Over the course of the last month and a bit we have been focusing mainly on location work for Immort, Descent, Feel Good and Remember.
The fact that there was five of us in the group really helped out in this regard as it meant that we had enough people to spread out over the various shoots, this was especially helpful when people were unavailable due to an R&D visit or other similar issue that caused people to be busy.
On location I mainly acted as the boom op on the shoots I attended. For Immort, despite being the lead Sound Designer on the film, I decided that Rory’s greater experience on set and with the 633 made him the better choice to be in charge of the location work. On the one shoot Rory couldn’t attend, Gaz took over from his role, with me remaining as the boom op despite at this point me being completely happy using the 633 the reasoning behind this being that it was a re-shoot and having already done this once and gotten good results, I figured that I was better off continuing in the role as I knew whereabouts the shots would be happening and where I could stand and so on.
It was interesting being in a position where in terms of Immort, with me being the lead Sound Designer on the film, Rory would normally be under me in the chain of command so to speak. However, on set it was the other way around. So I answered to Rory on the aspects of location sound, however, having an eye on the whole picture of the sound of the film I also had to make sure we were getting everything I needed for things like the dialogue edit.
Over the course of our work on location I became familiar with the 633, something which I wasn’t beforehand, having only used it very briefly before, so in a sense that was my biggest take away from the location work, learning how to confidently use a new piece of gear, which is potentially greatly beneficial for any location work I take on in the future. My other big take away is that I feel that my skills as a boom op have improved. Being the boom op is a role that comes with a fair amount of pressure, stemming from the fact that you need to stay alert over long periods of time, making sure that you’re holding the boom properly and in the right position consistently while also making sure you are aware of lighting and camera set ups so that you can avoid getting in shot or casting unwanted shadows. As an extension of this you also need to keep track of dialogue and movement so that you follow the actors appropriately.
Now that the location work is over post production tasks are now at the forefront, which at the time of writing my main responsibilities for the next week or two consist of:
- Composing the music for Immort
- Composing the music for Descent
- Completing the dialogue edit for Immort
- Starting sound design aspects on Immort and making sure everyone else is aware of the plans for the film and what is required Foley wise and sound design wise.
This is in relation to learning outcome two.