Production Diary Monday 5th February 2001 I had been flirting around the last couple of weeks of pre production, closely aware of the purchasing of wigs, Adams dramatic haircut, make up tests and even been present when, drunken on a Monday night, the Director and Editor decided to play the parts themselves. However today was the first real day I was directly involved, where I pop around to Claire’s to see Adam and Paul in their make up. Adam looks slightly more convincing in his than Paul. This mainly due to Paul’s well defined ‘desperate Dan’ jawline. It is hard to fully place this in the context of the screen as the rest of his costume is not in place. Judging how long it took to prepare them both today, tomorrow’s screen-test is put back to 11 o’clock. Tuesday 6th February After a quick lesson on how to arrange the sound through the DV cam, we head to Paul’s house for the screen-test. The make up is well under way and soon we are eating bacon sandwiches and trying to recover from a dramatic night out. I set the boom mike on channel 1 with camera sound coming through on Channel two. It’s impossible to set the levels accurately as the camera position required Michelle to stand on the side which shows them. However I set channel two at a decent level, still holding my boom anyway to refamilierise myself with it after a whole project without any synch! It’s only a screen-test and the objectives lie with the make up of the two characters and a feasibly study of whether they should be played by these familiar actors. Wednesday 7th February In the lesson today Stacey gets stuck into the breakdown sheets and we watch the screen-test from yesterday. Adams appearance is greeted with enormous appreciation, Paul with slightly less. The dramatic changes in Adams haircut make us realise there is nothing like the real thing, so we joke about Paul having a sex change. All in all the screen-test gives Adam a complete green light to play the part of Frank, but we need to finetune Paul’s look. One aspect that is put under review is the hair. She seems a little too young in the current style, and we don’t know if the character of Linda would take so much care and attention over it. Perhaps a more frizzled look would be desirable, but there are doubts if our wig can cope with such a change. The music is discussed and Paul wants quirky horror music. I instantly think of a track I know by Eat static. I take it around to him later and he seems quite impressed, visualising it for the part where the hand is found. It is basically tense music but has a little horn running through it, giving it a quirky feel. Thursday 8th February Today I went to town and looked for ‘Crash and burn’ on CD. The guy at our price said there were two copies in the shop, but in a bizarre selection of product arrangement, there is no telling which rack it is in. A trip to MVC is unproductive, so I might get it off the Internet. There is plenty of time on this one.  Thursday 15th February At around this time there is a change of strategy concerning music and Steve Alcock has kindly agreed to compose a score for the film. Wednesday 21st February Today I find myself around Paul's house while he’s doing his scoreboards. All things film related seem to be very much in control, despite my repeated offers to help in the pre-production, I am clearly not needed because Stacey and Paul are an excellent team. They know they can call upon me at any time. Today they progressed on the casting, investigating the possibility of one of Helen Burn’s friend’s sons playing the role of the little kid. He turns out to be a little too old though. Friday 2nd March Today Paul invites me to watch ‘evil dead 2’ to get an idea of the kinds of sounds he wants me to use. Wednesday 7th March Dubbed as ‘playschool night’ this evenings activities included making plaster of Paris imprints of body parts. Unfortunately the evening didn’t go as planned due to the technical nature of events. Stace mixed the proportions of the plaster a bit wrong so we couldn’t really use any of them as they just looked like random white blobs.  Friday 9th March Recce of Stacey’s Mums house. It’s basically fine apart from a slight gurgling in the bathroom from the emersion heater. This, although acceptable bathroom sound, might mean we have to turn off the gas. In other parts of the recce we move around furniture of the bedroom which will be used. Saturday 10th March Today, although not strictly needed, I join Stacey and Paul’s ongoing ride of pre-production. We are on the search for a doorway for the very first section of the film. Frank leaving work and the weather conditions. A pleasant trawl around the industrial parts of Barnsley sees us settling for a venue not too far away. No sound issues. Tuesday 12th March Today our opinions are called upon for the appropriateness of the wig. The previous one was in a younger style which didn’t really fit Linda, and today we called upon to visualise Paul in full costume with it on. It’s a hard task, but we decide the wig is worth the money and is an effective replacement of hair. I also make a comprehensive list of sounds that could be required in the film. Thursday 15th March The script needs to be redrafted considering the enforced changes to the layout of the house and there’s plenty of practical tasks that occupy Paul and Stace in terms of set dressing. Although not a naturally practical person I, once again, offer them my help. Perhaps wisely, they turn it down. Friday 16th March Today we raise funds for the budget and comic relief. The usual four members are around and we witness Paul getting his legs waxed in an effort to get more commitment marks.  