Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/830466
25 There are times we need to take a stand for sound. In keeping with the style of the show that the producers want, Yasu Tanida, the Director of Photography, uses hard lighting and some practicals to light the set. The show is full of time jumps, fl ashbacks and present-day scenes, so the lighting changes depending on what time period we are in. For the most part, Yasu does accommodate our requests and stays away from wide and tights and helps with the lighting where he can. When Erin can't get what is needed with one boom because he will have to cross through some lights, Tim will come in and utilize a sec- ond boom. We zone-out the booms and at times, fl y a wire in the mix until the actor crosses the lighting threshold into our booming zones. It gets tricky in the larger scenes but we are always able to come up with some creative way to get what is needed. I fi nd we can get the dialog a bit tighter sounding with two booms, especially with all the overlapping we do. Our directors like the natural feel of the acting with overlaps. We don't stop or redo a take for sound, though there are times when I'll re- quest to record a certain line clean. I'll bring up my concerns to the direc- tor if the line gets buried and more often than not, we will do another take to get the line cleaner. This is a show with wall- to-wall dialog and our objective is keeping the actors out of the ADR stage. If we can make a simple adjustment to get Opposite page: This Is Us, "The Big Three" (Photo: Ron Batzdorff/NBC) Above, left: Erin Paul and Tim O'Malley at the grocery store. Above, right: Michael Krikorian CAS at the controls. Below, left to right: Mixing our night shot; music playback day with Mark Agostino. and pay attention to what is up next. A well-informed crew will always be ahead of the curveball. Our fi rst season was shot on the Paramount lot on two stages and a swing stage. Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth's (Susan Kelechi Watson) house is on one stage while Jack and Rebecca's (played by Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore) house is on another. The exterior scenes of the houses are shot on location, while most of the Penn- sylvania and New York exterior scenes are on the backlot. It is a fast-paced show, with lots of moves per day, and because of that, we have to have everything on the follow cart for our next location. To make our moves quicker, we often load up on a stake bed. Luckily for us, we have an AD Department that keeps us well informed.