WEEK 8
This week involved preparation for my work on both ‘A Silent Dance” and “Echoes”.
On the friday of this week I met with Claire, others in the art department, and some of the camera team at ECA to help with picking up kit and transporting it to Simpson Loan, which we would be using as a base and filming the majority of our scenes inside (specifically in the apartment of the 1st AC, Hao). Inside the apartment, we were able to get started on set dressing, cutting down on the amount of preparation time which would be needed on monday. We used paintings borrowed from Claire’s friend, an artist, as well as art supplies provided by me and the rest of the art team, to make the apartment look as though it was inhabited by painters. We also used items brought by me and other crew members to make the apartment look more feminine, like fairy lights and figurines.
I also took this opportunity to discuss with Claire that as I was undertaking more work for ‘Echoes’, as well as preparing for another upcoming graduate film project, I may not be able to carry out my work as a sound designer to my best ability. We agreed that it would be best if I focused my energy elsewhere and left sound design to the editors and composer seeing as it was a minimal role anyway.
We also used this opportunity to finalise the different costumes for each day and scene. This meant that Claire could inform the actors of what items of their own clothing they would need to bring along with them the following week. I was also able to try on my own costume for my minor role. Me, Claire and Sophia Saudi, another first year art assistant, went shopping the the Princes Street area to purchase some additional items for costume.
I also met with Fliss and Carlos, as well as ECA Film and TV technicians Julie Bills and Ross Buchanan to discuss the equipment which would be needed for ‘A Silent Dance’. There is no dialogue in the projects script, which I had taken time to familiarise myself with after receiving it in the WhatsApp group chat, and I made my decisions based on this knowledge – I would not need any lavalier microphones, just a shotgun mic, mixer and boom pole. I selected the Audio Technica BP4027 as my microphone because Fliss had specified she wanted a lot of ambient sound. This mic is a stereo mic, meaning it captures audio from both sides, so it is perfect for recording ambience and subtle background noise. I hadn’t had a chance to use this mic yet, but both Carlos and Fliss encouraged me to it out and experiment. I also chose to use Sound Devices 633 mixer kit as I had enjoyed its easy method of file storage when Carlos had taught me how to use it on ‘Waiting for Marcus’, and wanted the editing phase to be as smooth as possible for Fliss. I also found the interface to be easier to understand in comparison to other mixers.
