WEEK 6
On Wednesday my call time for “Waiting for Marcus” was nine in the morning at ECA, but I arrived slightly earlier in order to help the makeup artist transport her kit. Once I had arrived and dropped off my personal belongings in the greenroom, I went with Carlos and the camera team to pick up our equipment from the film and TV store and then transport it to our shooting location in the Wee Red Bar. Once that was done, I approached the costume team to receive my outfit for the scene I would be an extra in, a halloween party. After trying on a few of the different costumes available, we settled on a mouse outfit. I also signed an artists agreement to confirm that I consented to distribution of the film after we had wrapped. While setting up the initial shot, me and one of the other extras acted as stand-ins for the two main actors so the Director of Photography could work out framing.
On Friday, my call time was listed as nine again and we were provided with the address of the directors apartment which was where we would be filming for the day, a short walk away from my flat. I was instructed to begin charging the batteries for the sound mixer as the pervious day the crew had been shooting outside, away from any outlets. Then, Carlos showed me how to use the file storage options on the mixer (Sound Devices 633 kit), as well as teaching me the basics of alternating between channels and gain adjustments. We alternated over the course of the day between who controlled the mixer and who operated the boom mic, as we were filming in a very small bathroom already full of lighting equipment, so it was fairly hot We also took regular breaks for water and and food. As this scene was largely dialogue based, we used both the boom mic and two lavalier microphones. We had some issues with one of the lavs picking up a loud and distracting rustling during takes, and when I was asked to investigate me and the actress discovered that this was because the mic had fallen into her shirt, something which was easily fixed with surgical tape.
Between shots, I discussed wanting to gain more experinece in location sound with Carlos and he offered me an opportunity to be sound recordist on another upcoming graduation film, “A Silent Dance”, which he was going to be working on as director of photography. As the project was filming during the final week of March, once I would have concluded my work on the set of “Echoes”, I accepted this role and we exchanged contact details. He passed my phone number on to the 1st AD, who added me to a group chat on WhatsApp.
