Production Research

Directing

Responsibilities of the director include;

Ensuring the script is ready for performance, including -

·         Every aspect of the script must “serve effective dramatic purpose”

·         Characters serve their dramatic purpose

·         Dialogue is “representative of spoken English in dramatic communication”

(Crook 1999, p.236-237)

“Inspire your actors to establish and express life, understanding and belief in every word” of the script. (Crook 1999, p.240)

Keep a professional standard at all time

Crook, T. 1999. Radio Drama Theory and Practice. Routledge. New York.

Recording Technique

The microphones I have been considering are:

• AKG 414b 
• Neumann U87 
• Sure SM58

Whilst the dynamic 58 will not pick up pops, clicks and sibilance as clearly and plosives may not be as pronounced, the Neumann and AKG mics are high quality, all purpose condensers and in the interest of getting the best, clearest possible recordings I believe they are the correct mics for us to use. Poor mic techniques from the actors will be corrected by the director and recording engineer to minimize the aforementioned problems.

In the interest of keeping the tonality of the characters voices constant throughout the finished drama, we must make sure characters use the same microphone throughout recording. This should not be a problem as the maximum number of characters we have in a scene at one time is 4 and there will be two pairs of mics.

If possible, scenes will be recorded with all cast present. While we can record cast individually and edit stems together during post production, cast will not be able to 'bounce' off each other during recording and we may lose some of the naturalness of the performances.

In order to gain maximum control during post production, we will be recording our cast on individual tracks as opposed to having them all perform into a centered microphone (fixed source). This will give us greater control when it comes to stereo positioning  of our drama, as well as using EQ and compression, which would be problematic if all the actors were recorded on one track. Baffle boards may also be used, though spill can be cleaned up during editing.

Rehearsal

The issues we are having with casting are leaving us with little time for rehearsals. Fortunately, we can still use the rehearse record method. This method involves breaking the production into scenes (possibly segmenting longer scenes) and rehearsing a number of times before recording.This method may have advantages; it is useful for a cast who have not had much time to rehearse together and the scene will be fresh in the actors head (particularly useful if the actors are inexperienced and not used to remembering lines).

Ambiance tracks will be recorded at suitable locations, SFX to be recorded on location and within the studio.

Useful Links

• http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?printertopic=1&t=74799&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&finish_rel=-10000
• http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/technique/rehearserecord.html
• http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/technique/techniques-total.html#anchor200059