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Improvisation


C Plute

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Hi Folks!

 

I'm working on a comedy short that is going to be almost entirely improvised. Lavs plus 2 booms would be ideal, but they don't quite have the budget for something like that, so I'm planning on just using lavs. I was wondering if any of you have some additional input on recording improvised dialogue.

 

Thanks!

C

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Do you have enough channels (or budget) to iso each lav? If not, let the director know now that they won't have Altman-style editing flexibility.

 

We can do a lot in post to fix stepped-on lines. But it often depends on having a similar clean reading somewhere, which might not happen with improv.

 

While boom coverage might be nice, I wouldn't worry too much if it's not practical. This is a comedy (we hope), not an engrossing drama.

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I'd go 2 booms and follow the ball(s).   Work on the sound (and BG sound) of your locations.  Tell the cam dept that you'll stay clear of cam A but cam B (and onwards) will have to do a little improv themselves re the booms.  Make as light-weight a rig as you can for yourself, record with something with a great limiter, get your 2nd boom on a wireless rig (so no cables)  and lace your boots up tight.  You are invincible!

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On 9/29/2018 at 1:20 PM, Philip Perkins said:

Tell the cam dept that you'll stay clear of cam A but cam B (and onwards) will have to do a little improv themselves re the booms.

This.

 

I've done a fair few multi camera shoots with improv (or with amateur actors, which leads to "unintentional improv", even when they do try to follow the script). 

And you'll try your utmost best to avoid the framing of A cam (using all your psychic powers), but those extra additional cameras? I'd be very very relaxed about being accidentally (or even intentionally.... if they really mess up their camera positions and put sound into a bad corner) in their shots as under these kind of conditions they should expect to do a fair amount of improvisation as well themselves to keep up with the flow of the play. 

 

 

 

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It's payback time!

 

Instead of the DP telling the director 'don't worry about the traffic/airplanes/gennies, I have a friend who can totally get rid of the noise in post'...

 

Now you can tell the director 'don't worry about booms... I have a friend with a plug-in that can remove them either by making them invisible, or by zooming the shot with no loss of resoution!'

 

 

 

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On 9/29/2018 at 1:26 AM, Jay Rose said:

We can do a lot in post to fix stepped-on lines. But it often depends on having a similar clean reading somewhere, which might not happen with improv.

 

... and adding to that, if they don't have the budget for a boom, they most likely won't have budget for proper (or any?) dialog editing/sound mix either.

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