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The Coveted Long Take
One of my favorite–and simultaneously most stressful–memories while on set was having to boom operate for one extremely long take. I'd worked in sound many times beforehand and have been through many complicated scenarios. Much of my prior experience was also long one-takes.
The main difference with this one was the fact that the camera was moving around the actors the whole time. It was a very complicated setup that required “stage directions” for the DP who had to precisely hit each mark without making the frame too shaky.
This precision also applied to me as the sound guy. I had to both follow the DP’s precise steps and know exactly when to duck or hide when the camera turned around. It was a constant process of trial and error that became daunting. The biggest concern was that the scene itself was extremely dialogue heavy and required each line to be perfectly audible.
It was a constant battle of dodging, walking softly, and making sure the audio was usable all at the same time.
One segment that involved quick movement eventually had to be cheated a little: the film had to be paused super quickly as I ducked inside and crouched inside my little sound cubby hole. Legs almost in my face, recorder tightly on my person, and boom mic sticking out just enough to not trip an actor.
The whole scene took hours of filming and really was mentally exhausting. My work ethic and resilience earned me a lot of respect from the director who offered to buy me all the ice cream I wanted for my work. Altogether it was a great learning experience and one that I truly felt pushed out of my comfort zone.
Story written by Cory L., future director. Cory is currently a senior at the University of Georgia.
You can watch Cory's film, Duchess Diamond Final 2, here.
