Randy, I'm curious. Are you shooting with film or digital video... If digital video, why record audio into a stand alone player and not just directly into the camera?

Thanks for the tip!

omar:
DV. Doing stand alone audio because of personal preference.

Most DV cameras have crappy audio.

DAT, etc. can sound vastly better.

> DV. Doing stand alone audio because of personal preference.

I hear that. It's similar to film production.

> Most DV cameras have crappy audio. DAT, etc. can sound vastly better.

Not if you connect good audio equipment directly to the camera ... DAT is on its way out I think. I would just use a flash card recorder...

> why record audio into a stand alone player and not just directly into the camera?

It gives the boom operator independence from the camera man. No tethered cable to worry about. The camera can be far away from the talent for maximum depth-of-field. I usually have the boom operator use my Marantz PMD660 with headphones and the wired remote attached to the boom handle. They never have to take their hands off the boom and the remote has a red/green light to let you know when you are in stand-by and when you are recording. This gives them the freedom to operate wherever they need to because they are completely self-contained.

~jr

I don't think I've ever heard "stand-by" or "lights" called (unless the "lights" was some special effect that had to happen on cue, but even then I've never heard it called). All I've ever heard is:

Roll sound...
Roll camera...
(slate, but no mention of the scene's location)
Background (when necessary)
Action.

And don't forget to say "cut." It's surprising how many times beginners forget that one. Also, if you know right away you'll be doing another take, announce "back to one" right after "cut," so people don't wander away thinking it'll be a while to set up for the next shot. "Back to one" means "back to first marks (position)." As an alternate to "Back to one," I've heard "let's go again." If you're not going to do another take, it's "cut... moving on." And by the way, ALWAYS get some head and tail on the takes, you'll be amazed at how often it comes in handy that the camera started or stopped a second or two early/late. And most importantly: Even if you get a good take, get another one (provided there's time). Having a safety (as it's called) will save you time and time again. For example, there might be a tape dropout (if video) or something in the background that no one noticed, etc. You might even end up with a better take on the safety; you never know.

Lastly, get a good thirty seconds or so of room tone to drop in when needed in editing. (Sometimes you'll get enough useful room tone at the head or tail of a take.)

True story that's somewhat related, and even if not, it's funny. During the pilot episode of seaQuest DSV the sound mixer said there was a hum coming from the mike, so he replaced it and asked for silence so he could listen and make sure the problem was solved. I was standing next to the director, Irv Kershner ("The Empire Strikes Back") who at the time was very tired from long shooting days. After about ten seconds of silence he looks up and says, "... and action." Luckily the sound guy had his answer by then, because it took several minutes for the laugher to stop. :-) He also one time called "action" at the end of a take, so as you can see, it's not just newbies who mess up sometimes.

make it as simple as possible, something that works for you and the crew.
lights, well you can see them and the lighting guy has been screwing around with them for an hour anyway, he/she will tell you when they are set,

I directed a low-budget feature a while back and quickly learned the language of a pro crew hired by my producer.

Director (To assistant director and script supervisor, after camera & lights are set and any run-throughs are done by the talent): "Okay, let's do Scene 12."

AD: "Quiet everyone, Scene 12!"

(Everyone gets still--really still.)

AD (To sound man): "Roll sound."

Sound (DAT operator with headphones, with boom operator in position): "Speed." [Tape is up to speed.]

DP (Focuses, frames the shot & starts filming): "Set."

Director: "And--action."

P.S. After "cut" (with head & tail), I always shot at least two takes of every shot, in case of video dropouts.

This is truly a great forum. Thanks to everyone for your valuable input. It's going to be a great shoot!

> It gives the boom operator independence from the camera man. No tethered cable to worry about.

yeah that's true.
I've personally never had a scenario where I've had to worry so much about the cable connected to the camera but you never know...and it all depends on the shot.

I agree that you never have call for lights since all lighting should be set before you take a shot.

When you get a take you like don't ask to move on until you are sure your camera person and sound person say that they got it.

It can go something like

Cut. That was good. Good for camera?

Yes.

Good for sound?

Yes.

OK, moving on next setup is ...............


You also want to establish a method where you can get this method without embarrassing anyone on set. You don't want to say "Moving on" and then have your camera operator say, "I didn't get it because the boom mike's shadow is visible on the wall." or the sound guy says, "I keep hearing the producer's footsteps."

I used to be a boom op and from my experience on sets most everybody understands the demands of the visual: don't cast shadows, stay behind the camera, don't move props, etc. But far fewer people understand the demands of the audio part of filming. This is because they can hear the actors clearly even though a truck goes by. They are not used to listening through headphones connecting to a very sensitive and discerning mike. If you have pros, they will know not talk during room tone. Or the location director will not pick a room next to air conditioning system. For inexperienced folk you run into that all the time.

Also if you don't have a rehearsal, you can't expect the sound guy to get it on the first take. During a rehearsal the sound guy has to make sure he has the right level (are they going to whisper or shout?), the boom guy have to get a mike line (where is the edge of the frame and how close can I put the mike) and make sure the boom will not cast a shadow, etc. I've been on set where they take two hours to get lighting, camera, art, etc correct, but then can't give the sound guy 5 minutes and act like he's wasting everyone's time. I had one experiece where we did five or so takes of a scene and it was working at all (it was poorly written and directed) and the actors were frustrated so they sent everyone off set for two hours to work with the actors. Then they called us all back in "get it right now" before we kill the energy. We get in place and the director calls "Action" and of course they restaged the entire scene and the actor ended up deliveing half of his lines while standing in a corner and beyond mike range. Another time they didn't want a rehearsal because they wanted the scene to be fresh, it was a handheld shot with an artist destroying his studio, the actor is stumbing about the cameraman is following him and I'm right behind the camera guy with mike including when the actors lurches behind us and the camera guy does a 270 degree whip pan to find me holding the mike and trying to jump behind him. That was a fun day. They also didn't have duplicates of the props the actor was smashing.

When you record audio to a stand alone recorder. How hard is it to sync to video. Is it very time consuming?

> When you record audio to a stand alone recorder. How hard is it to sync to video. Is it very time consuming?

The syncing is not hard at all. I usually expand the two audio tracks and match the wave form from the camera with the wave form from the external audio to get close. Then I set up a loop playback and nudge the external audio track back and forth with the NumPad 4 + 5 keys until I don’t hear any flanging. It’s pretty quick when you have camera audio as a reference. Otherwise syncing would be really hard.

~jr

Otherwise synching would be really hard."

Unless it's properly slated. It's very easy to match up if the image and audio of the slate is clear-- and there's no reason they shouldn't be, it's not hard to do. Just teach newbies that the slate needs to be steady during the clap; don't clap while you're moving the slate.

> Unless it's properly slated.

Agreed, if properly slated you just match ‘em up at the start and go. So maybe “really hard” was an overstatement. Just a bit harder. ;-)

~jr

In the days of film, you'd definitely call, "Lights".

This was because you could easily be burning 10,000 - 20,000 or even more watts of lights to light your set. The heat buildup from a bunch of 5K lights is huge, so we'd turn them off at the end of ever setup. You couldn't run the AC because of sound.

It was an ordinary day to have the studio somewhere around 105 degrees in temperature. Kept the make-up people busy.