Is the director being unfair to me?

H

harmonica44

I am helping a friend shoot her feature film. Just so their is no confusion this is not the same person who I am acting in a short film in that I mentioned in another post. I am doing the production audio for a friend cause I owe her a favor for help she has given me before. She couldn't find a PSM/boom op, so she is using me.

But she doesn't give me any storyboards before a shoot. She is in constant contact with the DP and they have meetings all the time. The DP tells me so, and I go to him for storyboards, cause all she does is send emails saying I need to be here in two days, or be there tomorrow. That's all she gives me. I feel I could use the same treatment so it will help me record sound better. Especially since I am not a PSM at all, so I don't think it's asking too much. Otherwise I have no time to creatively prepare how to work around the shots.

I also do not know which scenes we are shooting when she emails shoot dates to me. She will describe the scene to me, but the script is not written in screenplay form. It's written just like a novel and their are no scene headings or nothing so it makes it very complicated to know which scene, when I have to do a shoot with little notice or time to prepare.

What do you think? I guess I am just venting but it is frustrating.
 
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harmonica44 said:
I am helping a friend shoot her feature film. Just so their is no confusion this is not the same person who I am acting in a short film in that I mentioned in another post. I am doing the production audio for a friend cause I owe her a favor for help she has given me before. She couldn't find a PSM/boom op, so she is using me.

But she doesn't give me any storyboards before a shoot. She is in constant contact with the DP and they have meetings all the time. The DP tells me so, and I go to him for storyboards, cause all she does is send emails saying I need to be here in two days, or be there tomorrow. That's all she gives me. I feel I could use the same treatment so it will help me record sound better. Especially since I am not a PSM at all, so I don't think it's asking too much. Otherwise I have no time to creatively prepare how to work around the shots.

I also do not know which scenes we are shooting when she emails shoot dates to me. She will describe the scene to me, but the script is not written in screenplay form. It's written just like a novel and their are no scene headings or nothing so it makes it very complicated to know which scene, when I have to do a shoot with little notice or time to prepare.

What do you think? I guess I am just venting but it is frustrating.
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1. From the way you are describing your situation, it sounds like you are working on an amateur film.
2. Of course she is in "constant contact" with the DP. The DP needs the storyboards more than you do.
 
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Oh okay. Well if it's not common for me that's cool. It's just I am not very good with sound blankets or anything like that, so I thought that most PSMs would probably see the storyboards beforehand so they have a good idea of how to go about blanketing the shots. Understand I am no PSM, I am just doing this to help out.
 
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storyboards aren't going to show you the location anyway.
the threads you create ... lol

big budget films do a location scout while in preproduction, the assistant director flags potential issues with that walkthrough. maybe a sound guy could get in on that. but not storyboards..

hell mine are just stickfigures with different shaped hats so you can tell them apart
 
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Storyboards are not necessarily locked in frames anyway - so what use would they be to you when the frame could be completely different..?

Excuse my potential ignorance.. But what's wrong with simply seeing a frame when it's up? Or asking the 1st AC or DP where the top of frame is..?
 
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No, you do not get storyboards. You wouldn't get them if you were a 20 year professional getting $500 day.

You are required to be on the set on time, ready to work.

You are required to be courteous and professional.

You are required to have all necessary equipment.

You are required to have all of your gear in top working condition.

You are required to have all necessary expendables (batteries, etc.).

You are required to work with the DP to keep the mic & boom out of the frames lines and to prevent shadows.

You are required to keep copious, detailed sound logs.

If you have any sound problems you take them up with the 1st AD. If the 1st AD chooses to ignore you that is the end of it; you do the best you can. If you want, you can make notes in the sound logs.

You politely ask to get room tones and dialog wilds. If the 1st AD chooses to ignore you that is the end of it; you can make note of the denials in the sound logs.

You are otherwise to keep your mouth shut about all other aspects of the production with the following exceptions - excessively noisy wardrobe and props, as they are sound related. If you are rebuffed, you keep your mouth shut and do the best that you can; you can make notes in the sound logs.

Your job is production sound and ONLY production sound.
 
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As everybody has made perfectly clear, you don't need storyboards. They won't really help you.

But if you feel that you really, really, really do need them... why don't you just ask?
 
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harmonica44 said:
[The director] is in constant contact with the DP and they have meetings all the time. The DP tells me so, and I go to him for storyboards, cause all she does is send emails saying I need to be here in two days, or be there tomorrow. That's all she gives me.
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I suspect, and this is just... a pretty good guess based on decades of experience professionally managing hundreds of people in teams, that she A) needs a human to hold a mic boom only somewhat better than a c-stand can do, and B) now that you've agreed to do this job she's avoiding playing twenty-one-thousand questions from you.


Time!
Time!
Time!
Gotta manage time!

Consider this an opportunity to use MORE of your own professional discretion.
A lot of improvisation and resourcefulness on your behalf.
Apply your creativity in getting what you want from sources other than the director.
DP is probably the best resource.
Mainly, find out where the frame is for each shot and keep your mic out of it. :)


It's a chain of command issue.
You're not middle management.
You're front line.
 
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Okay then. I will work without storyboards. I will ask them about the mastershot though, cause I will need to set up sound blankets, outside the mastershot, so that all the sound from the other shots matches. I am not a PSM so if I move the blankets closer, it will not sound the same compared to the mastershot. So that's what I've been doing so far. So if it's normal to be called on shoots with very given little notice, how are the PSMs suppose to memorize the script or know which scene the director is talking about even with that kind of vague notice?
 
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sfoster said:
hell mine are just stickfigures with different shaped hats so you can tell them apart
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LOL, I use different shaped heads: main characters: circle and rectangle, other triangle, in case death has a role: skull... (But that's off topic I guess...)

So, it's cool now you know it's not common?
Don't be so anxious to mimic a professional Hollywood production!
Do you also demand your own van when you are acting?
Or blue M&Ms only in a crystal bowl?

Grow up!

Just admit you are curious and like to see the storyboards.
But don't you dare to see them and ask us whether it's drawn in the right way.

In very short productions (1 shooting day) I sometimes just show the storyboards to the DP on set for the first time :P
How unprofessional of me!!!
But I got away with it :P
(I also include maps of the locations with camera positions and angles, postions of the lights and position of the crew in case that needs careful planning as wel...)

As boom op you need to do 3 things:
- listen to what you record (and act/speak up when needed)
- keep mic out of frame *
- keep shadows out of frame

*)
To keep the mic out of the frame doesn't require a storyboard, because the mic will not be in it :P
 
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harmonica44 said:
So if it's normal to be called on shoots with very given little notice, how are the PSMs suppose to memorize the script or know which scene the director is talking about even with that kind of vague notice?
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Yes its normal and you do not memorize the script, let alone even read it. You turn up, look at the location and check for outside noise, boom and/or radio mic the talent, use the rehearsal to work out actors positions and lines and then dip the boom down into frame to be told your frame line.

You are not part of the visual production. You do not need to be apart of those meetings or be let into documents that the director and DP need. If you think someone from the top of the line is being unfair then you do not bitch or moan about it on set, you just do the job to the best of your ability.
 
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