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I hate cocktail dresses


newzhack

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I am working on a movie right now and had a tight fitting cocktail dress on a young lady Saturday night. I hate those things. Wardrobe wants to do the placement because I can not get to it with the dress zipped up. 

I finally gave her a hide a mic bra clip and it still had clothing rub. 

I hate to be defeated over this and the rest of the crew just shrugs at the issue. I can tell some appreciate my tenacity and some don't. 

 

Any suggestions. 

 

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What color? How low cut? When I have seemingly impossibly scratchy wardrobe I take the smallest mic I have (b6 or DPA 6060) and poke it right out of the top, even if it's just a millimeter. If it is going to come in contact with skin I put a strip of moleskin between the mic and the skin to stop the "bumping." Sometimes I even expose it more for the wide and push it back in for the coverage.

 

Maybe boom it? Is there a reason that's not an option? It's nice to have a great lav and a great boom, but sometimes you need to prioritize whichever one works.

 

Tell wardrobe they are going to have to work with you a bit. They are typically wonderful people and and happy to help if you can communicate what you need from them in a clear way.

 

I feel your frustration. Everyone on here has felt the exact way you have over and over. You have to fight for good sound. Some people admire and appreciate it, some people don't. Hopefully the producer and director do and that's what really matters.

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My default thought is that lav+TX+dress like that=marginal audio unless much greater than normal effort and communications happen.  Booming is attractive option but even if it is possible you will probably make everyone very nervous if you don't get a lav mic on this actor as well--it's just what they expect anymore.  Exposed mic, fun mic rigs, tiny TX, thigh mounts....that's pretty much what's in the toolbox.  This is a situation in which I envy the Broadway folks and what they can get away with on stage actors.

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A collaborative costume dept is the main tool to get the best of situations like these, plus a cast member who is open to some experimentation of mic placement in order to capture their performance as best as possible. Whenever possible try and get an early look at the costumes so you can get a jump on anything that might be a problem, in the calm of offset and less pressured time other depts will be much more open and negotiable to sorting such things.

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

What’s her hair like? If it’s long enough you can try to hide the mic in her hair, which sounds great, even if the mic is a bit further back. 

And if the hair is long enough, you might be able to hang the tx (ideally SSM or ZMT) on her bra strap and hide the bump under her hair

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On 8/24/2019 at 10:13 PM, Constantin said:

What’s her hair like? If it’s long enough you can try to hide the mic in her hair, which sounds great, even if the mic is a bit further back. 

And if the hair is long enough, you might be able to hang the tx (ideally SSM or ZMT) on her bra strap and hide the bump under her hair

Great idea Constatin

A mike rig in the centre above the forehead sound best

 

mike

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On 8/24/2019 at 6:13 AM, Constantin said:

What’s her hair like? If it’s long enough you can try to hide the mic in her hair, which sounds great, even if the mic is a bit further back. 

And if the hair is long enough, you might be able to hang the tx (ideally SSM or ZMT) on her bra strap and hide the bump under her hair

 

I have heard of times with today's small transmitters where the transmitter itself has been hidden in the hair.  This may have been in more forgiving theater situations though...

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On 9/3/2019 at 2:48 AM, Matthew Steel said:

I have heard of times with today's small transmitters where the transmitter itself has been hidden in the hair. 


Yes it is possible, best that their hair is not loose, but if the hair is braided/bundled/tied up then you've certainly got opportunities then to hide it under that!

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1 hour ago, old school said:

I look good in one.

CrewC

 

Well, after the mix of a friend's short in Paris a couple of years ago we were invited to a themed party, the theme being "Great Gatsby" or the like. Being similar in build (or so I thought) to my producer I tried to squeeze into her "flapper" dress but alas it wasn't to be - I did however manage to get my butt into a more flexible number. So, the three of us - myself (sound editor), director and producer, get to the party, actually around the corner from where I used to live (in an attic...) in Boulevard Courcelles, Ferraris and Lambourginis parked outside, it's a posh area. Obviously we were the only three who bothered to turn up dressed up, and as the only man in a dress I made an immediate friend with a chap who's opening line was,

"Do you like Fassbinder?"

 

Jez

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  • 2 months later...

I tried to place a mic at the hairline during a commercial shoot a few months back, since for many reason it seems to be ideal (based on the guidance in DPA booklets and the video they put out a while back).

 

I got a fair amount of negative vibe from everyone on the set for attempting it (the kind where you likely won't get a callback).  Even a friend who's been a DP for about 20 years said he's never seen it, and recommended I avoid it unless you have enough clout or people to back you up on it.  The end result for me is that, if most of the people on set haven't seen it before (producer, dp, director), I'm probably going to avoid it unless there isn't another option, for now.  Seems like a pretty ideal mic placement though.

 

 

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14 hours ago, Southeast Sound Guy said:

, I'm probably going to avoid it unless there isn't another option, for now.  


that‘s pretty much how I operate on many issues. 
Thing is, you first talk about it with the hair stylist. If they are on board, you need to convince the talent. It’s not anyone else’s business. If hair or talent are not on board, don’t do it. On commercials they are even more particular about hair and makeup, so I‘m not surprised you got pushback. Diplomacy is a key part of our job, as you probably know...

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tough one - it’s not worth all the effort sometimes - even if you could pull it off... you have to babysit the rig the entire time and how much of it are you really using? The margins get really narrow here - how much do you push it? How hard will it be to ditch if seen? Is the mic placement even going to be clean to make it worth dealing with hiding the TX?

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