Monday 19th March The first day of filming and we encounter several problems. The sound department has some as the DAT machine doesn’t want to work. More likely, it transpires, it hasn’t got enough battery power for the outside scenes. This is annoying as we wanted to shoot the outside scenes. Stacey is having problems too. Her rain department isn’t going too well, hoses and grips frantically trying to recreate weather patterns. The light is fading rapidly before we go for a take. The DAT is so useless I plug the mic into the camera and, like the screen test, record one channel from the on board mic and one from the boom. It is impossible for me to listen to what’s being recorded as I haven’t got adapters for my headphones enabling me to plug into the camera. A degree of success is grabbed from the cellar scenes. This is conducted at a slightly less frantic pace and the presence of a power supply breathes life into my DAT machine. It goes OK the cellar scene, although Emma talks really quietly and I just can’t seem to get a particularly good level from her. It should be fine but I would have liked her to be a bit louder and I do two buzz tracks because I think the tones of the electrical equipment changes while we’re in the cellar. Tuesday 20th March Today I am working and introduced to minidisk technology. In a break from the colossal microphone I had yesterday, I also Gaffer a Sinisa to a recently acquired stick. This gives me a light boom as well as a more traditional one. The absence of exterior shots that need windguards etc, means I end up using this light boom mainly throughout the film as its both light and convenient. For large sections of today I am redundant as quite a lot of the sounds will be postproduction. This concerns cistern lids crunching fingers and so forth. There are a couple of snatches of dialogue here and there, but large sections are spent waiting around and helping out in other ways. The biggest sections of waiting around are born out of bursting busts (resulting in an early lunch) and Claire making up Adams hand to look burnt. This takes a long time and the end results are questionable. Then the shot demonstrating the hands is hard to achieve the field of focus. We’re tired but basically on schedule. The second bathroom scene will be shot at a later date. Wednesday 21st March Today we are to film the Neighbours kitchen in the morning. This involves the gruesome sight of clinical waste, arranged neatly on a platter. Some dialogue again, nothing too troubling. There is though a fire that starts and stops every now and again, causing audio disturbance. Fortuneltey the bulk of shots are to be used in conjunction with music so it doesn’t cause any real disturbance. Wildtracks and noises of the pan are recorded with a view to the edit process. The afternoon sees us in Stacey’s house recording Paul and Adam falling over the banister. There’s about three lines of dialogue but I involve myself in different ways. Also I recorded the sound of the platter being put down and lifted before it went back to it’s hotel. Thursday 22nd March Dialogue! streams and streams of dialogue. Jimbo is on boom operation today and we work it out well. Me concentrating on levels and his deft skill with the small boom is in evidence.  Throughout the morning we are very, very rushed. The rate of set up change is demanding and the atmosphere not as relaxed or considered as we’d have liked. This is especially in relation to lighting, with the turnover of shots being so great. All the front room and kitchen has to be recorded before 1 in the afternoon. It’s organised, but hectic.  The first shot of the day is the deep fat fryer. There’s no opportunities to set levels as we can only do it once it’s complete guesswork. It transpires I guessed wrong and it distorts. I may have to (depending on camera sound) record it at a later date. Then onto dialogue, phone scenes etc. We literally finish just on time, working four hours to full capacity with no breaks at all. Then they record the garden where the hand is first discovered. Friday 23rd March The Kitchen scenes are captured. A lot of work goes into assembling ND gels over windows and, despite a few problems with involving blood, everything goes smoothly enough. There is a continuity error concerning the keys in the door, but we have no time to change set ups and reshoot the establishing shot]. A couple of hours later I find myself reduced to umbrella operator as the end credit shot is achieved. A long shot which takes much timing and skill from Michelle, who does