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The future of lav'ing


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Personally I think a lot of the implementations I saw were as much about making people feel comfortable and that production was acting responsibly more than scientific practices to stop the spread. Better safe than sorry.

I definitely saw a lot of emphasis on having less crew on set and having more off set space for people to spread out when not needed on set.

Also no fresh crafty :(. Only pre packaged.

I have a client who wants to see temperature logs to ensure no one going on set has a fever or has had one recently.

 

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 A lot to do about nothing if you ask me. The problem doesn't exist so why worry about it? 

 

 

25 minutes ago, Wandering Ear said:

Personally I think a lot of the implementations I saw were as much about making people feel comfortable and that production was acting responsibly more than scientific practices to stop the spread. Better safe than sorry.

I definitely saw a lot of emphasis on having less crew on set and having more off set space for people to spread out when not needed on set.

Also no fresh crafty :(. Only pre packaged.

I have a client who wants to see temperature logs to ensure no one going on set has a fever or has had one recently.

 

 

You're still working?

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5 minutes ago, Mirror said:

 A lot to do about nothing if you ask me. The problem doesn't exist so why worry about it? 

 

 

 

You're still working?

I am not doing any production work right now.  Scraping together whatever post work I can, but it's pretty thin.  Getting close to completing some personal projects that been on the back burner though, so that's nice.

The company I refered to isn't local to me.  As far as I can tell production sound work doesn't qualify as an essential business to be exempt fr WA states stay at home order, unless you are part of a broadcast news crew.  I haven't heard about any productions shooting here since the order went into effect.

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On 7 April 2020 at 5:41 PM, Mark LeBlanc said:

My last show and once this is over, next show are 3 cameras.. Basically "F-Sound" wides and tights at all times. If actors start to refuse wearing lav's and production feel the only way to make our days is 3 cameras, then being in sound could become extremely miserable not being able to get a mic anywhere near the talent...

 

I'm sure there are some old timer Italian Cinecitta recordists who think such days were great. Hanging around a film set, prime spot, close to the action, chatting with the director, smooching with the actresses, arm wrestles and shots with the actors, ... just remember to click from TEST to RECORD for that all important guide track.

 

(Hell, I started my career in Hong Kong ... heard stories of sound being recorded as guide only on a handheld walkman... always chose to disbelieve or just stop listening) ...

 

Jez

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3 minutes ago, Philip Perkins said:

We'll see about this.  In the doco-corporate worlds especially there are going to be changes to how we work with lavs on non-actors for definite sure.

 

Possibly.  I'm just not a guy that is inclined to worry about a problem that doesn't exist at the moment. I usually have a plan 'B' in my head but I don't see this imagined paranoia as a thing when we come out of this pandemic. Eventually we have to return to operating as humans again.  

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13 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

We'll see about this.  In the doco-corporate worlds especially there are going to be changes to how we work with lavs on non-actors for definite sure.

 

 

Oh yeah.  I do a (normally) healthy amount of corporate meetings per year, and it's REALLY hard to imagine the old way of rotating 8-10 lavs over 15-30 non-actors per day is going to be met with any comfort at all.  People who wear a lav in a large meeting 1-2 times a year, and don't know how to position it themselves, require dressing.  

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15 hours ago, Wandering Ear said:

I have a client who wants to see temperature logs to ensure no one going on set has a fever or has had one recently.

 


I never understood this whole temperature taking. I know it’s being done all over, but it won’t help stop the spread. If someone can infect someone else without being or ever becoming symptomatic how is taking temperatures going to help?

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1 hour ago, Constantin said:


I never understood this whole temperature taking. I know it’s being done all over, but it won’t help stop the spread. If someone can infect someone else without being or ever becoming symptomatic how is taking temperatures going to help?

 

It's just reducing probability. Someone with mild symptoms can have some fever. 

 

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Unless they put the LAV in their mouths, I don't think there will be any issues. 

 

Anyone says anything then have a super deluxe Cedar Sinai decontamination station ready to go! ( a spaghetti jar full of %99 alcohol). 

 

If I have to wipe down 8-10 LAVS a bunch of times throughout the day I am going to blame @EmRR😜

 

In all seriousness it wouldn't be that tough to hang them up and give them a wipe while they're hanging. If it ever even comes up...

