Collaborating with Sound Designer

Working with the sound designer is something I always try and do, especially in small production crews like ours, so there is no confusion between us that will enable the whole of the post-prodcution process to go smoothly. Luke, the sound designer/recorder, and myself have worked on a number of projects together so we are on the same wavelength when it comes to understanding each other's workflow. I synced all the recorded sound with the shots that we used in the fine cut stage so he wouldn't have to waste time syncing them himself. However, due to us making a number of changes before fully picture locking, I also compiled a short list of the takes we used and when in a few scenes that contained a lot of dialogue to help speed up any re-syncing he needed to do.

Brief sound notes on the headmaster scene.

Sync sound takes from the start of the film.

The best way I could help Luke was to get the picture locked and finish the visuals. “Picture lock is important because it lets the sound editors and the composer know there won’t be any further changes to the length of the film.” [1; Pg 306] As soon as this was done I exported the cut and gave it to him so he could re sync anything that needed to be done as well as cleaning up the dialogue if necessary.

The director and I sat with him through the first few sound edits so we could discuss any non-diegetic sound that we thought could be used to match a specific shot. I also sat in to justify why I had used certain shots that I thought could be enhanced by creative implementation of sound over others. For example, the headmasters scene where a shot of Daniel fades into a slow motion shot of the kite flying through the air originally just had the headmasters dialogue underneath which didn't work on its own, but with the implementation of music and wind it really draws the audience into Daniels imagination.

Collaborating with sound designer.

Finally, Luke exported the sound cut at a number of different intervals to give back to me so I could export them with the visuals and send them to tutors to get feedback at every step of the way. This also allowed us to attend almost all the DCP tech rehearsals at both the Void and The Showroom so we could listen to the sound on better speakers.

Bibliography

1. Pete Shaner (2011); Digital Filmmaking: An Introduction; Virginia: Mercury Learning and Information