timapter
Veteran
Interesting hair, interesting spot for my phones
So, the reality show wrapped yesterday, and begins airing on the 28th August. All in all, it was a great shoot, and not as hard as I expected it to be. In the tradition of Phil, here is my Reality TV Lessons Learned post:
WIRELESS FOR EVERY CHARACTER, OR DONT BOTHER:
If you want to do it properly on a reality show that shoots in demanding, noisy locations, wire everyone you expect to work with at any given location. If your system is diversity, it doesnt even matter if you dont have insufficient Rx units, as you can re-tune to the right people as you shoot in different places. For this show, we started without enough wireless (due to budget restrictions), and had to boom EVERYTHING. As contestants got knocked out, we eventually switched to wireless.
Diversity takes on new value when you run multiple Tx's with fewer Rxs (we miked everyone, made a list of who was on what channel, and split up the Rx units between the sound crew). Its BRILLIANT to be able to pirate onto whoever you need's signal on the move - for this, the Sony UWP system was pretty good. Although, I still hate it compared to anything by Lectro, and even the G2 (which was what i wanted initially when they mentioned low budget)
GOD IS IN THE CONTENT:
In some places (like a panel beater we shot at last week), its not really possible to pull good (or even usable) audio sometimes. I learned a lot about keeping track of what got said by who (we had no script sups, and no budget for coms for directors), and trying to pick up on these info bites in cleaner locations (in the form of diary cams a la survivor). this is more a directing skill, but a useful thing I learned none the less. Image isnt really recording the story - WE are.
DONT BOTHER WITH EXTERNAL CABLED BOOMS:
I was the only guy running an internally cabled boom on the set (or guys had the SA standard Panamics), and I kicked their ASSES everytime - so much faster to move from outside to inside, big to small rooms, adjust while still rolling, etc etc etc.
WIRELESS CAMERA HOP WOULD HAVE BEEN IDEAL:
Had we had access to Lectro 400 series gear, I would have without thinking made use of a wireless hop. Ive never been in situations where this was more needed in my life.
INTERIOR/EXTERIOR MIC STUFF GOES OUT THE WINDOW:
Often you move too fast to think about "should I use a hyper or a shotgun". While I stuck to hypers inside / shotguns outside for interview setups, the reality portions were 90% recorded with a 416. My guess at an ultimate all rounder reality mic would be the CS-3e for its slightly better performance indoors. Sometimes, you just have to use one mic all the time.
Thats just some stuff, any questions fire away.
BUT
My next job is a drama series which I will be on for at least a month, and possibly up to 3 months depending on how it goes. As per usual on South African budgets, we are shooting Z1, and recording audio to camera (this was the request/ultimatum from production - I wanted to buy a 744t for it).
Im going to be running two 302s ganged together, using 416's and Oktavas as my primary mics. Ill also be using my Lectro 100s for wireless.
My plan is to gang the mixers together (allowing up to 6 channels, we will normally use 4 I imagine, but two extra for safety), and set the non-master mixers outputs to mic level - I will then use these two channels to feed the mic input only on my Sony UWP wireless system and use them as boom op/director coms. The main outs of the master mixer will send line level outs to the camera. Does this sound sensible?
Cheers,
Tim
The edit turnaround is radical, and they are in for a tough few months of catch up (I think they are editing show 3 at the moment). Ive seen the promos for the show which look killer, but not the show itself. The producers here in south africa dont get it. They really dont, pretty much across the board they are reluctant to pay for gear that is a pro standard in the states. But Im trying to change these things...