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Party Scene - Sound

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georgewoofbates

Hey Guys,

I am producing a short film over the next few months and I am just deciding how to tackle the shooting of a party scene. So there will be about 20-30 dancing people and then there will be like dialogue between characters on a couch against a wall. I've been tossing up whether to shoot it with a silent group of party goers in the background and using a boom, or by placing lapel mics on each of the character speaking and letting the rest of the party goers carry on? Would the sound of the lavalier mics be too different to the sound of the boom mic in other scenes of the movie? Any thoughts on this topic?

Cheers

George
 
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georgewoofbates said:
shoot it with a silent group of party goers in the background and using a boom, or by placing lapel mics on each of the character speaking and letting the rest of the party goers carry on?
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Whether you end up using lavs or boom, you'll be wanting the party-goers to be silent regardless.

You'll also be wanting to catch room-tone with the party-goers doing their noises, as well, to add back into the sound mix later.

'sup & hello :)
 
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Yeah thats what I was thinking about the party goers. But what do you think about the difference in sound of lavaliers to boom? Would it be too noticeable or would the sound of the music and party goers mixed in behind fix the dialogue sounding different?
 
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On set, your main worry should be capturing clean dialogue. After that, you can do whatever the hell you want in post. You'll probably want some 'rabble' noise as well.

A good Sound Designer and Location Sound Recordist will help you out in this department.
 
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Boomed mic vs. Lavs - as a post sound editor I much prefer the sound of a boomed mic, provided, of course, that it was recorded properly.

Get the party people into their places and they can talk all they want while the scene is lit and blocked. Leave them there for a bit while the lead actors get it together. Have your sound team surreptitiously record all of this as a basis for your party walla. You may also want to have your background actors do a short walla session. The more you can record, the better; I like plenty to choose from when I edit it all together. Oh, have the sound team record the "conversations" of the individual party-goers while gathering your B-roll.

When it comes to the dancing it's always a huge help if you have your music chosen before you shoot a scene like this. On playback you use only the sub frequencies which can easily be rolled off in audio post. Obviously you can't crank it, but play it just loud enough that you background actors can stay in sync with each other, and they will also be in sync when the music is cut back in during audio post.
 
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