FEATURE FILMS
This is why we get into this business... feature films. I am lucky to have a career working in a craft that is this enjoyable rewarding, and challenging. Sound for film is my dream job and every day at work is a new day to play. I am passionate about sound and I want to share this passion with you, telling your sonic story.
Here are few examples of creative solutions we came up with when faced with logistical challenges.
Projects like Dead Man's Wire are few and far between, but fortunately it came just two years after Wildcat. Based on a true story, Dead Man was the most creative collaboration I've been a part of. Every department put their best foot forward to bring this story to life - working through snow storms, challenging hours and an unbelievably tight schedule (19 days).
As a period piece, the script provided us opportunities for real creativity to record the dialogue in a way that helped tell this story in true Gus Van Sant style. Early in prep both Gus and the Supervising Sound Editor, Leslie Shatz, expressed the desire to record in stereo. Admittedly this was not something I had ever done or even considered. Stereo dialogue? Huh? That flies in the face of everything I was taught, but on a leap of faith I placed my trust in these two titans of their craft and thus the story of Tony Kiritsis was recorded. #InGusWeTrust
Recording in stereo is not as simple as flipping a switch. You quite obviously have to record (and transmit if you're using wireless) twice the information in the same footprint. After many days of research during the Christmas holiday, when most vendors were closed, we finally settled on a solution. I had recently been experimenting with microphone selections - essentially treating the microphone in the same way a DP considers lenses, which microphone was the best tool for the shot. Having a stereo setup for DMW meant that we needed to consider mixing different capsules (manufacturers) and how that might color the sound profile. Initially we considered the Ambient Emesser ATE308 that could be paired with any existing microphone selection, but again Leslie and I kept coming back to the concern of mismatched capsules. Finally, we decided to use the Sennheiser MKH30 Figure of 8 stereo microphone and pair it with our MKH50 short hyper cardioid boom microphone. For almost the entirety of the production, Dan Giannattasio (Boom Op) and I stayed on the MKH50 regardless of the shot. John Wise (UST) did really well with wire management so everything together made mixing the dialogue to the scene a breeze.
As often as we could, I kept us hard-lined with a custom 5-pin single and boom cable from KTek. However, as is the nature of indie production on a tight deadline, there were times we couldn't record with a hard-lined connection (5 cameras). For such cases, I had prepped into our system the ability to use a Zaxcom QRX200 stereo receiver and a TRX 745 outfitted with a stereo cone. For the most part... the Zaxcom system worked great...
Dead Man's Wire, 2025 (Row K)
Directed by Gus Van Sant
As if recording in stereo wasn't creative enough, Dead Man's Wire provided many more opportunities to creatively record sound. Being a period film, Gus paid great attention to detail including the types of prop microphones the actors should use.
In the real archival footage of the Tony Kiritsis broadcast, there is a very large microphone with foam that keeps peaking into the frame. As I watched the footage I knew it immediately that it was a Sennheiser MKH816 - I have two! Throughout production we had moments to give actors practical props to record sound in sync with the two Ikegami 730A tube cameras. News footage plaid such a huge role in the narrative of the film, that we couldn't miss the opportunity to record sound in a similar fashion. While filming the broadcast scene, we provided one of my Sennheiser MKH816s for talent to use and record practical audio in that great moment.
Another instance of practical onset recording came when filming scenes at the radio station with Fred Temple (Coleman Domingo). As a radio disc jockey, it was important for Gus that Fred use not only a microphone that actually worked, one that was appropriate for the time. We were able to source a Neumann U-87 locally and featured it quite prominently in all scenes of Fred Temple. All of Fred's dialogue both diegetic and non-diegetic was recorded on set with the Neumann U-87.
The most complex creative solution by far was syncing sound, recorded at 24fps, with a camera from the 1970s that doesn't natively accept timecode (timecode was still in its infancy). With the help of our great DIT's Sin Coen and Tim Erikson, we were able to Jam-Sync the Ikegami's by cross jamming a Denecke JB-1 at 30fps with 24ps timecode.
All in all, Dead Man's Wire was one of the most logistically challenging but, absolutely rewarding productions of my career thus far. Collaborating with legendary talent like Gus Van Sant, who trusted his team to do their job well, is what makes this job worth it.
#InGusWeTrust
Amber Alert, 2024 (Lionsgate)
Directed by Kerry Bellessa
We mic'd the car with our traditional setup: two Peter Engh Omnigoose in the visors, a Sanken CUB-01 stuck to the roof with butyl, an MKH50 gripped to the gear shift and the actors were also wearing body mics. All these microphone sources were fed to my mixer in the cab of the truck and I was sending out the signal to the director via Comteks. The talkback system was pieced together with various components and then pipped into the car's aux input.
I took an Audio Technica gooseneck and ran it through a PTT Mic Mute and Sound Devices MM1 preamp. Then we took that signal into a Lectrosonics T2 that was paired with an R1a into the car's 3.5mm aux input. The director and talent could hear each other crystal clear without the delay of walkie and other systems for the entire two weeks.
