Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/634968
by William Sarokin CAS 36 Sicario began with a bang. Literally. Shot one was a stunt/special effect of a booby-trapped shed exploding. The efx guys said it would be big and they are known as masters of understatement, so I set up my cart as far as possible from the blast, placing a house between me and the shed. My Boom Operator, Jay Collins, was closer, behind a cinderblock wall. My Third, Andrejs Prokopenko, was at the sound truck pulling goatheads out of our flat tires. More about that later. The efx guys weren't kidding. The shock wave went around both sides of the house and hit me on both sides of my face. I couldn't imagine what it was like for the stunt guys in the midst of it. The scene in the film is harrowing. I had a boom with a Sennheiser MKH50 and the pad enabled fairly close to the blast, pointed away to favor reverb. There were also a couple of Sanken CUBs into Zaxcom transmitters scattered about. After everything was slated, I dropped my mic preamps as far as they would go, using Zaxnet remote control and hoped I would get something useable. Here's where I have to apologize to the transfer guys. I heard later that in the transfer session, after I dropped my Emily Blunt as Kate Macer enters the tunnel. (Photo: Richard Foreman Jr. SMPSP) SICARIO