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Level Practices Pt.1 & Pt.2


VASI

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Very good read.. Now if we can just get some of the actors to stop mumbling....

Inspired from Simon Hayes on video who posted it at "Les Miserables"

say at actor to stop mumbling without reason or if he/she don't request from director.

Always I say to actor/actress to not mumbling if there no reason for that.

After that you are happy and you will put the profile "I'm the boss here for sound. Now listen me what I say for my job, your film and your voice my little friends." Not with angry or bad attitude. Like a boss and professional.

:)

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Yes, you wanna be careful with that, Vas. You can say something like that to some actors on some occasions, but you might get yourself in trouble saying the same thing to the same actor in a different situation.

These situations require us to be very diplomatic and sensitive. This capability comes with experience.

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I'm surprised. I'm not say directly this "I'm the boss here for sound. Now listen me what I say for my job, your film and your voice my little friends" but what profile look after that suggestion to actor.

I don't know about the actors/actress behavior in US but here if the sound mixer say to director and actor/actress louder always respect what sound mixer say and almost "I will try for a louder".

Wow. I'm really surprised guys.

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Why so surprised? Not sure about the US, but I'm in Germany and I don't think that even in Greece actors will always be fine with talking louder whenever you ask them to. Like Mike wrote, it is an artistic decision and the sound mixer is not the one who decides whether a line should be mumbled or screamed. You should always ask the director first before you go to the actor.

My two cents, some actors know how to use their voice even when talking in a low voice, others always mumble (because they don't know any better). The latter will likely be the ones that are offended when you ask them to speak up and still mumble.

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My opinion is one and doesn't change: If the actor start mumbling without reason or requested from director, I'm talking with director and actor for this. For my job. For director job. For actor job. It's nothing to do with how much years old are you etc.

Back to topic.

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Good luck with that :)

No good luck with that. Always if I have a problem with sound just talk with the right persons.

If I have a problem with sound I can speak and with the God if he/she doesn't respect my work.

And always the directors and actors repsect me after that my "notification".

Good luck for you Christian!

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Vas, the advice comes from wanting to help and not give you inaccurate information. A lot of mixers here will be very careful when asking an actor to speak up, if they ask at all. If the director tells the actor to whisper here, challenging him/her on set could lead to trouble. So that's why it's being recommended to go through the director first.

Yet it's situational-I've said things to actors about speaking up or just a general announcement of "Is it okay if he doesn't step on her line?". But I also use my discretion when making those calls, and go through the right channels when I feel it necessary.

The advice for you is to go through the right channels, like the first A.D or director before talking to the actor directly. If you never feel like you need to, you may run into trouble =) But learning from mistakes is part of this industry. The hope is to not make the mistakes on something big, or more than once.

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A lot of mixers here will be very careful when asking an actor to speak up, if they ask at all. If the director tells the actor to whisper here, challenging him/her on set could lead to trouble. So that's why it's being recommended to go through the director first.

We all do the same thing here.

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Yeah this. Because the guy from Greece didn't know nothing and it's 24 years old. He didn't know nothing.

Come on Vas. No reason to get mad. And this has nothing to do with you being from Greece. A few years ago my stance was along the same lines as yours, and in an ideal world this would still hold true. A world with professional actors and directors who all are aware of the importance of production sound and have no ego problems. But I had to learn that this ideal is not the reality most often. And this certain kind of attitude may cost you future jobs. The advice given in this thread is valuable, and I would have profitted from it had I had it some years ago.

A very good sound teacher whose classes I had the luck of being able to attend said two things that are still important to my ideal of the job:

- Choose wisely the directors you work with.

- Fight for your sound.

Unfortunately I am not in a position to pick out directors I like to work with. I don't think many of us are. That is the reality. Keep that idealism but also be a realist.

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A very good sound teacher whose classes I had the luck of being able to attend said two things that are still important to my ideal of the job:

- Choose wisely the directors you work with.

- Fight for your sound.

Your Professor forgot one point:

- Build a good relationship to the camera department. If the DOP managed well with you, he will forget his ego and you become some extra time, when you have problems etc. ;)

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Heh, pick your battles, and then use proper channels.

Indy starlets that whisper lines below the ambient noise floor drive me bananas, yet, I ALWAYS route my opinions through the AD or director, depending on the situation. I have had more than one director request I advise the talent myself after trust had been established.

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  • 2 months later...

If I'm shooting on an acoustically treated room they can perform however talent want, this is not the case on 98% of the projects I've done, so I shake my head (if I'm close to set) to make director and decision makers know that the sound is not usuable, if I'm at my cart, I'll send somebody to INFORM the director sound is unusable, from there, he has to take the decision wether to repeat it or not, but deff. I'm not making that decision for him!

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