compressor-sound-??

S

snowdog

New member
hey guys, new to the forum and filming. Looking at working on our first indie production early next year. Here's the deal. There's a house we want to use-mostly for it's external "beauty." however, there's no electric, which will be needed, since we will be filming at night/dusk-electric mostly to run lights and a couple of fog machines. Question: running a boom mic, if we were to use a generator, run it a decent ways away, would it pick up the sound of the generator, and is there any way around this, or getting electric into a "pretty much" secluded house? Obviously for a horror flick. :)

Thanks!
--Jason Hull
 
Well that is an issue even the big boys struggle with. Get the geny put as far away as possible and cross your fingers. The further away and the more things you can put between it and the mic, the better.

Good luck
 
thanks....will let you know. Really want to shoot at this place, so it looks like that's what we'll end up doing.
 
Even more important - make sure you rent a "silent" genny (also known as a film genny) otherwise you could put it in the next county and still hear it.

Phil
 
Did the house ever have power? If it's anywhere close you might be able to get it hooked up again for less than the cost of an alternative.

Another possibility is DC-AC conversion - running off car batteries with an inverter for the fog machines - use auto lights for the scenes. If you keep the lighting to a minimium between takes you can run a suprisingly long time off a few truck batteries. RV supply stores also carry regular & florescent bulbs that run off 12v DC....

All work but just about anything beats fighting a generator . . .

Good luck!
 
ptalsky said:
Even more important - make sure you rent a "silent" genny (also known as a film genny) otherwise you could put it in the next county and still hear it.

Phil
Click to expand...
The issue with the generator is not just sound in the location, but you might get complaints from neighbors if the generator is noisy. So in most cases you have to use a blimped generator. Since you're trying to put the generator far from the location, you're going to be running lots of cable between generator and set, which is expensive to rent and takes time to lay.

Usually it's easier to find a location with an active power hook-up. It's much quieter and simpler to do a tie-in to the house's electrical service. Whenever doing electrical work on a film, work with an experienced gaffer. Never attempt a tie-in on your own unless you're an electrician. Some localities prohibit tie-ins. Insurance and legal issues abound.
 
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