Week 8
ON SET!
I’ve been on set all week this week, and it has definitely been a very mixed experience so far. I finally got to meet the Sound Recorder I will be working with on Monday, and unfortunately we have been having a lot of trouble communicating due to a mix of factors, mostly involving the language barrier between the two of this. Because of this it has been really hard to pitch any sort of ideas or things I think would be cool to try, as their is large gaps in our understanding of each other. Additionally, the SR I’m working with seems very reserved and quiet, so it has been hard to connect with her throughout the week.
That being said, being on set has been a very cool and eye opening experience. I think one of the biggest shocks for me personally was how little set-up the sound crew required. We would be ready within about 10-15 minutes of setting up the equipment and checking to see if it worked while the camera crew needed about 1 hour to set up a shot. That meant there was a lot of time sitting around trying to not get in the way of the people that were working, and I felt like that time I could have been taking to learn more about different parts on set, but I didn’t want to distract anyone else or take over another persons job, so I mostly just sat to the side and offered assistance if they needed it.
While we were shooting I was often surprised by how tricky positioning was. Because the camera had spent so long setting up, my job was to figure out a way to get good sound without moving the camera at all, and because the AirBNB we were in was quite small, that often meant that I was standing around the corner from the shot, wrapping the boom pole around door frames, and I wasn’t able to see where the mic was pointed. However, with help from the Sound Recorder I was still able to capture good sound, and no one mentioned anything about the sound when they were syncing the clips, so I took that as a win for me!
Another big problem came up during filming, as the Sound recorder wore the headphones, and their was only one pair, so again I was mic-ing blind. I didn’t hear any of the sound I recorded until I saw the synced audio on Premiere, which made it really difficult to tell if I was doing the right thing and I had a hard time asking questions because of the language barrier.
Overall being on set was an extremely valuable experience, but I feel I could have gotten more out of it if I was able to communicate more effectively and learn from the Sound Recorder. Because I wasn’t able to hear the sound I was recording, and I couldn’t really ask questions on set to the Sound Department, it often felt as if I was sort of just an accessory on set, and I didn’t really feel like I was helping much. However, being in that environment and getting to see everyone work was incredible, and definitely assured me that the next time I am on set I want to try and get onto the camera crew so I can learn more about that aspect of filming.
While I did enjoy working in sound, I think I enjoyed the preparation I did for being on set more than actually getting my hands on the boom mic. Maybe next time I do sound I could try working on the sound designer side of things so I can get more creative with the soundscape, and actually listen to the sound I am working with.
Here are some photos I got on set, and hopefully I will get the still photos at the end of the week so I can show more of my role and not just of the photos I was able to take.