 

FYI on the very last job I worked on FEB 27th in SF we had a table with lysol wipes and hand sanitizer. Nobody even touched it. We're talking heavy hitters from around the globe. CEO's, CCO's, CFO's you name it. I only noticed because I opened one package to wipe down the mix console. If that was today all the Lysol wipes and hand sanitizer would be gone in seconds!

 

I read a joke online that says " I've been washing my hands with sanitizer and cleaning everything so much that when I go to the bathroom my pee cleans the toilet!".

 

There is going to be allot of "sanitizer" in the eco system in the coming years. My sister works for a large soap company. She's been working full steam the whole time. Just imagine the amount of cash the companies that have been open during this have made. The demand plus the scarcity has created profits unimaginable before. I just hope they use that cash to make more productions!!! I like to think of cash flow like water, it always goes somewhere. 

 

I have heard more than one company refer to this as "Busier than Thanksgiving or Xmas". It's feast and famine at the same time!

"So far, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. alcoholic beverage sales has been different from the experiences in past recessions. Alcoholic beverage sales have spiked significantly, but the impact has been uneven. Some producers have seen their sales soar, while others have seen them decimated."

 

Take care buddies!

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I just shot a little production for a friend solo. It was a presentation on portable patient overflow rooms he wanted to make to share with local healthcare professionals and hospital administrators, a community service kind of thing. We agreed when we set out to shoot that we would maintain

social distancing rules (this was during week one of quarantine).

I brought two transmitters. I disinfected the one he was going to use with bleach diluted water. Standing ten feet part, By miking myself, I showed him how to place the lavaliere on the inside of his shirt using a Rycote Overcover. I had him coil the excess cable, secure it, plugged in the transmitter, placed it on his belt, covered with un-tucked shirt. At the end of the shoot, had him place the lav and transmitter in it's pouch. Took it home, disinfected the pouch, transmitter and lav/cable. 

The sound turned out great. The whole thing was pretty simple. Not every talent can mike themselves, but he could fortunately.

Moving forward, who knows what the new protocol and drill will be?
 

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Had a few ENG shoots recently. It was for TV and non-fictional:

 

Most of the time booming from above, desinfecting boom and fur often in a special ultraviolet ray oven that was provided by production. When booming from beneath (behind a car, to avoid boom mirrors on the car roof, y'know) I put a plastic bag over the boom. The result was surprinsingly ok, but wind noise is a huge problem with this "solution".

 

In a show with a presenter lavs were required. I cleaned the transmitters and the lav mikes with alcohol and put them, together with the windscreen bubbles in the UV desinfector. That procedure took place before AND after the shoot. I didn't touch these things after desinfecting and put them in a small plastic bag each.

Before the shoot it was clear that there was no need to change the transmitter to another person, so it could stay on all day.

The presenter and his guest put on their lavs themselves, I just explained them how to do it. Because it was a tv presenter show, the visible appearance of the lav wasn't that important - everyone had a good feeling with this compromise. I had the guys even change batteries during lunch.

 

Of course I always left the required distance between me and other persons. We drove in separate cars, had gloves and washed hands often.

 

Not easy, and not satisfying all of the time. I would have loved to correct the position of the lavs many times the day as i usually do ...

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1 hour ago, Rick Reineke said:

Some folks are buying EverClear at liquor stores since isopropyl rubbing alcohol is in short supply these days. We used to use EverClear in lieu of tape head cleaner at the recording studio. I was known to have a nip or two.

From what I've read, Everclear 190 proof (95%) grain alcohol needs to be diluted to 65-70%. The water is necessary in conjunction with the alcohol to pull the virus apart. Everclear 150 (75%) is pretty close to perfect.

 

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at 0.5% is as good as bleach (Clorox) but is not as hard on metal surfaces, clothing or skin. It is cheap and commonly sold at drugstores as 3% and can be diluted as much as 5 parts water to 1 part H2O2  to get 0.5% and still be effective. It can be used straight from the bottle too, i.e., additional water is not necessary. All the liquids (alcohol, Clorox and hydrogen peroxide need to wet a hard surface for a few minutes. They are only strongly effective on hard surfaces. Wetting for several minutes is difficult with alcohol as it evaporates quickly, particularly with any air motion.

