Doing a shoot in a club

[capitalP]

I have a scene in my movie where the characters are inside a crowded club. From watching most behind the scenes DVD's, scenes like this are usually done silent, meaning the crowd usually is dancing to nothing then sound is added in post.

Have you guys ever done a scene like this? And should I do the same thing, just have the place pure silent with just crowd noise, then add the music later on in Post. I have a film soundtrack so the music will be all original from indie artist.

The entire scene has no dialouge, it's all just the actors hanging in the club with (V.O).

Just wanted to know if this is the normal and easiest thing to do.

My biggest concern is the crowd, everyone is volunteering their time, I don't want them to get bored and stuff, I figured maybe I can play the music from the film as I'm filming, what do u guys think...

 

[Noiz2]

If you have no dialog there is no reason to film it silent. Well there are a few reasons actually. If you have any cuts it will interrupt the music, you won't be able to mix the music separately in the final - and that means that however it is recorded is it. I would probably shoot it with music, if people are dancing and moving to the music, and also record a few takes of crowd only for sound. Cut with the music track and the odds are that you will replace the production tracks with the cleaner version of the music and then add in the crowd.

 

[ScoobySounds]

Yes I agree, if there is no dialogue then the gains in actor performance to be had far outweight the benefits of sync crowd sound. Just get one wildtrack of crowd sound, and best use the same track (or one of an equal beats per minute) as you will in the final just for dancing rhythm.

FOR THE RECORD

when you do have dialogue in a scene with a band playing what i usually do is record them on sync with the wide establisher of 'the band', then from then on after the AD shouts action the band play 4 bars, so that everyubody gets a sense of the rhythm, then the band mime playing (when they are in shot) and we can record dialogue. if there are percussionists involved then EITHER have stand by drums with the skins removed or speak to the camera department nicely (beforehand, not just before a take) about framing the drummer out slightly for the miming bits. its damn near impossible to 'pull punches' realistically on drums.

When recording dancing, yipping, clapping, stamping, all needs to be done seperately... = unpopular sound person. as with so many aspects of our jobs the only thing that remedies this unpopularity is ensuring you don't do all your wildtracks last thing before wrap.

 

[capitalP]

Thanks for the advice fellas, I'm going to record crowd noise, so I can mix it in later with the clean music in Post.

 

[CharlieG]

You may want to consider when laying your music down make it sound real ambient since you are trying to emulate club surroundings if you are going for that feel....

 

[capitalP]

Yeah I thought about that, I use Vegas and I'm not that good with sound, maybe I'll hit the Vegas section and ask for advice.

 

[Noiz2]

THe dead simplest and probably best sounding solution for the music is to play it back in the club while everyone else is on break and rerecord it in the space. This is a trick that is often done in film post. It's called "worldizing". The most talked about case is all the music in American Graffiti, or most any way was "worldized" because it's all coming from practical sources. But it is done all the time. If you cant use the club then even doing it in your house (or some ones with a fairly large space) will make it fit in much better.