fezedi Posted October 6, 2015 Report Share Posted October 6, 2015 All the recent talk about the Greensleeve and green screens is interesting and got me thinking. (I've never worked on a set with a green screen). My question is, if a scene is being shot green screen inside a studio, and they're showing it as a marrakech market or the middle of the ocean or something, won't the production audio still have the tone and reverb and sonic characteristic caused by the acoustics of the studio? Isn't that a giveaway? Or is that so quiet and insignificant that it will be masked by the sound effects and ambience that'll be added to the scene? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted October 6, 2015 Report Share Posted October 6, 2015 fezedi, you are right that the sound recorded on green screen shoots is often at odds with what the scene will be when complete (the locale we see the actors in like the Marrakech market you mention). This is always potentially a problem but being able to get a high quality boom mic in the right place will give you a recording that will be the most flexible to deal with in post. There are lots of green screen scenes where this is not an issue, interior car dialog for example, where the acoustics are the same (the interior of the car), you can use more favorable micing techniques because there is NO background (traffic, camera car noises, etc.). For these scenes, green screen is the true savior for the soundtrack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted October 6, 2015 Report Share Posted October 6, 2015 Yes. Often green screen shoots are done in rooms that are very bare and reflective, and often not any sort of real sound-stage so there is lots of extraneous noise. Usually the attitude of the producers is to ignore this and figure someone will clean up the audio mess later (like with ADR). Simon's green boom covers, in addition to advances in digital image technology, make it so you can at least get the mic closer to the actor than we used to be able to, so you have a fighting chance of getting usable dialog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pindrop Posted October 6, 2015 Report Share Posted October 6, 2015 Interesting question and leads to a question for those in post? How are you finding de-reverb filters these days? Are new approaches like Zynaptiq Unveil helping with useful de-reverb? Can the existing unsuitable reverb be largely stripped out, and replaced with more suitable reverb for the scene, can this be better and less expensive than ADR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcoronado Posted October 7, 2015 Report Share Posted October 7, 2015 I've tried and tried but never had any luck with zynaptic or isotopes de-reverbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngooch Posted October 7, 2015 Report Share Posted October 7, 2015 Luckily on the small scale green screen jobs I've worked on, the DPs try control excess green spill. That usually means grip gear that needs matting out. So it is no greater challenge to matte out sound treatments. White/black blackets can help serve both purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Rose Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 FWIW, I've had good luck with the Zynaptiq and Izotope de-reverbs. You have to understand what they're doing, pre-eq to kill nodes, and then tune them carefully... and don't expect miracles*. But they're a lot better than previous techniques (mostly expansion), and have saved my bacon a few times. ALSO, a request from at least one postie: if you're shooting greenscreen not knowing precisely what the background will be, and it's at all possible, give me a lav track as well as a boom. The sterility that makes lavs sound unreal for narrative dialog makes them a lot more flexible when we have to simulate what wasn't a real situation to begin with. ------- *Miracles: When the DP says he 'knows a guy who has this great plug-in, so don't worry about getting the boom in closer". *Miracles II: Producer says "Who needs a sound op? We can use the camera mic, and this software I saw in a magazine." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundtrane Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 On a project a few years ago I was in London and did a day's shoot for a film that had been shot in India/Nepal. They wanted to do pages of ADR (wild) in a LARGE conference hall in which they had setup for green screen stuff. I refused to do this - it would have been a useless exercise considering the size of the hall. I spoke to sound post and they said they never wanted to do the ADR this way, but in a studio anywhere in London. It was the producer(s) who came up with this brilliant idea of ADR in a conference hall. Heh. I have used DeVerb once about 8 years ago - to clear up a boom track that had some strange reflections coming off a lamp shade that was hanging low and in the frame. I must say it worked very well then. With the new plug-ins available now, I am sure it can be done even better... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 They work ok for a little help, NOT a lot. They are exactly the sort of thing Mark Berger had in mind when he coined "Berger's Law" (the fix works the best when you need it the least). p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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