Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538148
34 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Fall 2025 The Show The Bear began life as a fast–paced family drama revolving around the travails of running a Chicago-based sandwich shop, which had come into the possession of a pair of cousins (played by Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach). It was immediately clear these two characters did not see eye-to-eye when it came to running a restaurant, resulting in frequent clashes, involving shouting matches, kitchenware getting tossed around, and general mayhem. Right away that meant we couldn't use our usual approach to recording dramatic dialog. Overlapping dialog, kitchen chaos, and a dynamic range that would go from a whisper to shouting within a single shot were going to be the norm. Oh, and multiple cameras, with few rehearsals… The Set The kitchen set used for the pilot was an actual restaurant kitchen that had been shuttered, located in a commercial building on the north side of Chicago. Since we were free from the constraints of an operating kitchen, we were mostly able to control the noise in the immediate kitchen area and adjacent front-of-house. However, the producers' plan was to have a kitchen that was actually functional, which presented a few problems. To begin with, actors would be shuttling skillets, pots & pans, utensils, and plates all over the set. Secondly, commercial stoves and ovens were operating in the scenes. Ventilation exhaust fans had to be working, which is essentially the equivalent of a Pratt & Whitney turbojet engine running three feet above the actors. And then there was all the shiny stainless steel surrounding the entire set, with practical lighting to boot. A boom operator's nightmare… Of course, wireless mics don't work too well in an environment that blocks RF, not to mention all the multipath issues caused by RF bouncing off multiple steel surfaces. Additionally, the decision had been made to Table mic setup - wide shot Table mic setup - detail Table mic setup - underside