Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500728
Summer 2023 – LOCAL695.COM 43 factory downtown. Lots of moving parts, additional day players, duplicate sound teams leapfrogging the cast bus in order to prepare for the next scene, wiring talent with seconds to spare. At the end of the night, we were all exhausted, but also exhilarated because we were able to pull off the seemingly impossible. Home away from home In order for The Truman Show conceit to work, we needed a plausible reason to cut off all communication with the outside world. Our Hero would have to relinquish his connected devices, and would not be allowed to go home. Thus, James Marsden's celebrity became a distraction to the proceedings, which gave our judge a reason to sequester the jury. Production found a hotel that was closed for renovations, perfect for our needs. The first two or three floors had been remodeled, we could have a mini-production office in one of the rooms, and there would be no other guests that would get in our way. There was a common area with books, a TV set, and gaming consoles, where the jurors could spend time together, and it would be the setting for a couple of key plot points. We did experiment with a DPA 4097 connected to a recording pack, which we hid high up behind a curtain fold—but, as we suspected, it never provided more than a fuzzy ambient perspective. You can't fault us for trying! Another major location involved a birthday party at a city park, which the "documentary" crew would not attend. All the actors would be wearing lavs—except for the Hero. We planned on having him wear a micro recorder and tested a few different models. We asked Prop Master Jason Phillips to come up with a hat or some accessory that could house the recording device. One of the characters, Barbara, played by Susan Berger, crocheted during court hearings. Jason suggested we make crochet lapel pin buttons in which we could hide the miniature recorder. The story would be that Barbara had made a few crocheted buttons the night before as party favors, which she would pin on various The 4 ZONE combiner wasn't designed for active switching in that manner. It took several button pushes to switch each antenna bank. Naturally, a handful of times in the heat of battle, I managed to keep the wrong zone on, causing dropouts and other issues… We soon came up with a plan B, a Super Zuca cart (created by fellow 695 member Eric Ballew), which contained two bags; one with a Sound Devices 688 and another with a 633, for a total of eighteen wireless channels. Dan, as part of the "documentary" crew, wheeled it into different locations. During interviews, I would turn off the Comtek feed in the main cart and Dan would switch on a transmitter installed on the Super Zuca, so the creative team at video village could listen to a clean mix devoid of RF hits. Filming in a restaurant teeming with customers When I saw "INT. MARGARITAVILLE - NIGHT" in one of the scripts, I immediately called our PM to confirm whether that name was just a placeholder or the well-known restaurant located at Universal CityWalk. I was obviously concerned about all the logistics involved. The answer was "Yeah, the restaurant will be open to the public." In the script, this would be a personal outing, away from the court and the "documentary" crew. I was extremely nervous about our ability to capture all the dialogue without lavs, to say nothing of where our rig would be located, and how we'd route feeds for the earwig channels, Comteks, antenna placement, etc. We did have a pretty thorough location scout a few weeks before, where we had a chance to formulate a plan of attack. To my relief, it was decided the "documentary" crew would tag along with the group of jurors, at least for the first hour or so, which helped bring down my blood pressure a bit. This was definitely the most difficult location for us. It came after an already long day, starting at the hotel and then at a garment