Documentary Audio Advice: Two people, one boom, one lav

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young_fast_&_scientific

Active member
Hey guys,

I'm currently shooting a feature length doc with a two person crew; myself and a friend. I'm going to be shooting a meeting between two people at a race track and need to figure out the best option for covering their audio. I have one wireless lav package and a shotgun mic.

I really don't want to spend the extra money on a second lav kit, so I'm wondering if you guys think I could get away with using the one lav to cover the two subjects with the boom mic as backup. In a controlled environment, I would say it's not an issue. However, I can't always rely on the boom because I might end up shooting from a distance on occasion.

Any suggestions?
 
Is this scripted or not? If so shoot twice to capture each one using the lav and also record using the boom. Worked on a very low budget and had to sort of do things like that. What wireless mic do you have? You could possibly try setting the Sensitivity so you can get a better pickup. Just a suggestion.

Nicole
 
The usual mantra is 'sound is half the picture', but for a doc it's even more important (With the obvious exception of documentaries about mimes).

So you can either adjust your shots so you can boom everything, or spend a little money on renting a second lav.
 
young_fast_&_scientific said:
Hey guys,

I'm currently shooting a feature length doc with a two person crew; myself and a friend. I'm going to be shooting a meeting between two people at a race track and need to figure out the best option for covering their audio. I have one wireless lav package and a shotgun mic.

I really don't want to spend the extra money on a second lav kit, so I'm wondering if you guys think I could get away with using the one lav to cover the two subjects with the boom mic as backup. In a controlled environment, I would say it's not an issue. However, I can't always rely on the boom because I might end up shooting from a distance on occasion.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

The lav is going to be too far from the source to pickup very well in the case of the person not wearing it. Even if it does, the "Sound of the sound" - perspective, tonality, etc - would be radically different between the two speakers. Not likely to get you decent results. Use two lavs, or train the boom operator to properly follow the dialog, re-aiming the mic from person to person with the flow of the converation. The boom op should know the script as well as the actors do so he can anticipate who will speak next and miove the mic's aim before the line starts.
 
the problem with booming a documentary is its not really scripted so you don't know who's going to talking and when.
 
manglerBMX said:
the problem with booming a documentary is its not really scripted so you don't know who's going to talking and when.
Click to expand...
Yet if you know the art of booming, its a great way to tackle one.

Put a skilled eng mixer in there and he is going to be able to follow an unscripted conversation
between 5 people wonderfully.

To the original poster, when you say you'll be shooting from a distance. Are you talkin long lens stuff? or more of extreme wide?
Long lens stuff..yes that becomes an issue unless your sound mixer is wireless to cam..
extreme wide stuff is usually shot as b -roll near the end of a conversation and put inside of the interview over the close up dilalog.

Now if this is reality style. Shoot everything non stop..then yes..you need 2 wires.
 
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I would certainly treat this as a 2 lav + 1 boom action. Your boom could well cover two people even when it's a non-scripted scenario. A lav on each person is just there to cover when you miss a word or possibly can't boom both at the same time. Do not treat it as your primary. Pretend that you ONLY have the boom as your source and nothing else. This will put you in a mindset that you must get every line on the boom. When the shots begin to go long wide and extreme wide your lavs are already there to cover. Still boom in every shot regardless of how wide or silly the shots are.
 
Thanks for the response guys.

Just to clarify, the film is a documentary and is totally unscripted. I will be catching the conversations in the moment as they happen and will be following the two people throughout the night.

Regarding wide shots, I'm talking on a long lens. We'll be shooting at a smash up derby style race track and I may want to get them from a distance at some point.

It looks like it's unanimous that the best thing to do would be to rent a second lav package and use the boom the best to its abilities.

Thanks for the responses!
 
young_fast_&_scientific said:
Hey guys,
... shooting a meeting between two people at a race track and need to figure out the best option for covering their audio...Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Assuming your at the race track during an event with lots of ambient noises, you'll want the mics as close to the subjects as possible. Where background noise is a big headache, you want the mic within a foot of the subject's mouth - ie a wireless mic (lavaliere on the sternum okay, affixed to a baseball cap better, over the ear vocalist mic best). Of course, if you're doing tight CU or ECUs, a supercardioid shotgun mic would be okay.

Happy trails, Michael
 
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