Inneresting 02
September 26, 2018
What are you looking at?
There’s a moment early on in Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before where the characters are arranged around a dinner table. Anyone who’s filmed one of these scenes knows how tricky it can be to get the eye lines to match, and well, it doesn’t happen here. Characters are left to stare off in ambiguity.
This video with DP Julia Swain does a good job explaining some of the common techniques for coverage around a table. I’d add that beyond where you place the camera, you often find yourself cheating actors’ eye lines a bit.
Some other stuff I noticed this week:
Loot Llamas. Two different execs asked me, “Is there a movie to make about parents who hire Fortnite trainers for their kids?” (The answer is no. It’s really a B-story on Modern Family.)
It’s all about the tongue. Dialect coach Erik Singer’s videos are so good because they’re generous to the actors involved. Accents are hard work.
Speaking of hard work, I’m obsessed with these Bon Appétit videos in which pastry chef Claire Saffitz attempts to recreate Twinkies, Cheetos and Kit-Kats in their test kitchen. Also? I’m kind of shipping Claire and kitchen manager Brad Leone.
The wisdom of Oghma. On Saturday, I was part of panel of middle-grade fantasy authors. Answering an audience question, it turned out that we’d all played D&D as teens, and geeked out over the Monster Manual – a taxonomy of creatures not unlike Culman’s Bestiary from Arlo Finch — and Deities & Demigods, which provided a surprisingly broad overview of world mythology for 1980.
Arlo Finch has 94 Amazon reviews. There’s no magic spell unlocked when you hit 100, but it sure would feel nice to be in triple digits. If you’ve read Arlo and feel like leaving a review, that’d be swell.
I got my flu shot on Sunday. Like I say every year, it’s the best money you can spend. Being sick sucks and derails your life. The flu costs America $10.4 billion each year.
Sound advice
Scriptnotes usually consists of me and Craig talking over Skype from our respective offices. We each record our sound separately, then editor Matthew Chilelli joins the tracks. This is called a double ender. Most tech podcasts are done this way, rather than in a studio.
When Craig and I are in the room together, often with a guest, it can be tricky to get good sound. We talk over each other, and audio levels can be hard to balance. The worst example of this was the infamous Final Draft episode. I ended up having to re-record a lot of my audio for it because I was off-mic.
If our shows with guests have sounded better recently, it’s because we’ve changed the setup for live interviews. Producer Megan McDonnell and I built panels to reduce room echoes with black foam core and these cheap acoustic foam squares.
If you try this at home, we found that the spray glue that works best is 3M Hi-Strength 90 contact adhesive. Spray both the board and the backs of the foam squares.
Instead of recording a single track of audio, we’re now recording each mic separately into Logic Pro. I thought I’d need a mixing board to do that, but it turns out my trusty Zoom H5 portable recorder can do it flawlessly. It works as a USB interface for up to four channels if you use the optional expansion capsule.
If you’re going to be doing any field recording, I can’t recommend this recorder enough. This plus some XLR mics and you’re good to go.
The last thing we added was this Behringer microamp so everyone could adjust their own headphone volume. We use Sony MDR7506 headphones because we’re basic.
Here's what the whole room looks like:
That's an IKEA table with a hole cut in the center for cables, along with IKEA chairs. We're not fancy here.
And that’s what’s interesting this week. See you next Wednesday!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Frankfurt, Germany
October 10
Arlo Finch reading and signing
Hugendubel an der Hauptwache at 11:30am
Austin Film Festival
October 26
The Creative Career at 3:15pm
Scriptnotes Live! at 10pm
October 27
Three Page Challenge at 4:30pm
Boulder, Colorado
October 29
Arlo Finch reading and signing
Boulder Book Store at 6:30pm
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