Sound Blankets

David G. Smith said:
I'm confused, If they are walking across tile in heels and you can put down sound blankets, doesn't that mean that you can't see their feet in the shot? My question is, if you can't see their feet, why have them wear heels that make so much noise?

:evil: :evil: :evil: :beer:
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Not only would taking her heals off totaly change the way she moves, it would nock her down a few inches, maybe not a big deal to some directors, but I don't want to take that chance. Besides as said before sound needs are rarely top priority and simply asking to take off shoes may be laughed at. People think its bizarre to ask talent (and crew) to take off shoes, but you throw some blankets down and they think you are clever, and clever gets jobs. Go figure.

Yeah, gotta find me some of those sound blanket/reflector kits :grin:
 
Droog said:
Not only would taking her heals off totaly change the way she moves, it would nock her down a few inches, maybe not a big deal to some directors, but I don't want to take that chance. Besides as said before sound needs are rarely top priority and simply asking to take off shoes may be laughed at. People think its bizarre to ask talent (and crew) to take off shoes, but you throw some blankets down and they think you are clever, and clever gets jobs. Go figure.

Yeah, gotta find me some of those sound blanket/reflector kits :grin:
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Yeah, I can see that using the sound blankets work. I have on many occassion let the talent wear comfortable tennis shoes or the like in scenes, so sound would have less to deal with. In fact, on most things, the talent comes to me as opposed to the director to know when to wear the costume shoes on hard floor shots. However, if I was working for a director that took offense to that and would not accept the logic there of, It is his show and I would follow his lead.

I am mostly a camera dude, but have done more than a bit of editing, including features and know the importance of good sound. I try to stand up for good sound on set, including doing sound takes. I have learned that the friction that this causes on the floor is more than made up for in post, when my efforts at getting a good sound track and good pictures saves tons of work. This get jobs also.
 
David G. Smith said:
Yeah, I can see that using the sound blankets work. I have on many occassion let the talent wear comfortable tennis shoes or the like in scenes, so sound would have less to deal with. In fact, on most things, the talent comes to me as opposed to the director to know when to wear the costume shoes on hard floor shots. However, if I was working for a director that took offense to that and would not accept the logic there of, It is his show and I would follow his lead.

I am mostly a camera dude, but have done more than a bit of editing, including features and know the importance of good sound. I try to stand up for good sound on set, including doing sound takes. I have learned that the friction that this causes on the floor is more than made up for in post, when my efforts at getting a good sound track and good pictures saves tons of work. This get jobs also.
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Every set is different, but that is what makes this a cool line of work. Some times all the departments get along and everyone gets what they need, some times they don't and post production suffers. I have found that the level of planning and fore sight for the shoot directly relates to how smooth the operation goes. Some days you get to put sound blankets up, some days you are not even given time to get talent wired or boomed properly.

I am mostly an audio dude, but I know when to make a fuss and when to just let it slide. Quite simply, sound is very important but sometimes it is just not possible to get really good sound and ADR and post will have to cover it, in those situations I do my best to get the best I can, but more importantly get the shot. Makes not sense sacrice performance or a beautiful camera move just so sound can get mediocore sound that what cut it for post any how. Like you said, the Director is the fearless leader, be it Custer or Eisenhower you gotta role with it.

kinda of a tangent, sorry :grin: Reminising I guess.
 
Barry_Green said:
Hey Phil, where'd you find black/white sound blankets? I'm isolated out here in Vegas (which has *no* decent film supply stores) and those sound just perfect... store name? Link?
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Hi Barry,

I bought them from a gaffer, interestingly enough. ;-) He had some extras on his truck one day, and I bought them for $4 each. I'll get in touch with him to see if he remembers where he got them from.

Phil
 
I agree with all of the posts above, every set is different.

What I will usually do when working with a new director is tell them the following:

"When I ask for a new take, pretend the DP just told you that the last shot was out of focus."

Usually they laugh, but the get the meaing -- They would never question the DP if he/she said they needed another take because the focus was off...so treat sound accordingly.

I have to admit, this doesn't always work, and there are times where you almost have to throw your hands in the air and give up, but I still keep pressing on. (An example of this was the last feature I did....the director was also the writer, and he kept laughing during takes (the movie was a comedy). I just kept noting it on the sound log - "Director Laughing X" on each take it was a problem.

(I do have to admit, I jumped in and boomed on some of the more difficult shots, and there were times I really had to stifle a laugh or two...it was a funny movie. Harder to do than from my cart, because I kept turning away from the actors, to be polite.) ;-)

Phil
 
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