well. Then I gaffer the rain protection to the tripod and am stopwatch co-ordinator. Then my Hand is called into action as we do the opening credits. This involves me simply outstretching it for a while then moving it quickly out of frame when cued. Sunday 25th March Today I log the sounds that I’ve recorded. It is a simple job, often just with track, slate and take numbers. However my discovery is hard to explain. There doesn’t seem to be a complete version of the conversation between Frank and Linda in the living room. Why? I recorded it. It’s beyond any form of belief, but slowly I piece together what happened. The minidisk player strangely, doesn’t record when you press record. It has to write the track, which it does when you press ‘stop’. I remember the batteries running out pretty soon after the two shots, so that must be what happened. Very disturbing news in my world of sound. Monday 26th March Have to tell everyone about the lack of sound in the dialogue scenes. Adam starts to log the material and news filters that the camera sound should be fine on this scene. No need for a re-shoot, which is terrific news considering the time restraints on the location. Wednesday 28th March Today’s schedule changes. We were suppost to do the reshoot of Emma asking for her ball back (the failed first day) but it turns out she’s tied up with homework club or something. We end up recording the very first scene outside the factory. This goes smoothly enough although we have to be creative with the tapes as they are about to run out. We record over some of the unusable footage and sacrifice some colour bars for the sake of the budget. Sunday 1st April Today saw us reshoot the first days failed filming. There is a guest on camera today, Ms Stacey Hartley, as due to other commitments our usual operator is unable to be here. It is way more productive than the last time we tried to film it. The only worry is from the sound department. The minidisk appears to have loads of bits in it and wont read. Stace is sent to Western st to get another one. Apart from that all goes smoothly, although getting the sound previously recorded on the disk might be a problem. We then briefly reshoot the stairs sequence at Stace’s house due to a previous continually mix up. 2nd - 7th April Ads and Paul make a rough picture edit at a low quality. This will be upgraded at a later time, but also means we have to reshoot some scenes we’ve wiped over. These are some of the kitchen scenes involving the Neighbour with a spade and the neighbours wife cooking. There is also a cupboard point of view shot that needs redoing. Provisionally scheduled for the first Wednesday of the Easter holidays. Wednesday 11th April Today Paul came around my house and we go through the rough cut identifying exactly the sounds that are required. 12th - 20th April Foley recorded. Numerous experimentation involving thuds, tomatoes, breaking bits of wood, eggs bangs, spade hitting, chopping cabbages, dripping of fake blood (mashed tomatoes dropping), abusing parts of the toiletry system, throwing myself on the floor and hitting my own chin. Saturday 21st April Today I record the sounds of Stacey’s car slowing down, horns, Paul and Adams doorbell and a phone. In the evening I decide that a creaky door could be used for the problematic sound of a head dangling on a rope. I record several attempts but the nature of student houses means they are firedoors and a cracking of the springback mechanism interferes with the sound somewhat. I record plain door opening noises and keys too. Sunday 22nd April Today I nip to a church in the hope of getting the sound of a good creaky door. However, disappointingly, they seem to have new (quiet) doors. Monday 23rd April Today is my first full sound editing day. Although I haven’t yet been taught the delicacies of the sound editing processes, the process of familiarisation has been scheduled for tomorrow. Today is a profitable experience as it offers a chance to digitise the bulk of material, taking virtually the whole day. Everything is put into the newly created sound bin including some sound effects which are provided by Jo. Some are gruesome, there’s an interesting selection of thuds which I put in although I don’t think they’d work on there own. Maybe as part of a layered sound arrangement, I think. Other sounds include the buzz of a fridge, a head chop sound and most interestingly a creaking door. A plan is hatched to use this effect as the head swinging on the rope. At the end of this day all minidisk sound is digitised and the sound effects CDs have been utilised. There is just the DAT sounds to go in (the absence of an actual DAT machine being problematic) but enough to work with tomorrow.  