Boom operating PDF

http://www.glennbach.com/schurr_boom_art.pdf

Found a good PDF on Boom operation which helped me today on my documentaries group shoot today. Although the PDF gives information on mainly inside locations and dramas, as we were filming a documentary in a abandoned steel factory, I couldn't put some of the tips to use. However, I found the attitude to booming and general sound technicians really helpful, basically saying listen to what the director wants and being constantly on the ball, looking out for problems like creaky floors and such as not to ruin the take. 

Blow Out

Blow Out is a film that struck me immediately from its use of editing in the camerawork but also the sound. This is quite apt as the film itself follows a sound technician, played by John Travolta, who records a murder on tape while trying to to record sounds for his B-movie horror. It is a film that as well as entertaining you, also teaches you about the way sound is used and created for film. 
The sound design is much more distinct which is a plus as sound can go by unnoticed in some films due to the fact Travolta is a sound technician and is also constantly recording and editing the sounds in the film. In the scene where he is recording the wind on the bridge, the editor just shows us what Travolta can hear through his headphones which I liked as in a small way, it made me, as an audience, feel much more in his perspective which makes us feel closer to him. Also, as we can only hear what he hears, when the tire gets shot, we feel physically shaken as he does because of the unexpected noise, as if we can hear it through the headphones too. This technique is explored later in the narrative, where Travolta can hear his love interest being assaulted through his headphones from the wire he put on her. The fact we are hearing what he hears makes it feel more real and uncomfortable as we are able to empathise further with him. 
The fact that the main character goes through an horrific ordeal but then comes out with the perfect scream for the horror movie he is making in some small way alludes to the fact that we can't recreate sound through foley, we need 'real' sound to make a film believable and authentic.  Or perhaps in a more macabre sense, that you should almost try anything to create the perfect sound. 

Sync sound workshop 18/10

We were working with the cinematography group to sync sound for a script from No Country for Old Men that to people would act out, the cinematography would set up the shot, lighting and composition and we would record the sound with two mics onto the camera.
We were introduced to Wendt mixer which doesn't record anything as it record straight onto the camera through pre amplification. We were given the information and instructions on how to set it up with a camera and then made to re-callibrate the correct settings after Neil reset them. We were also introduced to a new mic, a Sennheiser 416 and were made to use two on two boom poles and given the instructions on how to set up the Z1 cameras and the mixer together. After muddling through that and getting a little help from Neil after our second channel wouldn't work, we managed to work together, the cinematography team and sound to take a take (after reiterating many times to the cinematography team that we weren't recording, they were!). However, due to the quality of the microphones and the close proximity of the other group, it was difficult to get a clear take without background noise. Although getting used to the new mixing equipment was a little foreign, Neil reminded us of the age old phrase, 'practice makes perfect' so I plan to take out a mixer and the microphone so I can better my practise. 

The Foley Artist: Los Angeles Times video

I found this video really interesting as it makes the job of a foley artist seem like a fun one and requires a lot of creativity to create the required sound for the screen. I thought especially the idea of using paperclips on the fingertips of gloves for the sound of dog paws  a really inventive one, simple but unnoticeably different in the finished film.

Foley workshop 11/10

We worked at the workstation with Ron to record foley for animated films such as Nine and Wall-E and other clips from films such as the Sopranos and horror films, which we watched in mute and then wrote down what sound we would need to get with those. We had the Marantz 661 and worked in a group of three to create foley sounds with objects we had brought in. We hit sliced and hit fruit to create a stabbing sound in flesh, peeled an orange for a scene in a film where a man peels an orange, used plastic gloves to create the sound of wings flapping and used the sound of moisturiser being rubbed in the hands sound for poking a bloody wound for a scene in a horror film. 
Our group used the new sound studio in the workstation which had been sound proofed which made our sounds sound clearer because they didn't have the hum of the building like the others. Together as a group, we recorded a coin roll with four different mics for a scene in Nine and then fed it onto Ron's laptop to edit in Soundtrack Pro. 

Seminar 4/10/12

We were introduced to the course by Ron and Neil and were given all the appropriate documents and assessments. We also discussed films, websites and atricles we should watch such as The Conversation and Blow Out. We were told to watch a film called Berberian Sound Studio which follows shows the mechanics of a man making foley sounds for an Italian horror film.
We were told about the components of sound design including dialogue, voiceover, atmos, effects, foley, music, ADR, mixing and EQ, motif and sound signature. We were told to consider a mood and tone of a film and to keep in mind what the directors intention is when creating a soundscape for them. We were told to contemplate the question 'How does sound tell the story?'
We were shown mute clips from films such as Lost in Translation, Solaris and No Country for Old Men and were told we would have to eventually get sounds from the sound library and record foley to re-sound this clips. We were told to get into the habit of marking our clips where we felt needed a new sound added.