This workshop was to explain the onset relationship between a sound recordist and a DOP. Jack is a distinguished camera operator and a cinematographer. He has worked on a variety of projects, from corporate jobs to high budget films.
He explained what sound is considered to be onset and that when the camera is running that is when the whole day is running and when the camera wraps, the day is at an end. The camera dictates the day, and audio follows it. He stressed that that doesn’t mean the camera is more important then the audio, but thats just how sets work.
He works closely with a location sound recordist named Paul Fairey who has only been in the location business for about 4 years but has been in the sound industry for his whole career. Jack said that his set etiquette is what gets Paul hired across the country, and thats is one of the most important aspect of being on set; How well you work with each other.
It is expected of a sound recordist to know the camera and the camera lenses that they will be working with on the day of each shoot. This means that each time you begin to set up for a new shot, the sound recordist can figure out where he can boom from and how close he can be close to the talent without entering the frame. The smaller the smaller the number on a lens, the wider it is going to be.
He then showed us the camera that the university offers and the different settings they have. The sound recordist need to know the audio settings in the camera and also where to find the timecode settings. I asked about timecode and his experience with syncing up to the audio equipment. Timecode syncing is an industry standard method of linking sound to picture and is essential when on set. When you”jam” the timecode, you are syncing up your audio mixer to the camera. There are two types of timecode when on set. ‘Record Run’ is when your timecode stop and starts when ever your camera is running and the there is ‘Free Run’ which is when your timecode is continuously running. Jack said he usually used free run as it time effective when on set and only requires one jam session.
Overall a fantastic workshop that explained how a sound recordist should be like on set and what is expected of one. This will help greatly for future projects.