Day 3 was a much shorter day, as we were only required to get scenes with one of the actors. We first started the day at Hartsholme Park where we would be recording the introduction scene to the film, as this scene was heavily musically based it wouldn’t so important to track the scenes however we thought we would do just in case the sound would be required in the final mix.

 

After this we would head to the second location, which would be within a local student house, we would be using the living room and the hallways as places to record. This factored into our placement of the boom microphones as we wanted to ensure clean direct recordings that didn’t have too much room sound as this is something we would want to add in post production as we’d then be able to monitor it more efficiently.

 

This day was quite a short one and we didn’t have access to clip microphones again. This wasn’t a massive pitfall though as we didn’t record much dialogue at all. 

 (capturing scene in a hallway.)

Unlike the first day of shooting, this day would be entirely based on key dialogue based scenes. One of the initial problems we encountered before the shoot was the fact that the clip radio microphones were all booked out well in advanced meaning that we would need to improvise for this day. Given the fact however that the characters doing the said dialogue were constantly moving we came to the conclusion that shooting a direct shotgun microphone like the Sennheiser wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. In the end we ended up using two of these microphones with the idea that Ed and me would both track one of the actors each whilst making sure we didn’t cross signal pathways (as that would created muffled recordings).

 

This seemed to work well with the recordings as we had two clear dialogue recordings that we could easily separate without little spill over, meaning we could deal with each characters dialogue track separately.

 

We would also again take into consideration some of the advice given by the guest lecturers including factoring in how to deal with the relationship between the director and us as the sound recordists. For example, ensuring that we never overstepped our boundary by telling everyone to stop doing what they were doing so we could record atmosphere or various foliage, we would do this before and after recording shots.

After multiple months of research and lectures, it had finally came time to be on set recording. Me and Ed Richardson decided it would be beneficial to meet up a day before hand so that we could test the equipment with the set up that we’d be running, that being 2 wireless radio microphones and a Sennheiser boom microphone however after speaking with our director we discovered we’d not be getting a dialouge on that given day. We still used the time to get aquatinted with the 633 field recording device however.

 

For our first day of recording we would be heading to a local forest in Lincoln where we would be tracks scenes that mainly aimed to tie everything together, for this reason we would only be making use of the Sennheiser MKE3000 due to its direct nature when used as a boom microphone. This was was quite a simple shoot, with us mainly tracking footsteps and the general atmosphere, we did however take the advice of Jez Riley French and shoot as much as we possibly could within the time frame. This included recording atmosphere of each location between camera set up. This will prove to be quite useful when it comes to the final edit as we’ll be able to bed multiple slates over a consistent layer of atmosphere.

 

We ended up capturing clear and direct audio. As we went out earlier in the week to do a location check we were able to distinguish some of the issue with recording here and how to deal with them. This included hearing out for planes before shots and checking pathways before hitting record to ensure no shots were disrupted audio wise.

Before heading out and recording on location, me and Ed thought it’d be helpful to go out and do a sound reconnaissance on the relevant locations. We took the necessary equipment to full ensure we could judge the sonic environment in which we would be recording, this included the 633 and a boom microphone.

 

Firstly we would get a taxi to the our first location which was situated at Hartsholme country park. The first initial problem we noticed within the location was the vast amount of dog walkers, we would be filming throughout the day so this would be a problem we could possibly face. To combat this, we would ask the director about filming locations within the park and luckily for us we are going to be filming away from pathways meaning that we’d be able avoid dog walkers. The other possible issue would be the weather as even though we were within a forest, it was still quite windy. As precautions we decided it’d be of benefit to take a wind socks for the shotgun microphone. The last possible problem we had to troubleshoot before we left was a plane going over although, this only happened one time in the hour or so we were there so it should be fine to shoot, we will just have to have to listen out before clicking that record button.

 

We would then go to check out an abandoned building that we’d be filming in that was a 10 minute walk away from the university. As this was a sheltered building we wouldn’t be facing problems with weather such as rain. Wind however could be a problem due to the fact the building itself lacks any doors or windows so we’d have to be careful when recording to avoid a potential warp sound. We will be again be using a wind sock to neutralize the threat.

 

The final location we would be shooting in would be a local student house, similarly to the second location we’d be sheltered away from potentially disruptive weather so that wouldn’t be an issue. The only other issue we could potentially face within this house would be the space itself as it was filled of hard surfaces which could prove extremely reverberant, this would make boom placement an important factor. When we did test recordings in this location, we fount the audio to be clear and very much useable.

 

To conclude, each location offers varying problems that could arise however by taking the correct precautions we should in theory be able to get industry level recordings within the given locations.

 

 

 

 

This weeks lecture was with Lincoln university alumni Luke Pickering, who’s gone on to work under the tutelage of world renown producer Paul Epworth. This lecture had a massive focus on how to best position yourself post graduation and how to get on the first step on the producer ladder.

 

The lecture heavily focused around how you can get best position yourself to get chances in industry, including doing as much work experience as possible as when a place does open up, often the employers will discuss people they had in for work experience. This also means travelling as much as you can to do so, staying on friends floors and such. Th lecture also had a lot of vital information on studio etiquette that was critical to him making a good impression. This included not focusing on yourself as a producer when you’re first in the studio as the vast majority of employers aren’t looking for producers, they looking for people who willing to the mundane tasks such as tea making and cleaning. Luke also depicted the importance of maintaining a positive attitude within the studio environment, including not complaining about long hours or asking for time off on short notice as you can easily be replaced, you must be committed to the studio and producer you are shadowing/working for.

 

Overall, this lecture included vital information from Luke who was in a similar situation to me three years ago, these pointers were in conclusion, very vital to how I will depict myself when it comes to taking the next steps on the producer ladder.