An Open Letter from Your
Sound Department - Part One
This letter is being written by audio
professionals to help directors and producers understand how good sound
can be recorded on the set. We want to help you make the best film
possible. For this piece,
we will not discuss the topic of mixing itself, as this is the "hocus
pocus" part that you trust us to do so well.
We want you to have information that will
enable you to evaluate what is interfering with good sound, before a
hasty decision is made that can harm the quality of your film's sound.
To help you make your decision you need to know about some of the
obstacles that we sound people face, before we can even begin to get
usable production sound on the set.
This is after all, the age day of digital
sound. Theaters have wonderful THX (the audience IS listening) and SDDS
with 5.1 surround. Home audio is often better than many theaters as a
sophisticated audience demands DVDs with 24 bits. Yet, today's sound at
it's source on set is suffering like never before.
THE PROBLEM
We, the sound crew, are the ones that you
depend on to create and protect YOUR original sound tracks during
production.
Unlike the work of the majority of the people
who are working for on-camera results, the mixer's efforts can not be
"seen" on the set. Almost no one hears what the microphone picks up.
Too few are sure just what we do. Only the most obviously bad noises
are even brought up for discussion.
Included in our job is to monitor the sets for
unnecessary, accidental, ignorant and sometimes even malicious actions
or lack of actions that may compromise your sound track. To emphasize
this point: WE DO THIS SO YOU WILL HAVE THE BEST TRACKS POSSIBLE; IT IS
NOT FOR US.
We are too often frustrated by the state of
conditions that now exist on most sets. Many times we are expected to
solve all sound problems alone. Instead, this should always be a
cooperative effort with the assistant directors and other crafts.
Sound mixers are often perceived as pests or
even a hindrance to the film's progress. We don't like being put in
this untenable position because it is humiliating and unnecessary. We
don't like to be considered adversarial to the rest of the production
and we certainly don't want to be the "sound police"!
A mixer on a tough show, who fights alone to
get you good sound, stands a good chance of burning out from all the
excuses and defenses put up. It's hard to put it all out there without
support. The temptation is to cave into the pressure and just go with
the flow, and no good can come when that happens.
The problems that we face may lead you to
believe that good sound cannot be achieved without set disruptions and
added costs. This would not be necessary if reasonable measures are
anticipated and endorsed by you both in pre-production and during
production.
We know the limitations of our equipment. For
example, microphones are just tools, they don't make miracles happen.
If on-set audio problems are not dealt with immediately, they will only
be back to haunt you again in postproduction.
You can help us do a better job for you. Good
sound can most often be achieved by using reasonable preparation to
avoid pitfalls.
We need your understanding and your backing.
THEN AND NOW
To understand the sorry state of audio affairs
today, you must go back in time.
There once existed a major studio system where
an assembly line of crafts worked together to churn out film products.
No matter which studio we worked at, all crafts understood they were
expected to take reasonable measures within their purview to allow for
good sound recordings. It was instilled as part of their job
description. These duties were passed on to the young apprentices.
Grips cut microphone shadows sharply with flags. The electric
department would change out a noisy light that buzzed. Camera
assistants would try everything possible to quiet camera noise and many
is the time that an operator had blankets and pillows over them and the
noisy camera. Every other craft would do whatever was deemed reasonable
to help get good sound, because it was considered to be part of their
job. No one had to try to persuade them to do it. It was an era where
reasonable co-operation with the Sound Department was the normal way to
make good movies.
Today's crafts still have pride in their jobs
but it seems they NO LONGER consider sound assistance to be a part of
their job description. The problems began when the in-house studio
training system broke down as non-union independent films proliferated.
Along the way, the process of learning what their jobs entailed changed
the way they perceived sound. The other crafts now don't think they
should do anything to help YOU get good sound for YOUR movie. There is
no longer an apprenticeship system to pass along this knowledge. They
now learn on the job under fire through osmosis.
They must now be requested in each instance to
do reasonable things, which are necessary to protect YOUR sound tracks,
because they just don't consider it to be a part of their job anymore.
The Sound Department would gladly cut the
shadow on the back wall of the set ourselves or cover the noisy camera,
but that's not how the game is played. Instead, we have to convince,
cajole, coerce, plead and use every other psychological persuasion
technique to get the other crafts to help us prevent sound problems.
That last second, scrambling time on set should
only be used to fix the unexpected problems which will inevitably
occur. Instead, that last second is the first time that the sound mixer
finds out about changes in dialog, staging or unwanted noises from on
or off of the set.
All of the other departments work for what is
seen and not heard. Every single person on the production from make up
and wardrobe to grips and props concentrates only on what's seen in the
viewfinder.
Because the other production crafts work only
for picture, no one knows or cares what's happening to YOUR audio.
You are the only person on set with the power
to allow us to get you good sound. It is always tempting for sound to
give in and not go against the grain when circumstances impose
impossible barriers.
Film schools are going to need to add
psychology courses to their sound mixing curriculum soon. The situation
is often that bad. That is why we want you to know as much as possible
about the audio minefield lurking on every set.
What may often seem to you to be a lot of
complaining, is in fact simply communicating negative factors to you,
so that you will know what you are getting on your sound tracks, and
what sound problems can be fixed NOW. For bottom line, these are YOUR
choices. Just because we hear a noise does not make it a sound problem.
It is your problem too. After all, we turn over the tracks to you at
the end of the day.
After reading this, hopefully it will be much
easier for you to make the informed decision about when it's really the
time to loop. It's far too late to reverse a sound calamity later in
post.
Even though this topic is last in the chain of
events, we should start first by talking about why ADR is not a fix.
PART
TWO TOPICS - Looping, Sound Problems on the Set, Locations
Preproduction, Art Department, Assistant Directors, Production
Managers, Camera Department
PART
THREE TOPICS -
Special Effects, Wardrobe, Props, Grips, Electrics, Craft Service,
Transportation, Actors, Directors, Final Notes
An Open Letter from your Sound Department.
Written by John Coffey johncoffey@coffeysound.com, with help from Randy
Thom, Jeff Wexler, Noah Timan, Mike Hall, John Garrett, Scott Smith,
Rob Young, Mike Filosa, Wolf Seeberg, Darren Brisker, Charles Wilborn,
Todd Russell, Brydon Baker, Larry Long, Glen Trew, Dave Schaaf, Charles
Tomaras, Klay Anderson, Brian Shennan, Hans Hansen, David Marks, Bob
Gravenor, Von Varga, Mark Steinbeck, Carl Cardin, Eric Toline, Joseph
Cancila, Stu Fox, Peter Devlin, Matt Nicolay and many others.
| If you are a Film or
Television professional and would like to contribute your
expertise with filmmaking articles, tips or special reports, please
email me at: pdm@actioncutprint.com |
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Peter D. Marshall/www.actioncutprint.com
pdm@actioncutprint.com
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