Dialogue Editing

122 GETTING STARTED ON DIALOGUE EDITING
Wild Sound
Most of the audio from the shoot is sync sound, recorded while the camera
was rolling. However, a decent sound recordist will take the extra time to
record additional sounds that may have been missed, botched, or unavailable
while shooting the scene. You can’t rely solely on sync recordings to put
together a proper scene, so these extra sounds are lifesavers. Here are just a
few of the reasons to record wild sound:
For dialogue that couldn’t be recorded during the shoot; for example,
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid jumping off a cliff and screaming.
For a long shot of two characters talking to each other. In the rain.
Under umbrellas.
For shots in which there is simply no place for a microphone. A long
shot of a couple of nudists is a good example.
For shots ruined during the fi lming. A plane fl ies over, a train goes by.
Perhaps the location mixer couldn’t call for another take, but had the
good sense to call the actors aside and record the scene wild.
For specialty sounds diffi cult to recreate with sound effects. If there’s
an unusual car or motorcycle in a scene, a good location mixer will
record its sounds, knowing that the production may never fi nd them
elsewhere. It’s true that a well-heeled sound effects department will
hire a custom recording specialist to record effects, backgrounds, and
vehicles. But anything you can get on the set is (1) free, (2) available
to all editors from the outset, and (3) certain to match the dialogue
recordings.
For room tone. The location mixer, if at all possible, will record room
tone for each scene—the sound of a scene without talking, footsteps,
phone rings, and the like; in other words, silence.
For location-specifi c sounds. If the scene takes place in a jail cell, for
example, the sound recordist may capture special details such as the
door, the springs on the bed, or the toilet, all within the special
acoustics of the jail cell.
“But,” you may ask, “aren’t all of these sounds replaced by ADR or Foley
later?” Often yes. However, at times a bit of wild dialogue will save a scene
from the pain and suffering (and save the production the expense) of ADR.
A “save” created from alternate takes and wild sound will almost always be
more effective and believable than an ADR line helped along with Foley.
As you organize the wild tracks from the shoot, copy the nondialogue recordings
and give them to the sound effects editor. There’s nothing like the real
thing when it comes to building realistic-sounding scenes.