One of the problems with newer, improved equipment and it’s ability to achieve better results is that directorial expectations rise and Production Mixers are increasingly expected to arrive with huge piles of kit. The question is, who pays? Diminishing budgets and rising expectations are bound to cause an uncomfortable tension. The young and the keen who travel hopefully towards an intended brighter future are, as in many professions, wont to work largely for the experience and for little reward. It’s imperative, though, that this does not become the ‘eternal apprenticeship’ that other show-biz associated trades suffer from. If, instead of £5,000 to £10,000 worth of kit, you are expected to pitch up with many tens of thousands of pounds worth, your rates must surely reflect that. Stuart: “One suggestion is to charge per track or channels provided, so 4-track or 8track should be budgeted for accordingly. It would be good to have a two-pronged pitch of an approach to sound from location and post-production crew to producers, to say what can be achieved and why it is worth it. For example, the aforementioned flexibility of 8-track on location should be understood, appreciated, and the extra equipment paid for. Using machines such as the hard-disk 4-track Deva have advantages, but cost money to set tip. It would be relatively easy to get a production to pay for a higher resolution film stock to improve image, and it is perhaps one of the tasks of AMPS to help increase appreciation of sound in a similar way - ‘higher resolution’ sound is possible if allowed for. The other advantage of such a discussion in pre-production, is that editors, having welcomed the idea of all this flexibility, wouldn’t then say ‘Oh what a pain, I have to deal with four tracks, instead of one or two’ when it comes to the editing stage. If there is a wish to keep flexibility and separation, the post route needs to be thought through and there is no doubt that more time in post is required to edit location multi-tracks to get the best out of them. Dubbing theatres can have hugely expensive, high-tech gear, but if one is looking to use original performances rather than ADR, there is a limit to what all that gear can do with a seriously compromised original - as the old saying goes: "You can’t polish a turd.” This and other topics of great import were taken up afterwards over lunch in the local pub including tales of mythic sound effects libraries containing such gems as ‘Ash on carpet’ and ‘Distant shot of dog on grass’. Some things never change. JIM BETTERIDGE | BAFTA TV FILM SOUND AWARDS  The policy of AMPS Newsletter in reporting the nominees and winners of Oscar and BAFTA awards for sound has always been to give the names of those responsible for Production Sound, Sound Editing and Sound Re-Recording, as again in this year’s Film Sound awards. However, we have had difficulty this year in obtaining all the names responsible for the BAFTA TV Film Sound Awards. Several have been listed simply as ‘Team’ and others with only one or two names. While the Team idea may appear to be a fair way of including all the technicians who worked on the nominated productions, it seems rather impersonal when other craft awards which are also team efforts are personally named. The editors of the AMPS Newsletter have always made a point in congratulating all persons making up the crews of sound award nominees and winners.
BAFTA TELEVISION CRAFT AWARDS 2001 SOUND FACTUALBRITAIN AT WAR IN COLOUR (ITV) - Brian Aheme DUDLEY MOORE - AFTER THE LAUGHTER (Omnibus) (BBC1) - Michael Lax SIMON RATTLE ON JUDITH WEIR - SOUTH BANK SHOW (ITV) - Paul Vigars, Alex Thompson VOLCANO (C4) - Victor Chainey, Chris Phinikas SOUND FICTION / ENTERTAINMENT (sponsored by Future Film Group) A TOUCH OF FROST (ITV) - John Fountaine, Adam Severs ANNA KARENINA (C4) - listed as Team - Stephen Phillips, Stuart Hilliker AMPS CLOCKING OFF (BBC1) - listed as Team - Bill Dodkin LONGITUDE(C4) - listed as Team - John Rodda AMPS, Kevin Brazier AMPS, David Humphries AMPS. Congratulations to all winners and nominees and to the crews who worked on the above productions |
