Eric Toline Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 "The picture editor can already see the slate on the image; the assistant editor can hear the sound mixer's audible slate prior to the scene. " The shoot I've been on the audible slate is done by the AC. I know this is a bit of topic, but who is used to the Mixer slating and who is used to the AC doing it? I do an audible slate for every take before I say "speed". Must be a holdover from my analog days with a Nagra. It may not help but it can't hurt. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Collins Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Mixer who rode in a car's trunk, when the actor driving just got her license two days ago. No process trailer and the director wants a moving in car scene. The mixer had a 1973 VW bus that we had to chase a Cadillac with, I'm driving. This was at a University where we had permission to shoot exteriors in a limited area, driving was not part of it. Had to drive through a boulevard area where profs were playing volley ball. Director insisted on going well over the speed limit, so to keep signal I had to go like hell, 2nd pass through a volleyball comes sailing out and lands under the drivers side wheel, that spits it 50 feet. Third pass through the profs get in front of the VW and give me an earful. I will never follow with my own vehicle, as if someone does get hurt or killed, it is on me not on the production. Nowadays I set up a feed to camera, put a Comtek TX on the camera, boom op rides in the make up, hair van with script. (safer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 " It should be required to say the full scene and take! . " vs. " "Marker" is all they need to say, unless it's multi-cam, " as noted, it depends! thus it is not necessarily up to us to decide what is required! " habit of saying the entire scene & take number, " A lot of folks doing sound on a lot of projects, particularly one-person bands do not have the capability to readily "voice slate". " Now, even with digital cameras, it makes sense to avoid using up 15 seconds of data files at the start of the take. " after all, there is so much other crap to waste the data on! " Using a coiled cable. " sorry, but that is a personal choice, not the sign of a rookie! the wrapping up of a coiled headphone cord is the sign of an audio rookie, and " grabbing the pole, putting the mic right up to their mug like its a beta 58 and saying something stupid into it " is the sign of a general rookie, also an a-hole! " single-system projects where the sound is going direct to camera. But most of those are documentaries, " unfortunately, I don't believe that is the situation.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordi Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 AC reads the slate for me too, for a couple reasons that I think are just as valid now, as the mixer doing it to save film in the film days: 1. The AC knows exactly which scene / take it is. I know this sounds silly, that the mixer should always know which scene and take, because they have a script or the scripty is telling them whenever we move on, what we are moving on to... Or that the mixer has seen an accurate shot plan for the day. I have to stop with that first reason now, I'm laughing too hard about all the things that I don't get on ultra-low budget shoots. The times when I have had ANY of those things, it has been a very pleasant surprise. 2. The AC is right in front of the camera (obviously) and also nearby the boom or an actor's mic, while my sound cart might be on the other side of a wall / door / outside because we are filming in yet another closet. Yes, I have a slate mic that I can use on my mixer... But see the list on reason one of things I don't have. 3. I will do my best to keep the file names correct as to scene / take according to what is on the slate, but since I might not know what it has on it at any given moment... If my digital names get out of sync to what I hear from the AC's mouth... I can just rename it right after that take, nothing confusing will arrive at post, and no extra film / space was wasted having them fix it at the slate. I'll catch it, then confirm where we are with both the scripty and slate, b/c it might not be me that is out of sequence - I had that happen on just this last shoot. The AC jumped a take number, and both scripty and I adjusted our notes b/c it wasn't caught until she said it into the camera. 4. The biggest reason: Digital space is cheap, time in post isn't. Let the AC who has the info read the dang thing, it will make life easier on the post people, especially if the mixer didn't get the file renamed properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Anyone that calls cables "wires". yeah, I call them "hoses". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 This is usually the producers from my experience..... they love to believe their $H!t doesn't stink or something, and my mics aren't good enough to pick up their noisy keyboarding during their precious interviews we spent 3 hours setting up. Oh man, I worked with an... overweight... AD in a 100 year old house with creaky floors that could not stop moving. He would pace during scenes (even where actors are seated) and constantly check his cell phone. Infuriating. Needless to say, he was 0 help to my department. He was BFF with production, so we hit a wall when trying to get it to stop. What can you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylormadeaudio Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 In my experience, AC's don't always know what the proper scene and take info is... on a properly functioning set, the Script Sup. usually provides that info to the necessary departments, and if things happen as they should, everything matches up -- AC's occasionally don't get the memo, or simply forget to replace the info on the slate. It helps for everyone to be vigilant in this respect, but I will always provide an audible scene/take # at the head of each file just in case -- and if there's a discrepancy, there's usually time to key up the slate mic and document it before the director calls action -- thorough sound reports help too. ~tt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 " the scripty is telling them whenever we move on, what we are moving on to..." assuming there is a SS, as even the poster noted... " Or that the mixer has seen an accurate shot plan for the day. " I don't believe that either exists (there are always some variables) or would provide that information (like take numbers?