Some scenes I want to shoot in big public places, but unfortunately those places are too loud. I was thinking I could either shoot and ADR it. Or I could shoot it green screen, then shoot the public places and add them in as background later. What's easier? I assume green screen although difficult, would be the better route, since even though I have worked with good talented actors so far, they surprisingly suck at ADR, with all do respect. So maybe shooting them, while their dialogue is being recorded on a green screen set, is better I am thinking, as long as I have someone who can shoot it and match it up right, but what do you think?
Green screen VS. ADR.
- Thread starter ironpony
- Start date
paulears
Veteran
Wow! I wish I was as busy as you, ironpony - you have and endless series of jobs one after the other, all with radically different requirements and none seem to be problem free for you. If you shoot greenscreen, you are not going to fool anyone. You can't have camera movement, because you won't be able to match it with the equipment at your disposal. It will be dull and just not look real. If your actors are useless at ADR - then either they are really useless actors, or they simply are inexperienced at it - or maybe you don't manage it very well. What causes problems, work it out and sort it - maybe your loops are too long, so they can't get into the rhythm - how are you doing it. Some of their mistakes can be fixed by the sound editor, can't they? However - your real problem is that you continuously tackle projects that are too complex for where you are now. You see the noisy location and instead of seeing if there is a technical thing you can do to solve it, you're thinking even more complex technical work like keying and ADR. Are you certain that you can't sort your mic technique (have you actually asked a decent sound op for opinion). You have been almost obsessed with using inappropriate mic techniques in your other topics, so are you still trying to use these in the wrong places?
If your actors are trying to deliver their dialogue at the side of a 3 line highway, or next door to a landing helicopter, I understand - but both your solutions, are actually new problems. You can spend a day recording ten seconds of audio, and you can spend days trying to create different camera angles that will edit together in green screen - and that's not including shooting the actual green screen images, which will need careful planning and even drawing out, angle wise on paper. Me? I'd be looking to find a location recording solution before faffing around with cover up tricks that work on a budget!
If your actors are trying to deliver their dialogue at the side of a 3 line highway, or next door to a landing helicopter, I understand - but both your solutions, are actually new problems. You can spend a day recording ten seconds of audio, and you can spend days trying to create different camera angles that will edit together in green screen - and that's not including shooting the actual green screen images, which will need careful planning and even drawing out, angle wise on paper. Me? I'd be looking to find a location recording solution before faffing around with cover up tricks that work on a budget!
hscully
Veteran
Dude... everybody suc&s at ADR. It's a necessary evil. I just finished some and it's better than noise reduction. If you're having trouble with ambient noise then move or ADR. I use lavs and have a pretty good result on wides then add a boom mic up close. It depends on budget and expectations. I use the production audio all the time. I don't expect to get studio audio on exterior shoots. We just listen for sounds that won't cut. The din of voices on a beach or in a park is ok, an airplane is not. That sort of thing.
If you use Adobe Audition, it has a feature for "lining" up takes and works great. You can also do this by hand, cutting and sliding Go with the ADR. I agree with paulears that the green screen will not sell very well.
If you use Adobe Audition, it has a feature for "lining" up takes and works great. You can also do this by hand, cutting and sliding Go with the ADR. I agree with paulears that the green screen will not sell very well.
clang
Veteran
paulears is right that greenscreen limits your camera work - it could be the perfect solution if you just need some 'locked camera' shots, but anything complicated (especially any motion tracking) would be a can of worms. (In addition to greenscreen's usual zillion lighting problems, of course.)
ADR is certainly the 'pro' solution - a lot of films ADR pretty much all their dialogue - but requires ADR facilities, actors who can handle ADR (as you've already found, some are terrible, some great, regardless of their general acting skills), and skilled sound editors.
Have you experimented with lavalier microphones? For some outdoor/noisy locations, they are enough to give you decent voice recording without picking up too much surrounding noise. But in other locations, they are pretty much useless.
ADR is certainly the 'pro' solution - a lot of films ADR pretty much all their dialogue - but requires ADR facilities, actors who can handle ADR (as you've already found, some are terrible, some great, regardless of their general acting skills), and skilled sound editors.
Have you experimented with lavalier microphones? For some outdoor/noisy locations, they are enough to give you decent voice recording without picking up too much surrounding noise. But in other locations, they are pretty much useless.