Bowling Alley

A

Andrew McCarrick

Carbonite Member
The film that I'm currently working on has numerous scenes set inside a 40 lane bowling alley, and I'm wondering the best way to record audio in such an environment. I just finished watching the Sound for Film and Television DVD, which gave me some ideas, but I'm still not 100% sure on the best way to approach it. Some scenes can be shot in a way, where we can hold everybody from bowling, except the couple lanes on either side (for a realistic look), but I'm worried about the wider shots, where we'd have 18+ people bowling at one time.

Any ideas?

Would a SuperCardiod/shotgun be better for the close-ups to cut down on the couple lanes on either side?
 
You should try an audio test run before the shoot to see what works best.

Just get in as close as you can with a cardioid or use lavs. Depending upon the angles you could use a carefully aimed shotgun, although the "roomy" sound from such an ambient space could be a problem, especially when matching to the rest of the dialog. Another option, again depending upon the angles, is to have the other bowlers close to the shot start their bowl at the beginning of the lanes and stop when they're out of the shot, put the ball down and let it sit on the alley. If they are not in the shot they should do nothing, you can fill in with sound FX in post.

You may have to ADR. Definitely get dialog wilds while you are there as well as lots of bowling sounds from a multitude of perspectives.
 
I would guess this is a good lav situation. Make sure to get some good coverage of the bowling alley while you have it. There is damn little out there on bowling and your post people will kiss your feet if you can give them good coverage. Balls down the lane, ball returns, gutter balls, the pin machine etc. Get in there when there aren't actors and crew making noise and record everything that makes a sound.
 
Andrew McCarrick said:
The film that I'm currently working on has numerous scenes set inside a 40 lane bowling alley, and I'm wondering the best way to record audio in such an environment. I just finished watching the Sound for Film and Television DVD, which gave me some ideas, but I'm still not 100% sure on the best way to approach it. Some scenes can be shot in a way, where we can hold everybody from bowling, except the couple lanes on either side (for a realistic look), but I'm worried about the wider shots, where we'd have 18+ people bowling at one time.

Any ideas?

Would a SuperCardiod/shotgun be better for the close-ups to cut down on the couple lanes on either side?
Click to expand...

My first thoughts would be to arrange to work in the location at something other than its normal working hours for all your scenes with dialog. For the lanes immediately beside you, use extras and have them pantomime the action of bowling behind your actors, blocking your shot so you don't actually have to see the ball leaving their hands. Come back later when things are active and record SFX of the alley in operation to lay in under the scenes to create the illusion that they were shot while the place was full of people bowling.

Most alleys I've been are cavernous places abounding in reflected sounds. Use a directional mic, yes, but a shotgun might not be the first choice. A boomed hypercardiod might be better and lavs concealed on the talent better yet.
 
Thanks, for all the ideas. The one thing I forgot to mention is that we're looking at 3-5 people in the various scenes, so I don't know if we could actually do lavs.
 
Andrew McCarrick said:
Thanks, for all the ideas. The one thing I forgot to mention is that we're looking at 3-5 people in the various scenes, so I don't know if we could actually do lavs.
Click to expand...

Why not? Say 5 people are your worst case scenario. Shoot double system. Put a radio lav on each character, rent a Sound Devices 788, a Deva, or other >4 track recorder and record each lav to its own track. Mix to taste in post.
 
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