Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/936570
30 The song "A Million Dreams" between Barnum and his wife Charity (Michelle Williams) illustrates the technique. Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey captured the rooftop performance with Alexa 65 cameras skimming over 1800s New York with the Hudson River in the background. Since the rooftop was so big, sound placed speakers so the actors were never fifteen feet away from one. "You never want to set up a speaker fifty feet away and blast the actors because you will have time delay. Every frame is important to lip syncing," Maitland continues. "Hugh and Michelle are dancing everywhere on the roof, so we placed speakers all over so it was equal for them." Live singing required everyone who needed to hear the music to wear earwigs and the team would mic everyone vocally involved. Scenes that started off in dialog and then transitioned into playback also required earwigs for the actors so they could start singing on cue. One of those ambitious sequences takes place between Barnum and Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron). The two sit at a bar having a drink and Barnum is trying to convince Phillip, a sophisticated man of the theatre, to quit and join him in the circus as his protégé. What ensues is a choreographed bar song dubbed "The Other Side" that includes dance, drinking shots and flipping glasses. It's flashy and fun. After camera filmed the scene, they will do an additional take for sound which allows them to record all of the body movements as a separate wild track. "The actors use earwigs or Comteks with headphones so they can hear the music and then continue to make all the same movements while shooting the scene to playback. This allows post to add the track under the recorded audio to make the sound more believable," says Maitland. In fact, this technique was used for all the musical numbers involving playback, including "The Greatest Show," "Come Alive" and the Golden Globe Award-winning "This Is Me." Similarly, songs filmed inside the circus tent would have the crowd reenact their actions while actors performed with earwigs to create the wild track that didn't contain any dialog or music. Sound looked to create a seamless operation for the director finding ways to make things easier on set. They found themselves switching from Sanken COS-11D and Countryman B6s lavs depending on the wardrobe and went out of their way to record any props that were period, like the cash machines or typewriters, to create a catalog for post. Maitland regularly maxed out his two Cooper 208 mixers, admitting he prefers the Cooper over any digital board because of the ability to EQ. "I like the immediacy of EQ. Some people don't want you to EQ, but when you get an actor's voice in your head, you want to deliver that same voice through the entire movie. If the actor is wired and they turn their head all the way to their left, they're going to be off mic, losing the high end. I can adjust that with one hand of my fader and the other on the high-end EQ. You just can't do that on a digital board." Looking back on what was Maitland's second feature of the year, he admits he couldn't have done it without the good people around him. "We had a really great crew. When you're surrounded by people you can trust, it makes it so much easier to get done what you need to accomplish." Phillip (Zac Efron) and Anne (Zendaya) sing "Rewrite the Stars Day" at Steiner Brooklyn Studios The crew filming the "magical lantern" scene inside the Brooklyn rooftop set