Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500728
32 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Summer 2023 highly invaluable, and then I lucked out twice on Dahmer because Zach is also a master gardener. DPA 4098's have become such an integral part of my gear. With their small size, but directional pickup, a well-placed 4098 can rival a boom mic in some instances. The obvious choice is to place them in cars, which we did plenty of times, but we also hid them on set in various locations. Then there was the "desk stand" setup—exactly as it means, a desk stand that I've attached an Ambient QuickLok to the end where a mic clip would normally live. This allowed us to quickly drop any mic on a shock mount onto the set and place it on the ground, behind doors, on or under furniture, etc. Hiding plant mics is a skill, but it's even better when you can get away with having a plant mic "hidden" in plain sight. On this show, that required collaboration with our Props Department. Because this was a period piece, and there were many scenes that required prop microphones, I met up with our props team early on and we discussed where it would be helpful to have working mics that also looked appropriate for the time period and scene. We had tabletop mics in the many courtroom scenes, handheld mics for reporters on the scene when Dahmer's apartment was being emptied by the police, and lavalier mics for the many recreations of historical interviews that were planned, from Geraldo to 60 Minutes. For the handheld mics used by reporters, my job was to source real working mics that would closely match the prop mics our Prop Master had already rented. A silver Shure Beta 87A was the winner. The tabletop mics picked for the courtroom scenes were luckily already working mics. These came in handy because our judges' robes were made of a surprisingly loud material, so a wire placed on a judge just picked up a lot of clothing noise. The courtroom scenes also lent themselves to a lot of big wides, to showcase the entire room, so having some working mics directly in front of certain characters was very advantageous. Recreating the few sit-down interviews that Jeff and his family did was relatively easy, we just had to find a lav and clips that looked close enough to the ones worn originally by the real people. To circle back to the main question I'm always asked, how did we keep our spirits up and push through the six-month shooting schedule? I think it really came down to the makeup of the department, and how we would take turns lifting each other up. Everyone would cycle through days that just really wore them down, and so the rest of the team was always there to try and provide either a moment of levity or just an ear for venting. We always made sure everyone was hydrated or had snacks, and we quoted dialog from the show incessantly. We'd all latch onto some phrase or line that sounded particularly ridiculous when said out of context, and then we'd just repeat it unremittingly, usually in a passable-to-awful Wisconsin accent. Then of course, we had to start or end each day with our favorite phrase, which I believe Saif came up with: "Another day, another Dahmer!" Our Set Lighting Technicians started one of our favorite silly traditions—the rubber chickens. Our Dimmer Board Operator had one on his cart and would squeeze it at random times throughout the day, and eventually he brought in a whole bag of mini-chickens and handed them out. I kept mine zip-tied to the front of my cart. Everyone would be spread out across the stage, or location, and you'd hear one go off, and then this cascade of multiple chickens screaming would echo in return. It never failed to make us all feel Plant mics everywhere! (L-R) Britney Darrett, Saif, Amanda, Zach, camera team took this fantastic group shot.