Tuesday 24th April Today I am provided with knowledge on sound editing and the process is underway. The first line ‘see you tomorrow Frank’ is synched in my lesson. There are no clapperboards to work with, educated guesswork and sample plot working together to achieve synch. I loop a piece of car under the line. Although I have digitised Stace’s car from minidisk I decide to use the camera sound for more exact tone consistency. There are a couple of problems concerning footsteps of Frank approaching his house, or rather with the background noise. Although divided by a shot of the sky, Frank approaching the house was recorded in one shot. The car of the Neighbour is just off shot meaning a static noise of the engine turning over invades the footsteps of Frank approaching. We could Foley the footsteps entirely but it is seen as an excuse to demonstrate the capacities of EQ technology. The frequencies of the standing car are reduced, the footsteps remain. There is still is the problem of the car not coming in from any great speed, solved by fading the camera sound the minidisk sound with the slowing down of Stace’s automobile. The looped sound of the static car (EQ background noise of footsteps) fades out during the car approaching to provide a smoother transition. I also manage to put in sections of dialogue and am keen to see the sounds in relation to the stunts to assess the effectiveness of the Foley. The first stunt is the cistern lid with a high crack (breaking wood), a wet sound (achieved by squishing tomatoes), the sound of me hitting my own chin (giving a feint dental impact) and the cistern lid hitting the floor. This combination seems to work together effectively, but the line ‘ah shit’ and a scream of Frank are yet to be added. Although a large quantity of the dialogue remains in my bin and not yet placed on the timeline I decide to assess the feasibility of using the door effect from Jo’s CD library as the creaking of a head on a rope. Cut into short sections and faded down in relation to the visual blacks I think it works quite effectively, but it is ultimately a directorial decision. Wednesday 25th April Todays sound edit day consisted of synching up dialogue and more mundane elements like this. Annoyingly there appears to be no way of maintaining synch like my previous encounter with the media 100 programme. This means complete care has to be taken not to loose it, a very easy mistake committed several times. With this in mind I don’t delete the camera sound, just move the levels down completely, keeping it as a guide should the sample plot be required to re-establish synch.  I also experiment with the sound of the spatula. I had recorded the sound of a soft slap and a metallic instrument, hoping to put them together (possibly with a bit of EQ) to form the everyday sound of someone moving a dead hand across a rug with a spatula. After a series of experimentation it doesn’t seem to be working so a new plan needs to be conducted and I continue with the synching. There are footsteps in Emma first line. I work out this is the noise of the clapper board operator walking away. Keen to avoid this interference I quickly digitise other takes and try to splice them together. A feasible option as the first part of the line (cursed by footsteps) Emma is out of shot. However despite the honour of intent of this strategy it just doesn’t sound right. The timing and tone of the voice, despite several efforts, don’t match. I opt for layering quite a heavy traffic buzztrack to disguise the slight sound on original take. The only other Foley in place at the end of the day was the sound of the spatula falling to the floor after a hand catch. Monday 30th April Today’s progress on Avid is hampered slightly by the demands of broadcast journalists. There is a sky news picture rendering for about half the designated time we have today. We use some of this time to record the extra sounds we need. Mainly screams some bits of dialogue in radio. Stacey is a great assistance here, her experience of what sliders activate which mics (through radio) and which wires go where is invaluable in this specific sound operation. Together we work through it, but when I digitise it later on and place it on the timeline some of the dialogue is inconsistent. Understandably in the time since last being in their roles their voices have only become a vague approximation of their previous selves. Where possible I raise the level of the camera sound to prevent this inconsistency. I remember on this day getting bogged down in the details of the sound edit and loosing sight of the big picture. I sense an amount of urgency from other crew members so next time decide to plough through major blocks as well as being concerned with the nuances. Tuesday 1st May I borrowed a DAT machine and digitised the sounds encoded upon DAT format. Although previous encounters with Alfs DAT machine were appreciated, there seemed to be problems with it. This partly resolved with the use of Latterly due to no one being able to open it due to an eject problem. Music has saved the day and I finally get Frank looking up at a nice morning chorus (scene two) as well as the cellar scene and a heartbeat noise. Today I assembled the hallway stunt and enhanced the camera sound of Linda falling over Frank and landing on the table. I just put thuds on the impact and used the same methods upon the groin impact. Both work acceptably well. The spatula sound is still giving me problems. I simply synch up the naked