Set Philosophy: Being pulled between departments

[Alexander Burstein]

It sounds like you're working for a mixer you do not normally work with. There is communication lacking and that is why he's asking you to push the microphone in closer, more than likely. Like most people here said, it's a balance. If the camera operator is known to tilt a lot for his handheld work, you play as close as you can with the boom while giving him just enough space. But if you're not communicating what's happening on set with your mixer, you'll find yourself being spoken to after each take. I've worked with plenty of operators that ask me for more space. But then I proceed to ask, at which point do you need more space? Oh you're tilting for this? Great, i'll give you more space here at this moment in the scene, then move myself back in. Talk to your operator, and communicate what you're doing to your mixer. The more you do this, the more your mixer will trust that you know what you're doing. 

It's a dance. And such a beautiful one. I treasure these moments because when you nail a difficult shot or scene, there is no better feeling as a boom operator. 

[Jan McL]

Here's a sequence that captured coverage negotiations with the director relative to the Lincoln Center fountain over which we had control but that--'cause Money Shot--would be seen.

[John Blankenship]

That middle shot's brilliant -- as our cousins across the pond might say.

 

 

[Jeff Wexler]

Brilliant! Love to see my friend Jan doing her thing. I've learned a lot from her about set politics, the importance of all these relationships --- it all has a profound bearing on the quality of sound we are allowed to produce.

[Jan McL]

Brilliant! Love to see my friend Jan doing her thing. I've learned a lot from her about set politics, the importance of all these relationships --- it all has a profound bearing on the quality of sound we are allowed to produce.

Thanks for saying, Jeff.

​Must say that an early on lesson in set politics was delivered to me by Dennis Maitland. It was my second pro set day ever on his "Bobby Fischer" movie. Times Square. Roll sound. Whereupon he says, "Listen, you hear all that noise? Watch this," the slate was clapped and he slowly lowered the boom fader to reveal the wires alone. After they cut he followed up with a knowing look, "They'll hear the noise I've gotten rid of in the dailies."

It wasn't until years later and having repeatedly heard from colleagues that Dennis was The Master of set politics that this lesson sunk in and I was able to begin to appreciate and apply it.

[Jonathan Michael Lau]

I've come upon a few situations where I've had difficulty working with a boom op (not a norm for my bag work, and in a non-cart situation).  My question would have to be:

If the boom op believes he doesn't have the space to properly boom, whether it be because of shadows or an object in the way, and yet as the mixer observing the set and the frame lines, you believe and know the boom op has the space to get in closer, should the boom op still be deferring to the mixer to make the final decision?  Is it still the boom op's "responsibility" to do his job and get good sound in his/her opinion, even if he's overriding the mixer?

Based on set protocol, I've always believed the boom op should trust the mixer and defer to their judgment, or have a proper discussion to explain each one's concern rather than object to it outright and start speaking to camera dept to resolve the issues.  While talking to camera dept. is necessary, there are times when it simply isn't.  You only get so many favors.  And this is when the mixer is directly involved, not delegating responsibilities to the boom op.  If it's in front of cast and crew and not clear cut, I always prefer a pow wow off set.  Am I missing something here?

[sarcanon]

You only get so many favors.

​Jonathan, I realize you're only commenting on the status quo, but it still chaps my butt when I hear things like this.

Reasonable accommodations that allow the sound department to do their job are not "favors", and characterizing them as such should not be tolerated, in my humble opinion.

 

[Jonathan Michael Lau]

​Jonathan, I realize you're only commenting on the status quo, but it still chaps my butt when I hear things like this.

Reasonable accommodations that allow the sound department to do their job are not "favors", and characterizing them as such should not be tolerated, in my humble opinion.

 

​I understand and respect where you're coming from.  However, I don't use the term "favor" as in something that one department would be indebted to another for. 

In the context of which I refer to it, asking camera to make a change that is unnecessary wouldn't be a reasonable accommodation.  It wouldn't be the difference between bad sound, and that's why it would be a "favor."   As such, there's a limit to how many favors people will cater to before it hinders their job as well, or at least annoys them and negatively affects your relationship to work well together with them.

Just to be clear, I dont think we disagree about the fundamentals.

[John Bauman]

You're booming a scene with handheld cameras. Your mixer is pushing you via intercom closer to the frameline than allows for proper reaction to the tilts that occur during the scene (due to actors standing up or other actors walking in). Some takes you anticipate the move too late and bounce in; others you anticipate too early and lose dialogue; others you restrict the cameras' movement and the cameramen say so. What do you do?

 

- Ignore the cameramen and squeeze the frame

- Ignore the mixer and give the cameramen space

- Tell the cameramen they just have to wait for you to move

- Tell the mixer he's just going to have to accept more space

- Tell the cameramen to talk to the mixer

- Tell the mixer to talk to the cameramen

- Insist that you get monitors just like the focus pullers have
- Write an app that fixes this problem

The deeper question here is how much responsibility does one have to keep an amicable relationship with departments at the expense of your own responsibility for any given moment, and how does that balance with your ability to work with other departments to meet your responsibility in the future?

​These days, I have all of the shots on monitors at my cart. I know how it should sound based on the frames I am seeing. If the sound is not matching the frame, then my operator needs to do a better job.

 

In my days as a boom operator, I was fortunate to mostly work for guys who knew the position. They would never talk me into the shot. Other guys, maybe ones who hadn't much experience booming, might try to push me too close. I admit to, on occasion, giving them the brush off. That said, there were other times when I'd push a frame line for all it was worth, sometimes forcing the operator down a bit, if, for example he held too much foreground headroom on an over. Understand, this was on a show I did for years, so the "look" was well established. It's all so situational, you really can't point to one answer. As a boom operator, I felt entirely responsible for the quality of our sound as well as the perception of our department. To pull some of the things I did, like pushing frame lines, needs to be done in the right way, else you will alienate the very people with whom you work the closest. Anyone who says you must disregard everyone else and listen to you mixer is, in my opinion, dead wrong. Unless, of course, you are a novice boom operator. The experts know everything about how to do the job without being told.