Dialogue Editing

Group Loop 289
will come up with a plan for each scene and then hire a group of actors,
each of whom can play many roles. Obviously, the group loop talent can’t
be any of the principal actors in the fi lm, as their familiar voices would
confuse the viewer.
During the group loop recording session, there’ll be stereo passes for the
general walla of the scene. The group can be made larger by recording successive
passes in each of which the actors change their positions and voices
enough so that in the fi nal multipass recording you don’t hear them standing
simultaneously in several places across the screen.
Group walla is largely improvisational. In our barroom scene, the group loop
supervisor might instruct the actors to talk about an imaginary game between
the Cowboys and the Redskins or about how much they hate politicians or
to complain about this year’s corn crop. It doesn’t matter as long as it doesn’t
interfere with the fi lm and it won’t become dated quickly.
The supervisor has to balance the actors as a conductor balances an orchestra.
For example, if one or two actors’ voices rise above the crowd, it’s distracting
and makes the track hard to recycle—the ideal walla track should be a relatively
smooth din. And if the group is speaking in a language neither you
nor the supervisor speaks, you have to fi nd a native speaker to do a “stupidity
check” to ensure that the seemingly benign walla isn’t fi lled with “I curse
your ancestors” or “I really hate this movie.”
Specifi c Group Loop and Callouts
While much of group loop consists of background chatter, there are occasions
for specifi c mono group loops. The waitress bringing a beer to the customer
at the table behind our protagonist might utter, “Here you go, hon.” There
may be offscreen lines for the bartender or for the couple who walks past.
All of these lines have to be written and assigned to a member of the loop
group, and they’re recorded much like normal ADR or as wild lines. Group
loop supervisors often develop superhuman skills in reading lips or making
up lines that match an actor’s actions. On occasion, a real lip reader will be
called in to fi gure out what a background extra is saying so that a sync line
can be written.
Callouts are yells mixed into the track at a very low level in order to make
an environment feel bigger. Hearing a disembodied voice from way down
the beach yelling, “Hey Chico, throw me the ball!” enlarges the space and
livens up the atmosphere.