These few blogs will be aiming to give a brief introduction about Sound for Films. Some details are specific to India/Bangalore.

'Sync Sound' is the term used to refer to capturing the vocal performance of the actors on set during production/shooting. The goal is to record clean dialogues so that the actors will not have to Dub (ADR) the lines in a studio later. It is impossible for an actor to recreate the spontaneity, pitching, intonation, rhythm & emotion of the performance. Especially when he/she is put alone in an unusually quiet recording studio space. 

Sync Sound seems like the right way to go about things right? Then why doesn't everyone do it!

Firstly, it is more expensive than to get the film Dubbed. But that is the easy bit! Sync Sound demands a lot of hard work and discipline from all departments - Direction, Production, Actors, Camera, Crew, Editor.

Direction - It is best if a shot-breakdown is ready, but at the least the script needs to be locked! The habit of changing dialogues after picture edit is not advisable with Sync Sound. Prompting lines or giving directions while a take is going on is not advisable.

Production - While choosing locations to shoot in, the sound-scape of the place should be thought of. A village that is supposed to be isolated according to the script, cannot be shot in a village next to a highway just because it is beautiful. Whereas, if a highway is acceptable in the script and can be established with an appropriate shot, then the occasional truck sound while a dialogue scene is happening will not be out of place.

Actors - They should be co-operative in wearing hidden wireless microphones. Also, it is shocking to see the number of actors that cannot or do not bother to remember their lines. Obviously, this is not possible while shooting Sync Sound. Needless to say, actors need to know the language they are speaking in. So Sync Sound is not possible if an actress from Punjab who doesn't know Kannada is playing the lead.

Camera Dept. - Multi camera shoots, each camera with drastically different lensing should be avoided. If one camera is shooting an extreme wide master shot and another is doing extreme close-up, then the boom mic will have to be out of the frame of the master shot. But in the edit, it is common to use the close-up shot when someone is speaking. So now the perspective of the recorded sound is wrong and hence un-usable. There is a work-around, I will write a blog on that later.

Crew - The crew needs to be quiet. It is astonishing how difficult this is to achieve. I have been in situations when an entire 2 minute take was useless in-terms of audio because the Executive Producer was talking on the phone, at the top of his voice while the take was on! Sound-proof generator should preferably be used on set. If not, it should be parked as far as possible so that it causes the least noise interference.

Editor - A certain workflow is to be followed for a Sync Sound film. I will write a blog on this later. Also, each shot has to be synced with the appropriate sound files before beginning to edit. I highly recommend using Timecode to automate this process. It is disastrous to try and sync sound files to an already edited film. Been there, done that. Never again.

Seems like a lot of problems doesn't it. But any Director/Editor who has seen a film fall flat after it was Dubbed will know the importance of the actor's original performance. It is well worth the effort to capture that coherent performance.

 

 

These few blogs will be aiming to give a brief introduction about Sound for Films. Some details are specific to India/Bangalore.

'Sync Sound' is the term used to refer to capturing the vocal performance of the actors on set during production/shooting. The goal is to record clean dialogues so that the actors will not have to Dub (ADR) the lines in a studio later. It is impossible for an actor to recreate the spontaneity, pitching, intonation, rhythm & emotion of the performance. Especially when he/she is put alone in an unusually quiet recording studio space. 

Sync Sound seems like the right way to go about things right? Then why doesn't everyone do it!

Firstly, it is more expensive than to get the film Dubbed. But that is the easy bit! Sync Sound demands a lot of hard work and discipline from all departments - Direction, Production, Actors, Camera, Crew, Editor.

Direction - It is best if a shot-breakdown is ready, but at the least the script needs to be locked! The habit of changing dialogues after picture edit is not advisable with Sync Sound. Prompting lines or giving directions while a take is going on is not advisable.

Production - While choosing locations to shoot in, the sound-scape of the place should be thought of. A village that is supposed to be isolated according to the script, cannot be shot in a village next to a highway just because it is beautiful. Whereas, if a highway is acceptable in the script and can be established with an appropriate shot, then the occasional truck sound while a dialogue scene is happening will not be out of place.

Actors - They should be co-operative in wearing hidden wireless microphones. Also, it is shocking to see the number of actors that cannot or do not bother to remember their lines. Obviously, this is not possible while shooting Sync Sound. Needless to say, actors need to know the language they are speaking in. So Sync Sound is not possible if an actress from Punjab who doesn't know Kannada is playing the lead.

Camera Dept. - Multi camera shoots, each camera with drastically different lensing should be avoided. If one camera is shooting an extreme wide master shot and another is doing extreme close-up, then the boom mic will have to be out of the frame of the master shot. But in the edit, it is common to use the close-up shot when someone is speaking. So now the perspective of the recorded sound is wrong and hence un-usable. There is a work-around, I will write a blog on that later.

Crew - The crew needs to be quiet. It is astonishing how difficult this is to achieve. I have been in situations when an entire 2 minute take was useless in-terms of audio because the Executive Producer was talking on the phone, at the top of his voice while the take was on! Sound-proof generator should preferably be used on set. If not, it should be parked as far as possible so that it causes the least noise interference.

Editor - A certain workflow is to be followed for a Sync Sound film. I will write a blog on this later. Also, each shot has to be synced with the appropriate sound files before beginning to edit. I highly recommend using Timecode to automate this process. It is disastrous to try and sync sound files to an already edited film. Been there, done that. Never again.

Seems like a lot of problems doesn't it. But any Director/Editor who has seen a film fall flat after it was Dubbed will know the importance of the actor's original performance. It is well worth the effort to capture that coherent performance.