Wild Lines

[4100xpb]

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the mechanics of recording wild lines at a location shoot. I understand the idea - recording extra takes in case you can't record sync sound like on a really wide frame, or as insurance against any problems that may have come up in the sync takes.

What I can't figure out is how do you sync wild lines to the video? Do you play back some takes on a monitor and do a kind of ADR? Are the actors so solid in their craft that the words come out so close in rhythm and tempo to the original takes, they can be lined up with a little bit of splicing and dicing?

Could anyone here walk me through an example of how they shot, recorded wild lines, and then used them in post for the final sound? I'm very curious to hear how it works.

Thanks,

mark

 

[loudlael]

An example say Fred's line is "Doug I want to get some pizza" and there happens to be a scripty that dropped their pen on the word "some" on the take the editor wants to use. So you would take the word some from the wild line and splice it in there. But it is kind of hard to get "usuable" wild lines because production has to hold the work and the wild lines won't match very well if they aren't in the same location. You could also possibly get the word from another take.
Another use is if the director wants alternative lines. They could be used when the talents mouth is off screen.
Its always cheaper to get wild lines for a just in case then paying for a studio, crew, and actors to do adr.

 

[Alex H.]

What I can't figure out is how do you sync wild lines to the video? Do you play back some takes on a monitor and do a kind of ADR? Are the actors so solid in their craft that the words come out so close in rhythm and tempo to the original takes, they can be lined up with a little bit of splicing and dicing?

You use whatever resources you have available to you. Recording wild can be with or without audio/video guide from previous takes... especially if the actors are very consistent in delivery. The idea, though, is to record with the same mics in the same space using the same setup.

In post, it may take some splicing. There's also a tool called VocAlign that helps stretch and shrink individual syllables to keep it in sync with lip movement.