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Brian Milliken

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  4. How a man can watch Downton Abbey...

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    About 8 to10 with 3 Lavs initially until it settled down, I had 12 Channels of Lectro's on 38, 4 Channels of Audio 2040's on 69, and 3 Audio 2040's on 38. I would always try to use the Lectro's 1st as they were more reliable regarding range and frequency planning.

    I used the Audio Ltd Tx's with Bombs when the Booms needed to be wireless, which was often the case when in the servants sets.

     

    Very unlikely that I could have squeezed it all onto 38.

     

    I would always WT lines when required, I made sure we got the time.

     

    I have 4 Schoeps CCM 41's , 2 rigged with Cinela's for interior and 2 in Lyres / Rycotes /Floaters for exterior if it was quiet enough to use them, otherwise Sennheiser MHK 60's and 40's.

     

    Kindest Regards

    Brian

  6. How a man can watch Downton Abbey...

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi All

     

     Apologies a bit late in replying regarding the above posts.

     

    I recorded Series 3 of "Downton Abbey", along with Boom Op Martin Ireland and Assistant/2nd Boom Jackson Milliken, I can say with my hand on my heart we have never worked as hard on a show..... the sheer amount of unwanted noise management is vast, when at Ealing Studios  (about 40% of the shoot) almost all of the servants sets are in the studio also Mary and Sybil's bedrooms, and any guest type sets, the servants sets have real flagstones throughout, and all SA's shoes need to silenced, we used rubber cork which lasted a few days before needing replaced, Jackson would do all these shoes each morning, we also of course matted and carpeted all offscreen walking entirely, the kitchen set has all the usual issues that cooking scenes can throw at you, steam fx, fire fx, pots, pans, plates, chopping and general chaos that needs to be managed in a way that allows the actors some freedom to be in the moment without having to over think their prop acting, always a fine balance.

     

    The front & driveway of Highclere Castle (the family home) has very noisey gravel and this all needs silenced when out of shot, lots of carpets and mats, 

     

    Radio Mics on all actors were requested by the production, this required careful planning, when there were big numbers Martin and Jackson were called 1 Hour earlier than call time, they would prep the all the Mics and Packs the night before, they were then put into a clear Make-Up type pouch with each actors name on it, initially each pouch contained a Black, Flesh and White Mic, the Transmitter and Ankle, Waist, Thigh NeoPax and Tubi-Grip, this way costume always had what they needed, through time we got to know the costumes and were able to be more specific about what was required in each actors pouch, the final Mic position was done once on set.

    Despite all this effort the Radios were frustratingly noisey, corsets, jewellery, bow ties, starched shirts, lace, silk, also costume department were very clear about what positioning of the Mics was acceptable and what was not, and as such we were often compromised there.

     

    Downton is one of those shows that often looks easy when you see the final product, however the reality of the coverage is unseen, when outside and for bigger set pieces a 3rd Camera will often appear, and as you know that can be a big spanner in the works,

    the last thing you need is a sniper cam nailing a CU.

     

    Schoeps CCM 41's on Cinela Mounts were used for all Interiors, and having listened back to it recently I can tell that in general it is those boom tracks that have been used, I know that the Producers and Nigel Heath the RRM wanted the dialogue to bite through and have mixed it with presumably some dynamic control to achieve this.

     

    There was some comments about wide shots and sound not matching, well we all know the cheat of seeing and hearing 2 people walking in the distance is too big to be believable and as such is always strange when they hold the shot for a long time, on the one occasion where we did a scene like that on Series 3 the Radios were blown away by wind and as such the sync was just guide track, once shot we recorded the dialogue clean 3 times with a Schoeps on each actor, this is all we can do when in this situation, thereafter it is down to post to make good if possible.

     

    Any questions welcome, thanks for reading.

    Kindest Regards

    Brian

  11. CARPET DAYS

    in Images of Interest

    Posted

    We do, all you see and more are carried in my Medium wheel based sprinter, we really need a 4th man to help manage the days like the ones in the photos, as we end up shattered at the end of the day with all that is involved working like this.

  19. Shoe Time

    in Images of Interest

    Posted

    It is all about speed and if the actors are happy to have the shoes left on as a stencil happens then it is quicker, on this day there were about 15 background who all had to be done as wide lenses and steadicam was the order of the day, so mats and rugs were of little use, all old wooden floors 1920's style....

    Michael as for the residue, we where possible use Gaffa tape on the soles first that way the mega sticky carpet tape does not trash the shoes and also when it comes to having to remove the rubber cork it comes off in a more intact manner.

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