Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Hidden converstions and tiny mics...



When you work with a small group of people on a movie set, its sort of like family. You're going to be close to these people one way or another. There are lines to run over and over, costumes to change and food to share.




And each day, in addition to the shotgun mic on the end of a boom pole, there are also little tiny wireless mics. The mic is attached to a little transmitter the size of a deck of cards, and it transmits crystal clear sound a couple hundred feet.





Each of the actors and actresses has these little mics at one time or another, but they are so tiny that when the boom pole is gone, they forget they are wearing them when the camera stops rolling to set up the next shot.

People are warned over and over, plus jokes are told to impress on them what happens, but sooner or later someone forgets and thinks they are having a private conversation or runs to the bathroom. The director, sound man and/or camera man suddenly knows a lot more about what's happening on set than they ordinarily want to know.



You know they are professional when you suddenly see the sound man, camera man or director yelling out that their mic is on, or pulling wires out of the receiver.

This movie has a good crew and they quickly pull wires or shut down audio. Still it's pretty funny to watch as they try so hard to give people a little privacy.

Still photography by Kira Robles.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for continuing to post these behind-the-scenes glimpses of the making of a movie, Kristen!

    I'm enjoying it very much and I'm sure others are, too.

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  2. I'm amazed, both at how much fun it is and how hard it is. My respect for bloggers has gone up.

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