Almost four years ago, I went on a 'journey' that helped shape my career in sound today. I applied to be sound recordist for a low budget film Do Elephants Pray directed by Paul Hills and produced by Jonnie Hurn. At a meeting with the director, I was told I am not experienced enough to be the sound recordist and was offered the position as boom operator instead. I took the offer.
First day of shooting began in London and I arrived on time to the set. I was introduced to the sound recordist and we began setting up for camera roll. Due to the film being a low budget production, we can only afford two tracks recording onto a DAT. (Let's be honest, four years back recording onto DAT is still a pretty decent format although it is on its last shout of glory)
The cumbersome DAT machine,four-track mixer and myself .
We had some sound issues before camera roll and it was only resolved after a frantic round of checking and testing all the equipment. Eventually we found out that it was actually an input button on the DAT machine that needed to be pressed (No wonder people think sound is just a press of a button). The rest of the day and day two went well after the minor hitch.
On the third day, on my way to London in the train I got a call from the line producer asking me if I can handle the location sound for the rest of the production. I wasn't sure what was asked of me and upon arriving on set they told me that the sound recordist has left together with all his equipment. They hired some audio equipment quickly and was told that when it arrives I have to check it. Right, so I guess I will be the sound recordist from now on then.
I never looked back since and I was part of a one-man sound crew that will be heading to France for a month because the film is set in Brittany, a cultural region in the north-west of France. We will be living in caravans and shooting in the forest of Brittany. It was here that I made a lot of friends and also experienced hypothermia. It was October and we were doing a night shoot. Temperature dropped really quickly and I was caught out by the coldness. Towards the end of the night, I fainted and had to be hospitalised.
The caravan park which is also the production base.
It was tough then but looking back now it was a lot of fun and I will not change a thing. As it happens, I also did the sound design for the film on my laptop in my tiny room. The director told me that the film will be mixed at Synxspeed by Nic Le Messurier (3 times Oscar nominee for Best Sound) and Foley will be recorded at Universal Studios in Amersham. It felt like the sky had opened up and I have been flown to sound heaven.
Four years on, I am delighted to know that the film will have its UK release in February 2013. I will not be there in person for the screening but I hope it will get a good response from the audience. Like a saying in the film, ''It doesn't matter where you are or where you come from, what matter is that you made the journey.''
