Guest Mick Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 I've been in post with my short film for the last several weeks. I'm doing it all at home on AP Pro and getting a real "feel" for the amazing spackling job that post people do on the material that we give them. I'm learning first hand the value of buckets of varied "room tone", the value in separation of dialogue from noise and overlaps, the chance you take when you let actors "do their thing" and hope that it will be "all right on the night" I had a scene in which the two main leads went at each other in a physical and verbal melee that I had nightmares about before actually seeing it, but was saved by my sound man's (Kenny Mantlo and Brian Whooley) savvy in micing both sides of the dialogue regardless of who was on camera. Directing this short film has changed me as a sound mixer and given me a new perspective on the marvellous re-working of picture and sound that post people achieve. On the flip side of that coin though I was able to make directorial decisions about whether an overhead or lavalier mic would be suitable in a given scene because I knew ahead of time what problems and benefits each choice would leave me with in post, so I was able to improve the potential of the sound quality in advance of the recording. That's not to say that I told the sound guys how to do their job, Heaven forbid!! It was just easier to communicate with them on a professional level to achieve the best results given the circumstances of the shooting environment. By and large I'm happy with what I have so far. Another two weeks should see it done, (I am also writing and recording the music) so we'll see if this or any subsequent effort of mine will bring that other career ladder a little closer. Regards Mick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 I absolutely agree about spending some time in the "hot seat" making you a better sound mixer. A lot of what I learned wasn't technical but more personal, in how and when to approach a director and what to say. Good luck to you in your directing career--I wish more directors had spent some hard time on production sound. How do you like AP? Why'd you go that way instead of FCP or Avid? I just worked on some promos for AP and was impressed w/ the new bundle. Philip Perkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mick Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 I just found AP to be the best windows-based system out there. I tried Avid for a while but the scaled down version doesn't come close to the pro version we (they) use at work. All around I think that AP, especially AP Pro, is the best bang for the buck on a windows computer. And thanks for kind words Philip. Mick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Brandon Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 Nice lessons learned, Mick. A great boom operator once said in a class, in order to do your job the best it can be done (as a boom-operator/mixer team) it is imperative you have an understanding of the post process. I'm guessing, grips, electric, set decorators, wardrobe and many others aren't asked the way we the sound team are asked, "what is going to be done with your work once it gets to post?" For whatever reason, even the boom-op seems to be expected to answer post questions relating to time code or file types, or filters, looping, adr, re-recording mixing, sound effects, location gun fire usage vs. processed library sounds, or why do things sound good on seperate tracks but not when mixed? Overlapping is a biggie for post editors. So many young directors just don't seem to get it. We've talked about it here on this forum. Letting actors feel the moment just doesn't work. They MUST separate their lines (well, almost always). Another good one, keeping the sound original. No location eq or filtering (some mixers have their personal exceptions as has also been noted on this forum). The mixer I'm working with these next couple of weeks likes to keep ALL the frequencies in the mix. No movement on the fishpole allowed. The DP said (of the distant generator in the mix), why doesn't he just apply the high pass filter and take care of the problem? The 1st AC chimed in, "and what happened to the art of mixing? (another ongoing discussion from this forum) Why can't the mixer just mix everything and earn his keep? We are expected to know it all, and rightfully should. I don't think I'll ever make a short film but can appreciate everything you're going through (I saw my cousin go through the same trials for his first directorial short, however, from an artist/designer's perspective). It must at times be overwhelming to understand the possibilities the varied departments have to offer during production. I commend you on your ambition. I forgot. Does anyone remember who said, 'the one thing you can't fix in post is casting" Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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