minidisk sounds recorded on the day and lay it down as a provisional measure. It seems to work considering the noises wouldn’t be much anyway and it is only a brief shot. The next edit session sees the visual department concentrates on titles, sound being on standby for when this is done. Tuesday 8th May Paul and I put the music onto the film. It has been recently recorded by Steve and a wide selection is provided. All is digitised, including Moloko. Some has to be redigitised as I failed to account for the crescendos of some of the pieces, but this is only a minor set back. A lot of the time today was spent in negotiation with Paul considering the placement of the musical items as there are several options provided. This eats up a large section of the day. By the end of the day I basically have a completed sound edit apart from the all-important changes in levels. The missing elements are a simple thud for the cistern lid pressing against the door and I need to work on the noise for Frank and Linda to get distracted by on the stairs. There is enough sounds in my bin to place on different channels at the same time to achieve the effect, but a simpler strategy might be just to record a fresh piece of Foley. An attractive option considering the restraints on time. Annoyingly I manage to loose synch a couple of times and the stereo arrangement of the music means moving some existing sounds to different channels. Simple VHS recordings of Countdown and Pet rescue are done in the library. I try to digitise the background ambience of pet rescue and countdown, recorded on Paul's tape in the library earlier. However this becomes a frustrating task as I have no way of knowing where it is on the tape. The cameras fast forward is painfully slow and there are no linear edit suites on to skip through it. I gave up and concentrated on other matters getting to the stage where, apart from two simple sounds to be added and the levels, my role is essentially done and I hand it over to the visual department. Friday 11th May Today a large section of my sound edit was deleted. In an unwelcome development as I was only about two hours away from being able to complete the job and move onto other aspects of my degree. Anyway, the upgrade from AVR3 to AVR70 (batch digitising) was odd to say the least. Some sounds survived, others remain on the timeline but aren’t actually there. Some disappear completely! It is all mightily strange, as there is no pattern of logic in evidence. The main victims are the camera sound, which is reliant in the sound mix for several elements and often looped where necessary. We’re all gutted and it puts us back an incalculable amount of time. There are some shots that need camera sound (stunts especially as safety reasons prevented mics being near and I didn’t have many chances to set my levels). These need to redigitise completely at the AVR 70 standard. We need to grab all the time we can next week from the other group. We ended up recording the Foley for the stair scene by simply by putting cans of purchased soft drink in a pan borrowed from the refectory then throwing it on the floor. The cistern lid noise was done by simply placing the noise of it falling, with a thud. Monday 14th May Fresh from three solid days essay writing I turn up to college late in the afternoon. I find Paul in the edit suite masterfully redoing sections of sound editing. After a brief rundown of the contents of the tapes (in order to redigitise elements that need camera sound) I take over from him continuing to redo what already has been done until I get kicked out. This mainly concerns mundane tasks like synching dialogue from the separate source bin which, thankfully is intact. But knowing Avid technology it wouldn’t be surprising if this also dissolved into silence. Hand catch, drop hand, axe chop and virtually all dialogue (three lines not in place) are put on in the brief moments snatched from the other group before Friday. Friday 18th May An alarming amount has to take place today in over for the four o’clock deadline to be met. The visuals are the first thing to be done, mainly focusing on illuminating the slight difference in lighting on the reshoot material. Then it’s time to frantically place sounds on where they once were. Paul is the more experienced on Avid, so takes control of the hotseat to maximise efficiency. I lurk around the edit suite at times directing the director. Informing him of what I called the sounds in the sound bin, which has to be sifted through. It is a taxing procedure, but we are very efficient and achieve a lot in our short time. At three we go through the levels, aiming to get consistency throughout the film. There is no real time to recheck the outcome, as we have to make a copy to hand in as our final piece. There are a few thuds missing here and there, footsteps are departed, but the essence of the work is basically reclaimed a lot from last weeks disaster. However once all deadlines are over we will return to polish it off, adding the extra sounds which would have been there if only a couple of hours more had been available to us.