This setup proved to be even more valuable when one of the producers used the PTT to read lines from the phone conversation (that was scripted to play through the car's audio anyway).
In the blistering summer of 2023, just before the SAG/WGA strike, we spent two weeks riding around Louisville, Kentucky on a process trailer. Amber Alert was unique project in that a good chunk of the film takes place on the road while the talent in the car are on the phone with other people in the story. Due to the nature of process trailers, the director can't be there to provide immediate feedback.
We came up with a creative solution so that the director could communicate perfectly with the talent. At first we thought to simply give talent earwigs, but we didn't have any.
Wildcat, 2023 (Oscilliscope)
Directed by Ethan Hawke
An all around exceptional experience working on this production; Ethan is an artist that embraces the spontaneity of production and the nuances captured in performances. Very little ADR was needed on this film because of this. We had a great team on this show in Dan Giannattasio booming and Julie Leskiv day playing utility. One scene in particular had a very long dolly shot leading, and then following, Laura Linney and Maya Hawke as a train begins down the tracks. For most of this film we bounced back and forth between an MKH50 and a CS3e on the boom track but, this shot called for something different. It was not uncommon for us to forgo traditional "coverage" and live in a single shot for the whole scene. For this reason, I refused to settle for the safety net of the body mic so, on a wild hair told Dan to get out the 816 (much to his chagrin).
The Sennheiser MKH816 is highly directional condenser microphone that I can only describe as "sounding the way a movie should sound." The long interference tube of this microphone makes it exceptional at rejecting off-axis noise but, it comes at the cost of being incredibly heavy at the end of a fish pole. Even though Dan loathed the idea of getting this microphone out, there was no denying that it was the right choice. As the train began to pull away during our dolly move, it was nearly imperceptible on the boom track. Being allowed to make these creative choices on the day in the moment is why this film ended up being a special project to work on - all departments working together in service of the story.
Here. Is. Better, 2021 (Greenwich Entertainment)
Directed by Jack Youngelson
This documentary posed interesting challenges due to the subject matter.Based on subjects with PTSD and their private therapy sessions, it required us to maintain a low profile when filming.
I was involved with the Cincinnati unit which filmed at the Fort Campbell VA that was allowed to film therapy sessions. Obviously our lone cameraman was allowed to be in the room but, I had to record and monitor from afar. I could not have done this without the reliability of Lectrosonics Hybrid Wireless.
When you're filming a compelling documentary like this, you try to blanket as many subjects as you can and find your story in the edit. We had many prospective subjects wearing body mics during group sessions but, we also had to hide microphones on set in the individual sessions. I hid mics in tissue boxes, under 3-ring binders and in cigarette packets. For the plant mics our featured selection were the Saken CUB-01 boundary mic and the Peter Engh Omnigoose. These tools helped us record the best possible dialogue track for the story while keeping a low profile to respect the subject's privacy.
Silo, 2018 (Oscilliscope)
Directed by Marshall Burnette
When the passion for your craft is recognized, when you are empowered to do your job well it makes your work that more fulfilling. I had the pleasure of working with a director on Silo who understood the important roll every craftsman played in telling his story. Marshall was a great collaborator. Part of this feature was filmed in a reconstructed grain bin set, in an airplane hanger, in Clear Lake, Iowa. Naturally, this location posed tremendous acoustic challenges due to the very obvious fact that it was a corrugated steal reverberation tube. Recording a clean track of dialogue with minimal reverb was a going to be a near impossible but, the least we could do was attempt to mitigate the reflections.
After many conversations and roadblocks to try and come up with solutions to reduce the reverb, Marshall eventually chimed in with the final say: "Sound in the grain bin is going to be an issue. Do whatever Derek says needs to be done." Admittedly, it felt great knowing the director had your back.
Our first creative solution ended up benefitting the camera department as well sound. Inside of the grain bin there was a dolly track that ran the entire inside diameter. The company that makes the grain bin (Sukup) also had dolly wheels that attached to this track. The solution was staring at us in the face. We borrowed several 20by duvetyne sheets from G&E and attached them to the dollies to create a curtain that we could spin around the inside depending on the shot, thereby cutting down on early dialogue reflections. As a happy accident, our cinematographer Hunter Baker, now had a 20by negative fill that he utilized as well. Two departments benefiting from need to capture the best sonic performance possible.
The next creative solution was calling in some favors. The week before we left for Iowa, I called one of my mentors Dave MacMillan for advice. With three Academy Awards for production sound mixing, Dave is literally the legend of sound. I explained the challenges we were up against and without a second thought he sent me his Sennheiser MD-441 dynamic super-cardioid microphone. What made this gesture special is that it was the same microphone he used in a similar situation when he was mixing The Right Stuff (1983) - for which he received an Oscar. This type of microphone, a dynamic super cardioid, meant the mic was less susceptible to fluctuations in sound pressure levels like typical shotguns. During close ups, we were able to get this mic very close to talent and with the help of an MM1 preamp, it further cut down the presence of obtrusive reverb in the dialogue track.
