If we where doing this shoot anywhere in the USA it would be easy. It is mostly sit down interview and walk and talk. But the logistics is killing us on this shoot. We are shooting in mostly private homes, however none of us expected homes with tiny elevators, lack of power for the softbank kit and expense/ difficulty of traveling within France on the Train. Even the simplest tasks are difficult because no one on the production team speaks French, all of us speak alittle bit of Spanish which has been useful and useless at times. Everyone we are interviewing speaks english and French, which has been very helpful to us as they have helped us get cabs, book train tickets and obtain things we need. The weather has been pretty good most of our trip. We spent most of yesterday doing B-roll of the city and getting our talent walking around. It was a light sound day so I tried to be helpful to our camera man (and my good friend) by carrying the Tripod or rolling around the light kit. I was thinking if we had spare time we should make a photo montage called “Softbank Kit is Paris” but we haven’t had time. After rolling around the light kit yesterday and carrying the tripod I am so happy I am a sound guy. My sound package is so lite and easy to manage compared to everything else. Overall it has been a great shoot so far, Later today we are taking the Bullet Train to Lyon for the night to do a day of B-roll and interviews. I have never been on a long distance train trip before so I am looking forward to it.
Tag: Sound Mixer FL
Giving Film makers a reality check
Today I had a long talk with an Indie Film maker who really wanted to hire me to mix his film for $100.00 a day with equipment, Which I explained was so low there was no room to negotiate. He then tried to explain to me that I could defer $1500.00 a day so when his film “Made Millions after it went to Sundance” I would make more than I normally charge. These comments use to anger me but I have realized recently that most of these people have no F**king idea how much sound equipment costs. So I told him for his 21 day shoot he would be better off buying a sound package and getting a eager film student to do it. He then responded, “I should be able to get a 4 channel mixer 3 wireless, boom, shotgun right”. So I explained to him for $1250.00 he could get a Professional (well Prosumer) PSC Dv3 mixer, Rode NTG2 and K-tek pole. So he decided to go that way instead and hopefully we have one less uneducated film maker.
HVX-200 P2 Camera
This camera seems to becoming the go to camera for all lower budget projects but producers don’t realize that using this camera instead of a full size pro camera creates audio issues:
1. No where to mount my Wireless Hop at all most operators hate wearing a waist pack and trying to get them to wear 2 lectros is even harder
2. Power the Zaxcom Hop is a pain with internal batteries
3. Some audio issues with camera firmware and 16gb cards that creates beep, which are sometimes recorded to the card. So now I should record backup
4. Poor headphone jack volume and quality.
Why I am a Location Sound Mixer
I have been doing a variety of different types of projects recently. The last year or so I have been doing mostly corporate video stuff, reality tv and some news. But in the last few weeks I have done a indy film, corporate video, national commercial and some audio consulting work. It has been nice having a change of pace, even though the indy films don’t pay as well as some of my other types of work. I had a 1st year film student ask me “Why your a Location Sound guy?”. So I went through my normal answers of I enjoy a new challenge everyday, I like meeting new people,I like being my own boss and enjoy being able to mix and spend time in South Fl, Ga and many other places. After I answered he responded, “You could have had those same things if you where a grip, camera operator or any other film job. So I responded, ” I am a sound guy its in my blood, I have an instinct and 6th sense about it that most people don’t have. I also couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life and even if I made alot of money doing something else I would do something sound related still. It is that passion that drives me to work hard even at hour 14 of a 16 hour day. I would love to hear your comments on why your a sound person.
Approaching a car scene
Today, I faced one of my least favorite scenes to shoot one that takes place in a car while mixing in Savannah Ga . The scene involved a 6 year old girl and her father having a conversation ranging from whispers to loud laughing. I considered using wireless to cover the scene but the little girl was wearing a thick winter coat and scarf which would have made hiding the lav difficult and since her voice was so high and loud I was concerned about mic level distortion. It would have been Ideal to have a Sanken Cub for this scene but I didn’t have time to secure one, but it is a microphone I am considering purchasing very soon for these situation. I just don’t do many films anymore and have been trying to cut back my G.A.S (Gear Acquiring Syndrome). So I decided just to keep it simple and use my short boompole and aim it through the back door right between both characters while trying to avoid getting burned by the 2k right below my arms while the camera op was shooting the scene handheld. I was able to record at a decent level but it is always rough when you have zero head room and have the microphone jammed into the headliner of the car. So the best way to approach car scenes usually are Boundary Microphones, Plant microphones and wireless. Though I was able to wing it, which was no fun
Pro Location Sound LLC 