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Nope. Did a shoot just last week. Had the info that doesn't change written with sharpie and it was on tree for 3 days straight, no staining. yeah, there was a thread about this a while back. We tried it on a film for info like film name, director etc that didn't change. Camera may have cleaned it once a week, or may have left it for the whole shoot (4 weeks). Either way they got the sharpie off at the end. NOTE! if you try this, use the traditional sharpie and NOT the industrial permanent ones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nika paniashvili Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 "boom him from bellow" sounds famillier guys? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zack Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 " the scripty is telling them whenever we move on, what we are moving on to..." assuming there is a SS, as even the poster noted... " Or that the mixer has seen an accurate shot plan for the day. " I don't believe that either exists (there are always some variables) or would provide that information (like take numbers?) Ya... im a total noob if this is the case. Maybe if I got to work on a production that has a real budget to develop an accurate shot list I wouldn't have to ask anyone wtf is up next. When things always change at the lower budget level productions you just have to ask, or you end up having everyone waiting on you (which is a bigger sign of a noob IMO). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Collins Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 We were in a private home with a big heavy dolly, noticed that as the dolly moved the floor would move up and down. Looked in the basement and some idiot had removed a main support beam at the bottom of the stairs, dolly then did the perimeter of the room only. Doing a survey for another mixer, went into a house and saw a carpenter laying 3 inch tongue and groove wood flooring. No big deal but he was laying it on top of 1/2 inch carpet. Slightly noisy, and it moved around a lot. Director shows up and says " oh we won't be seeing the floor". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylormadeaudio Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 OK, I got one... PA's that come up to the sound cart and shush the mixer (who's ID'ing a scene/take) as if s/he doesn't know we're rolling. I love it! You gotta just smile and nod though... you never know which PA will wind up directing in 4 or 5 years. Yeah, it's scary. ~tt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAudioSynthesist Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 I'm rude enough that when the director yells cut, I'll yell back "we got some set noise on that one" and glare at whoever was moving. Sharp ADs usually stay right on top of this, but on no-frills shoots, it's a free-for-all. I do this too. Its super annoying and in the end, no matter how big a fuss I make or who I piss off, I'm right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Thomas Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 "boom him from bellow" sounds famillier guys? Indeed I had the 'AC' with scene, slate and take on tape stuck to their hand and clapping the other day. Another one is not actually being asked to roll sound... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Collins Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Shooting and I hear a continuing noise, that I ask to be shut down, turns out it is the producers roof top trailer air conditioner and the PA's were too shy to get him to turn it off. Of course only found that out after the scene. We were shooting on the second floor and his trailer was next to the building. It was also a western so it would have been hard to mask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccsnd Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 asking for someone who can "get clean sound near a construction site and busy roads" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylormadeaudio Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 ...to which you reply, "Sure, I'll record that construction site and those busy roads with the utmost of clarity... you'll be able to tell the make and model of each vehicle, I'll record it so cleanly...". ~tt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Spaeth Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 If everybody is experienced and responsible calling "marker" only will work, but many shoots I do they decide to change scene names all of a sudden and forget to tell me, so it helps when listening back if I'm not sure my naming on the meta data was correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatthewFreedAudio Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 An AD using "Roll Sound" to get the crew to be quiet and/or hurry up. I'll go ahead and roll and make a note for post to look for the sticks about 5 minutes in, or later. Record was 20 minutes from "roll sound" to marker then the scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 " accurate shot list I wouldn't have to ask anyone wtf is up next " I suspect you are looking for an accurate call sheet, which shows what is being shot. sgot lists tend to frequently change "in the day", call sheets, on professional shoots, not so much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdog Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Another one is not actually being asked to roll sound... Aargh Yes. Can't say how many times I have to just "guess" when the director is actually ready to start the scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylormadeaudio Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Aargh Yes. Can't say how many times I have to just "guess" when the director is actually ready to start the scene. Just don't roll one time & tell the 1st AD you never heard anyone say roll... it'll probably never happen again ~tt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordi Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Another one is not actually being asked to roll sound... Good Lord, this drives me insane. I have a 10 second pre-roll for a reason, but I shouldn't need it because the AD is asleep at their job! How about rolling a rehearsal without any slate, because the actors are "nervous" and this way they won't know its an actual take? I've had that happen on 2 different projects now... I can only imagine that sync for those shots was fun for post... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 " because the actors are "nervous" " and of course that means the ever popular : we don't have real actors... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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