PROFESSIONAL RECORDING OF SPEECH SOUND IN LOW-BUDGET FILMMAKING

Abstract

The size of a film's budget undeniably defines a significant part of the decisions involved in the planning and making of an audiovisual work. Thus, the film’s story, its genre, the size of the crew, the selection of the artistic team etc. must all be adjusted (often involving numerous artistic compromises) to the project’s financial possibilities. And yet a competitive film must have excellent sound and visual quality irrespective of its budget. Thus, it is NOT possible to economize on the quality of the basic technical equipment. As long as a film producer does not succeed in squaring the circle, he/she cannot expect of the production’s sound crew to make an impeccable film sound recording with modest and cheaply rented audio equipment. In case of a low-budget film: – the location audio operator (who mixes and booms) or the two-person sound crew (sound engineer + boom operator) must pay special attention to preparing for shooting. The choice and use of the audio equipment used on the film set must be made based on the careful reading of the script, the study of the chosen locations (focusing on the acoustic conditions), and on the thorough knowledge of the director’s and cinematographer’s concept; – good quality sound recording on the filming locations can (and will) greatly reduce post-production costs. The present study aims to offer adequate theoretical knowledge and easy to apply practical ideas/solutions with respect to professional voice recording in case of low-budget film productions.