not to let the director (or producer) simply listen to it over my highly-isolating headphones because the lack of ambient bleed makes the track sound "better" to them. Invariably they will say: "That's okay—we'll fi x it in post." Some examples: 1. Excessive generator (or other localized-source) noise. Instead of letting the director hear it as it really is, I will have my boom op surreptitiously cue the mike toward the genny or other source, (A tutorial for those without half a century in the business, and a few with) or open my slate mike, or otherwise degrade the mike's signal so even a deaf director will know it's no good. 2. Excessive room reverb. This is more diffi cult for the director to perceive because the human brain has dedicated echo-reducing circuits that operate subconsciously whenever stereo input from both ears is available. Listening normally doesn't reveal the hollowness, so when the director does hear it in your headphones, their fi rst reaction is: "There's something wrong with your mike— look, it's much closer to the actors than I am right now." Teaching him or her Acoustics 101 before the fi rst take is not an option. And even if it was, there won't be time to pad all the off- camera walls, fl oor, and ceiling. This is where your pre-production homework comes in. If you found out that this particular director always covers every line of dialog in closer shots, simply don't bring up the issue at all. If Murphy's Law intervenes and they don't, ask for wild lines of the uncovered dialog. If the director objects, just say: It's needed to match the covered dialog." IMPORTANT: If you say anything with enough authority and certainty, most people will accept it without question (even if it's wrong). Yes, there's a slight risk that this procedure might fail, but risk-taking comes with the job. Remember: The most important thing experience teaches you is what you can get away with. On the other hand, your research may reveal that this director doesn't cover everything, and/ or lets the actors improvise every take (in which case you may have much more serious problems to deal with). Now is when your location scouting pays off. Being aware of the parallel hard walls, no carpets on the fl oor, etc., you will have brought along a pile of sound blankets and your own mounting rigs (an extendable painter's pole and a 6' 1"x2" wood batten clamped in it at a right angle, will allow you to quickly jam one edge of the blanket against the ceiling, several inches

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Production Sound & Video - Fall 2019