Close handheld follow shots

[whatalob]

Not sure if i use the right term here. I am talking about those shots where the camera follows the subject pretty close up. Either hand-held or steadicam.

Any tricks on capturing clean action sound without the extra footsteps and steadicam rattle? I guess one can go for muting shoes with foam, but that wouldn't work so well on location say on a gravel terrain.

Or is it a case where it has to be done in post?

[RPSharman]

In some cases, using a lav vs. a boom will help with foot noise from the camera entourage.  In action-type sequences it can all get buried in the general noise of things, but in quiet scenes, even the creak of the stedicam vest can be a nuisance.  All you can do is try to minimize the number of people around the actor, and hope that the dialog editor can clip out any mysterious noises between your dialog.

On a show recently, the stedicam operator chose to wear pants made of that lightweight nylon material.  He was just a couple of feet from the actor, leading her as she spoke on the phone.  All I heard was "swish swish swish" with each stride.  I made a point of asking if he had other pants, pointing out how noisy they were, hoping that the next sound mixer wouldn't have to deal with his silly choice of setwear.  Crazy!

Robert

[old school]

There is no magic in recording sound. In Roberts example, the culprit of the bad sound was the steady cam op, but it can come from many who need to light, focus, frame, n boom the actors. I find most of the time the noise gets buried in the sound of the environment if the actors are loud enough. As for gravel, that's tough. Booming from underneath the frame and pointing up n away from the footsteps can help as well as the fore mentioned lavs. Good luck w all your recording.

CrewC

[Philip Perkins]

Outside in the city I've been pretty lucky persuading grips and ACs to pick up their feet (not shuffle, not easy to do when walking backwards) if I ask nicely--that usually gets the noise down to the level of the traffic.  I also try to shoo away any unnecessary folks from the walk (via Comtek distro or a wireless video feed).    On interiors a shot like that will be a compromise all around--framing, lighting, sound, and hopefully those in charge will be realistic about what can be accomplished in that particular situation.

phil p

[whatalob]

thank you all for the interesting insights. I will try my best.

[Jan McL]

On gravel, I've had carpets laid on the camera crew path.

-- Jan

[Harris K]

Asking nicely is the best cure I've found. Everyone's just trying to do their job well, and when you politely point out the problem most people make the additional sound consideration a part of their job. Having extra foot foam and booties always helps, and I have yet to have anyone actually refuse, save for a foot dragging steady op who didn't want to screw with his flow. Fair enough, I guess.

For the gravel situation, you're probably kinda screwed, but do whatever you can, as necessary inform the appropriate parties of the issue, and save the stress for another day. Sometimes, the rest production just necessarily bones the sound.

[RPSharman]

On gravel, I've had carpets laid on the camera crew path.

-- Jan

Me too.  This works well.

It also helps people to understand the difference between justifiable noise and natural noise.  Cast foot falls aren't necessarily a bad thing, but if the characters are standing still and we hear the stedicam footfalls or floor creaks, or if we hear a crowd of feet when it should only be two pairs, then it's harder to justify.  We have one PA on my show who SHHHHHHHHes so loudy during takes.  I explain to him that in a scene with extras, that it's much easier to justify a bit of BG talking and disguise it underneath the added foley/wallah than it is to disguise him going SHHHHHHHHHHH in the middle of a take. 

Robert

[Bob Marts]

Once did a steadicam scene around a car on a gravel lot and I didn't have my carpets handy. The set-dec truck was close and happened to have a large variety of nice large oval rugs available. I wish I had taken a picture of the ground with all the nice rugs completely surrounding the car! Looked classy. Carpets do work well outside. I now have a couple of long rolls of runners - good for long straight walks.

[mikefilosa]

Carpets do work well outside. I now have a couple of long rolls of runners - good for long straight walks.

It seems to me that rugs outside are becoming more commonplace....

Where are you getting the long ones ?

MF

[Jim Rillie]

On gravel, I've had carpets laid on the camera crew path.

-- Jan

A bit late, I know, just getting caught up.

In my experience, carpets on gravel don't do much for the boom - I find the crunches are just changed into an unnatural sounding distraction.

They do reduce foot noise on the gravel a bit - maybe 1 or 2 dB, but I always go with the body mics in that situation. And Crew's suggestion of going from below frame helps a bit.

Just my 2cents

Jim Rillie

[Eric Toline]

It seems to me that rugs outside are becoming more commonplace....

Where are you getting the long ones ?

MF

Mike,

Home Depot or Lowes have longish carpet or hallway runners in both carpeted or rubber styles.

Eric

[studiomprd]

" maybe 1 or 2 dB "

I've had much better results than that, and going back to the 1980's!

resturant supply companies and building maintanence supply (Janatorial) usually have them

[Greg]

I use politeness as the first step. Then when the request fall on deaf ears I ask for longer lenses cause a 2/3 feet with a super cardiod can help, and then if that does not work I approach the AD and say that I'm adding time to the day schedule for an FX run on the scene because the sound was compromised. by then carpets are down too with lavs and off micing the boom from the camera.

Most of the time the AD will help to avoid overtime at the end of the day. The last step is to put reasons for bad sound in the reports and "walk away". Steady cam seems to get alot more of the attention any way.

[Malcolm Davies Amps CAS]

Jan's story about the carpet on the gravel brought back memories of a movie I did in Montreal.

Sound blankets as you know them were unheard of in the UK and Unit (a dept also unheard of in the UK) laid about 50 sound blankets on a gravel path so that I could get the dialogue.

I brought a few blankets back to the UK and everyone wanted them. I now import them from China and they are in common use in the UK but no one here manufactures them and the furniture removal industry which the movers pads were originally designed for don't use them at all preferring to use wool blankets you would use on the bed.

Malcolm Davies. A.m.p.s.

[WhyOne]

When the boom mic can track within18" or so of the actor's faces, I have had several successes using the Schoeps 5 capsule as the mic. It is a true cardioid, easy to cue without changing the background, and has the property of falling off noticeably at about a meter. If the mic is 'raked out' at > 45º and aimed for the noses, most of the pattern falls on the actor's upper body, and foot noise is remarkably attenuated. Boomer has to hug the frame, though...

[Jesper Magnusson]

Some time since the post was active, but I thought I'd chime in with my own experience for future readers.

In film school we had a project that was made for the singular purpose of having the photographers practice steady cam operation. This meant there were 2-3 people walking around on set every take, not counting myself and the actors. The set was a quiet old factory locale with a lot of rubble on the ground, the lenses were pretty wide and the photographers were moving over a pretty large area, so no carpets/blankets could be used. No lavs, and no budget.

My somewhat improvised solution was to make several 2' squares of blanket, and wrap one or two layers around everyones shoes. There was still some problems with shuffling and rubble being kicked around, but it helped a great deal.

In the end, you can get far by using rugs and blankets, rejecting with the mic, and asking politely.

In another memorable shoot we had a handheld shot following an actress down a hall and into a room. We were 4-5 people following, and all were wearing jeans that made a lot of noise. I pointed it out to the AD, and there was an obvious solution - everybody should take their pants off. The AD got on it immediately, and the following takes were clean. The actress had a hard time not to burst out laughing though.

Good story to get the crew to wear quiet clothing.

[Mark Andrews]

I'm almost a little surprised to see no-one answered "just roll guide then do a wild take for sound", as that is typically my approach where it's just walking with no dialog.

I love WhyOne's cardiod idea for dialog pieces!

~Mark.

[studiomprd]

" "just roll guide then do a wild take for sound" "

especially if you are following them, and cannot see the lips flapping