Guest Mick Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 I had an interesting discussion with an actress yesterday about selective hearing. I was trying to explain the difference between how a microphone hears all things indiscriminately, axis notwithstanding, and how the brain can be selective about what it lets us hear. I used the analogy of picking out a particular conversation among several simultaneous conversations, how our brain can tune down those other than the one we want to concentrate on, something a microphone can't do. This all came about because I wanted her to speak up a little so that I could hear her over the room tone, she was that quiet. She understood the concept and even some of the technical details.... and then continued to swallow all her dialogue as if we'd never discussed it. I never give up trying but sometimes I know that certain actors like the chance to ADR as it gives them a second shot at it. Occupational hazard. Oh well...the cheque doesn't bounce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnold F. Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 I've never known an actor who liked to do ADR but I suppose there must be some out there somewhere. A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 I heard that Brando would mumble some of his dialogue so that he could "perfect" his performance in the ADR sessions. -JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mick Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 At least one of the main actors on our show while not actively giving less than his best, always looks forward to ADR and his "second shot". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 I've had "day players" sabatoge their lines to insure an extra day's pay! One lovely young newcomer who was working in a kitchen for her only scene in the show kept banging her props on her own lines...I've seen her rarely, since! I had a series veteran who mumbled during a movie, as he was used to doing on his show; seems they routinely ADR'ed him almost 100%, and he was ok with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Timan Posted October 12, 2006 Report Share Posted October 12, 2006 I've never known an actor who liked to do ADR but I suppose there must be some out there somewhere. It's not the majority, but there are definitely some out there. A colleague of mine did a movie with two very big A-list actors who (along with the director) told him on the first day, "We're going to loop everything," and proceeded to mumble, bungle, and whisper their lines throughout the show. Apparently one of them does this all the time. Some prefer to do it this way. Some don't. In my somewhat limited time in the episodic world I encountered this with actors often -- some of them actively resisted doing another take even if a loud siren or plane or whatever went by, and a few refused to wear wireless. On one pilot I did earlier this year, the actor asked why we were waiting and was informed by the AD we were waiting for a plane. He proceeded to sing out, "The least important thing..." I always looked at my job as having one very important facet, beyond getting good sounding tracks -- to save the actor's performance. If the actor and director don't care, hell, I can press the red button on the recorder as well as anybody -- but I obviously prefer not to work this way. I turned down a long and reasonably well paying feature this fall because I was informed "well, we always loop everything" by the director and producer. There are also situations in between. I remember last year working on a feature and doing a ten minute take of a very emotional scene with Nick Nolte. He gave a stunning performance in that take but at the emotional climax of the scene a train went by and blasted its horn all over three lines. I immediately ran up and talked to him and the director about it. While he assured me that he would give me another take if I absolutely insisted, he really wanted *that* one in the movie and understood full well that he would have to loop those three lines. He told me he was sure he wasn't going to be able to replicate the performance -- he actually said, "I'm a better looper than I am an actor." While I didn't believe him, I understood where he was coming from and I allowed them to move on. Sometimes you gotta take one for the team. Regards, Noah Timan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 I think it is more than acceptable to "stand-down" in a situation such as this. It sounds like you had a meaningful discussion with all concerned, and a decision was made to loop the lines. In my opinion, that is what teamwork and respect is all about. Good for you and good for them! -JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.elder Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 I immediately ran up and talked to him and the director about it. While he assured me that he would give me another take if I absolutely insisted, he really wanted *that* one in the movie and understood full well that he would have to loop those three lines. I think that's an example of a good working environment - I've worked with directors who really didn't want to know about things like that...I worked with a great actor last year in horrible locations - lots of humming flourescent overhead lights, extremely wide shots, bad location sound in other words - oh, and the director wouldn't let me in on rehearsals either - and the actor told me "don't worry, I love to dub." Then he apologized and said that he didn't mean to diminish my effort, and I told him that it made me feel great that someone cared about what I was doing. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curleysound Posted October 13, 2006 Report Share Posted October 13, 2006 oh, and the director wouldn't let me in on rehearsals either Tim Tim, I've run into this on several indie films. What's the deal with that? I know it's a side-bar, but seriously, what do they think they're doing? Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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