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Am I the only one....


justanross

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Most of the talent that I've ever worked with are used to the routine and some even want to tell you that the sound guy on the other shoot had a lot of success hiding the mic "there". I've even had a few that just blurted out, "I'm not shy," and lifted the shirt or blouse the second the saw me approach with the lav & TX.

 

However, even with the most outgoing and cooperative talent, one slip and you're in uncomfortable land. Not a good place to be. The best you can do is be professional, keep a poker face, and get it done as quickly as possible and try not make readjustments.

 

I usually try to have someone from wardrobe there so that if I have to lift clothing or undo anything, that they can get talent back and ready asap. Then again most of the stuff I do is usually pretty small and I've never had to deal with more than 4 actors at once-- I really don't know how the reality guys can do it.

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In the reality world, the answer is the same: poker face, professionalism always, and ignoring the producer who is questioning why all 75 talent aren't already rigged when your feet have only been outside the van for 45 seconds.

Take the time to do it right and in a professional (sometimes more private) location, so that trust can be built with your talent. Why this time is --such-- a burden for the reality producer, I will never know. Yet they will sometimes screw around for 45 minutes getting a car-drive-by shot into a parking space... That will play for exactly 2 seconds on the show, if at all. *shrug* just be professional always and roll with it.

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I would like to clear up a the confusion regarding this video and put it to rest in a hurry.  I'm the sound supervisor for Fast'N'Loud, the show with Gas Monkey Garage, and have been on it since day one.  While I'm not the one in the video the sound mixer who is in the video is absolutely professional and did a fantastic job that day and all the days he was here. Many of you are making a lot of assumptions about this clip, as happens when you see something out of context, so some clarification is needed.

 

At that location there is literally no where private.  I know some of you will say "there is always somewhere private."  However, not there and certainly not that day.  There was one sound mixer on that day and production threw him a massive curve ball and told him to wire up 12 people with only a few minutes notice, a few of whom were those girls.  He had to quickly piece together two bags with 788's and 7 wireless in each bag.  The girls did have some dialogue and it was left on the cutting room floor so wiring them was prudent. We aren't able to work off a traditional cart as the show is VERY fast paced and mobile.  It's a 3 camera shoot nearly all the time so lavs are the only way to get consistent sound.  The boom is completely useless on this show.

 

It's a reality show with people coming in and out on a regular basis in all sorts of situations. I'm sorry to see that a camera op rolled on that moment and that the editors chose to use it in the credit bed because it clearly opens the door to misinterpretation. It also wasn't helped by the original poster on Facebook putting it up and making the comment he did. We all struggle with the comments made by other crew members regarding wiring up female talent/cast and we all do our best to keep it at bay. It isn't helped by other sound mixers making light of it, even though this one was broadcast to a few million people. 

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Thanks for clearing that up Matthew. In regard to finding a suitable area to place and take off the microphones, I understand that reality is fast paced and things might've needed to happen more quickly than normal. Also a lot of the time when asked, especially when taking microphones off, the talent seems less inclined to go somewhere else, as they might be going home or doing something else and they just want to leave set immediately. So we go off to the side of the room without many or any people.

That's my next point. There's always a place to do it discreetly, even if it is the corner of a room. I'm not saying that in this particular example it should've been done that way, but the option is there for everyone if talent or a sound representative ever want/need the privacy.

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I also feel that discretion is always best and that is what we strive for. And like you said, at the end of a shoot frequently cast is pulling their own mic off and going a million different directions which makes our job all the more challenging! :)<br /><br /><br />Production Sound Mixing for Television, Film, and Commercials. <br />www.matthewfreed.com

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Good to know the true story as to what happened and I can believe it. Reality shooting schedules often do not afford us the time or the resources to do everything in the manner we would like to work. I think this does reinforce my earlier point that we do have to be very careful what we allow of ourselves to appear on social media sites. We also need to be policing what others post that may include our image. An innocent picture can look suspect if taken out of context, or shot in the wrong way. 

 

I have pretty much abandoned Facebook, mostly because I was tired of all the noise from people I didn't really know, but there are times when I have to use it to communicate with a small number of folks that only use FB to send messages. That being said crew members have posted images without my consent- thankfully nothing that looks remotely like I'm in a compromising position. For the most part if I see the picture that someone has posted and I have figured that it's ok then I will allow it to stay.  Once I did ask a PA to remove my photo of me working a shoot simply because I was working out of state and the picture had been geotagged, essentially letting everyone who could see my facebook profile know that I was out of town and my house would be empty.

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On a similar topic, I just got a call from the "behind the scenes" guy putting together a little short on a feature I worked on last year, and he asked me about a sound playback screwup moment. I told him, "take that out or I'll have to kill you." That was at the end of a long, long day, and somebody else was running playback for me and missed a cue, leaving me to run over and fix it. 

 

Embarrassing moments like this -- especially micing up actresses or anybody who's half-undressed -- don't need to be made public, either on Facebook or docos or anything else. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

" production threw him a massive curve ball and told him to wire up 12 people with only a few minutes notice, a few of whom were those girls. "

unreasonable expectations...

:blink:  

 

" There's always a place to do it discreetly, even if it is the corner of a room. "

coupled with some casual looking body blocking positioning...

 

" I think this does reinforce my earlier point that we do have to be very careful what we allow of ourselves to appear on social media sites. " Embarrassing moments like this -- especially micing up actresses or anybody who's half-undressed -- don't need to be made public, either on Facebook or docos or anything else. "

I point out to producer(s), and any of the BTS monkey's I spot, that I'/m in SAG-AFTRA, and they must not include me in any shots...

I also decline to sign any release statement that isn't a SAG-AFTRA contract. 

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I work at building a rapport with talent bringing confidence, communication and discretion with me when I have to deal with them so they understand whats going on when I wire them, male or female. Even if the talent is ok with a funky risqué photo while being exposed or in an awkward position for a wire adjustment I'm not, I simply tell them it's not a good time.

Just stick with the professionalism, you'll get more respect in the end.

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I have been told (by female talent) dozens of stories about sound guys in my area who are OR at least appeared to be behaving inappropriately or making off-colour comments or being straight-up crude while micing female talent. Thankfully, no one I know personally.

It is called an 'art' for many reasons, not just technical.

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Someone posted just such a photo over at the JW FB site. I was...floored. Speechless. 

 

Have taken note of the individuals for future reference, categorized under "unprofessional" and "those who make all our jobs tougher".

 

Actually, they benefit me and other chick mixers. Keep it up.

 

Left them with a link to this thread a couple minutes ago.

 

Sigh.

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Yes Vaseleios<br /><br />We are all in a parallel interweb universe. I have to remind myself of it regularly. Then I have "normal" days where the wardrobe dept picks up the radio mic, supervises putting it on, gets me to check that it sounds ok, and returns it at the end of the day. On the other days things are more weird

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Someone posted just such a photo over at the JW FB site. I was...floored. Speechless.

Have taken note of the individuals for future reference, categorized under "unprofessional" and "those who make all our jobs tougher".

Actually, they benefit me and other chick mixers. Keep it up.

Left them with a link to this thread a couple minutes ago.

Sigh.

I saw that also and shook my head. I'm glad you were more proactive than I.

Production Sound Mixing for Television, Film, and Commercials.

www.matthewfreed.com

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Just responding to the first post, I totally agree. I mean, I usually work on indies where the tone is pretty jocular, which I enjoy, but the talent puts a lot of faith in me by letting me get into their space like that so I do my best to be respectful and humble in that moment.

 

Anyway, thanks for bringing it up Justan. Glad to see someone else felt the same. :)

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  • 2 months later...

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