 

Soap and water is more effective than any of these liquids as the water grabs one end of the virus and soap the other end and literally pulls the covid virus apart. Soap and water can be difficult to use on equipment (and destructive) but is the best thing for hands and only requires 20 seconds of scrubbing. "Soap" refers to true soap (fat and lye) as well as all common detergents and hand soaps. If it will cut grease it will cut the virus. Another good reason for using soap and water over alcohol sanitizer is that the alcohol doesn't work well on greasy or oily hands. On the other hand (pun intended), alcohol sanitizer is quick, easy, and more likely to be used.

Stay well. 

Best Regards,

Larry Fisher

 

 

 

p.s. Hard surfaces are nonporous surfaces. Cable jackets are a "hard surface" in that they are not porous.

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If you want to make your own disinfectant you can use the recipes from the WHO. The ingredients are ceap (if you use methylated spirit for example which contain 94% of ethyl alcohol ) and you can use it also for your hands (due to the glycerol part inside). Just be carefull when handeling flammable liquids, be aware that the boiled water has to be cold before mixing it and that the solution has to remain 3 days in the bottle before use (that's the time the hydrogen peroxyd needs to kill possible spores). 

 

 https://www.neolab.de/media/wysiwyg/content/Anwendungskapitel/WHO/WHO_Guide_to_Local_Production.pdf

 

Things that can't be desinfected (like furs, foams, ect.) you can leave for about 3 days in a warm and dry room before the virus dies (drys out).

 

Greetings

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On 4/8/2020 at 4:24 AM, codyman said:

Pipe dream but I would totally be OK with having sets be mixer and 2+ boom ops if this were the case.  In the perfect world everyone would be boomed anyways!


That's what I dream of as well! An uptick in demand for extra boom ops, to give back some of the extra coverage that lavs used to do. 

 

On 4/8/2020 at 6:41 AM, Mark LeBlanc said:

5. They won't paint out the boom, they won't hire additional sound people, we are the one department on set that our entire effort can be completely replaced in post. 

 


Let's not be so negative, we're no longer the department which can be completely replaced in post....  just look at how advanced VFX is getting! Ageing characters instead of make up, virtual sets (like in Mandalorian) instead of a large art department or going to location, etc

This highly advanced VFX is good news for us well, it has never been easier for booms to be removed in post!
 

 

It's so easy to paint out a boom, "even a drunk soundie can do it":

 

 

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It's not negative, but a realistic possibility of what might happen.. I was talking with post today, on a show for FOX that will be released what's now looking like September. We shot 3 cameras at all times and on main set, 5 cameras with hard spotlights.. Boom was off on the side, not close to set.. Camera setups were chaos, duplicate angles, wide/tights and a poor excuse of a stage with AC blowing straight down on sets with metal roofs.. All told, not a super sound friendly show to begin with.. If SAG comes down and says no lav's till vaccine, there's no way they will add extra cost to our budget to paint out the booms... It's not happening. They stuck 3 cameras, on dolly's in a f'ing closet, we had to mount the boom overhead to get anything... On a show like this, without the lav's its basically 100 percent ADR and don't think out of the kindness of their hearts, will they go down to 1-2 cameras to help sound out.. That's not being negative, but a very possible reality if this goes sideways and is a way to mentally prepare for the worst.. That way if the opposite happens I will be the first to cheer!

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Did you all see this? A few details, but nothing on sound. Any of our Oz pals here know what they're planning on doing? From Deadline:

 

Australia’s ‘Neighbours’ Sets Safety Protocols As It Resumes Production; First Show Back Could Be Road Map For Others

 

As Hollywood begins mounting an industrywide effort to create protocols for films and TV shows to safely return to production, there will be a test case to draw upon.

 

Australia’s long-running soap Neighbours will resume filming next week after a monthlong production shutdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is believed to be the first suspended TV drama in the English-speaking world to restart production.

 

Here are the safety guidelines that are being put into place by Neighbours‘ production company Fremantle Australia, which, in success, could be a road map for other shows and for reopening Hollywood.

 

[Click on the headline to read the rest of the story.]

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