A few audio questions before I shoot

[Raptor1138]

Hi, I'm about to shoot a small low-budget short film, a simple one scene, one location dialogue-based film. I am a beginner at this, and while I have studied filmmaking for years I'm just starting to gain experience. I want to make sure I have great audio on this shoot, I think I'm more worried about that than about having good video, and I would love any and all suggestions about how to do that.

My first question is about actually recording: my film is a conversation between two actors, who are often walking around, both talking in the same shot, etc. and I'm not sure what the best way to record all the dialogue is. I will have a Rode Videomic Pro and a Rode NTG-2 and possibly a couple lavs, even an external recorder, so I will have everything I need, but I'm just not sure about the actual process of recording and what to tell my sound guy to actually do. Will I be good with just one mic on a boom if I'm filming two actors in the same shot, sometimes several feet apart? I am shooting a lot of somewhat extended handheld shots, maybe moving around a bunch. I might even break out a multi cam setup and so I want to make sure I have great audio for that as well.

Secondly, I want to make sure that the ambient background noise as well as dialogue sounds great. I have picked a nearly silent outdoor location, but I don't want the dialogue to sound clear while the background noise sounds cheap. If I can get great audio mixing it will sell everything else so I want to get that right.

 

[Alex H.]

Your sound guy should know what to do, unless he is also doing this for the first time.

Are you trying to do this all in one take? I'm assuming (hoping) not, as that will make for both a boring scene and an audio challenge.

Typically, you'll have your master shot with both actors, and they may both be talking in that shot. Then, you'll shoot your cutaways and reactions, in which case the actor on cam is the only one the sound mixer focuses on while the other actor reads lines off-cam (and off-mic). Those are all cut together to seem like one, uninterrupted conversation. Audio from alternate takes can sometimes be used to fix issues in wide shots, but that can be tricky if delivery isn't consistent. Most of this can be done with a boom.

If the lavs are put into play, they should be recorded to separate tracks amd mixed in post.

As for the background sound, your sound person's job is to avoid it in production. It won't sound good for screen, and it won't "sell" the scene. All of that is built from scratch in post.

I suggest that you look through the yellow stickies at the top of the sound forum, especially "Audio 101". Lots of good info there, not just about gear but also about process. Scott (Noiz2) has a great thread linked there about makingmyour film sound (in post) like it had a budget. Once you get a feel for what you need in post, you'll have a better idea of what you need to record in production.

 

[Raptor1138]

Thanks for that great post, I will definitely make sure to check out the stickies. It is definitely not all in one take, many short takes. I'm not Cuaron. However I did have some slightly longer tracking handheld shots during the conversation in mind.

I have one specific question which might clarify things a bit. I have a shot in mind where I follow my actress around with the camera while the other actor, in the background or offscreen, has his lines during that shot as well. Some of this will be cutaways but not all of it. In a situation like this, should I just keep the mic on my actress in the foreground and let the mic pick up my actor's lines from that, or plan to have a mic on him as well, or something else?

 

[Alex H.]

I have one specific question which might clarify things a bit. I have a shot in mind where I follow my actress around with the camera while the other actor, in the background or offscreen, has his lines during that shot as well. Some of this will be cutaways but not all of it.

If he's off-cam, he's off-mic. If he's in the background and he's out of focus, wild lines and alternate takes can be used. (Wilds, by the way, are audio-only takes of certain lines recorded after a scene is shot just to cover any potential problem spots.). If he's in frame and in focus, things get tricky. A second boom op would be the best idea, but in that case and working woth what you've got, stick a lav on him and record it on a separate track from the boom. Mix in post to taste, but often there's only a bit of sound from a wide/master shot that's used; the cutaways are where a lot of the dialog is sourced. For the shot you describe, she'll obviously have on-cam dialog throughout that shot that will likely be used, but his may be able to be sourced from alt takes. Hard to say with 100% certainty without actually seeing the shot.