Ethan Harris Location and Sound Padlet by Ethan Harris

First Few Sessions

ethansalford — 2025-05-06 22:51:41 UTC

The weeks leading up to this assessment we chose our desired roles and got to meet our groups. I got the roles of Location Manager alongside Natasha and Sound Recorder alongside Callum. This was quite good for me as one role was heavily involved in the Pre-production and one role was heavily involved in Production meaning I could focus all my attention into one thing at a time.

Location Scouting

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 11:05:12 UTC

We sat in a group and read through the entirety of the script. Whilst we were reading through it I was taking notes of the locations in the scene headings so I knew what places to look for and started brainstorming ideas.

What The Story Is About

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 11:05:32 UTC

We sat with Khieng and spoke about the story. What ideas we could add to it, where we'd like to film and just the whole look of the film in general.

Locations

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 11:15:28 UTC

The way I went about the script was Natasha and I went to the library, read through the script and came up with about 2-3 locations that work for each scene. Giving us options should one of them not work for us.

The Locations

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 12:17:23 UTC

The 10 locations we need are

College Toilets - New Adelphi

College Corridor - Chapman

College Cafeteria - Chapman

Beach - Lytham St Annes

Patricks Kitchen - Allerton Room

Phoebes Kitchen - Podiatry Clinic Corridor

Doctors Office - Podiatry Clinic

Athena's Stall - Gazebo in Peel Park

Staff Kitchen - Atmosphere Kitchen

Park. - Peel Park

Some places were swapped out for example. Phoebe's Kitchen became just outside the doctors office and Patricks Kitchen became his classroom after a lesson. This was because the only places we could find for the kitchens were Airbnbs that we simply did not have the budget for.

Location Scouting

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 13:40:02 UTC

Using Google Earth was important as we knew the Director wanted some drone shots so we had to see how the locations would look from a birds eye view. The two choices for the park and where Athena's stall would be was either Peel Park or Buile Hill

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 13:40:41 UTC

This was the location at Buile Hill park I scouted as to where Athenas tent could also go

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 13:44:58 UTC

Lytham St Annes Beach

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 13:56:26 UTC

Podiatry Hallway

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 14:01:48 UTC

Doctor's Office

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 14:02:30 UTC

Patricks Classroom

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 14:03:00 UTC

Cafeteria

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 14:03:34 UTC

Corridor

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 14:03:55 UTC

Some Of The Challenges We Faced

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 14:05:56 UTC

As per usual there is always some problems with filming. Some problems we faced involved location prices, which we solved by finding cheaper/free alternatives and locations taking their time to get back to us for filming. Another problem we faced was that there was a miscommunication between AD's and the Director. We thought we had cut the bathroom scene. On the day the director decided he did want the toilet scene so I was able to get a risk assessment. Method statement and get permission for filming in New Adelphi floor 7 toilets sorted on the day in 3 hours. I did this by going to the office in person with all the paperwork. Explaining why we needed it and the lady was kind enough to let us film there. This type of problem solving was something I was used to and rather enjoyed being able to get it sorted in one day.

Communication

ethansalford — 2025-05-08 14:07:21 UTC

Since the locations matter most to both Camera and Sound departments when we were choosing between two locations such as the corridor in New Adelphi or the one in Chapman we took the departments with us so they can get a sense of what the place is like and if it would be at all possible to film there. This consultation allowed us to decide on filming in the Chapman corridor.

Sound Recording

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 11:47:54 UTC

Callum and I got together in the initial pre production weeks discussing what type of equipment we would need to book out. We worked closely with the camera department asking them what type of shots they were planning. For example one of the locations and shots that the director wanted meant we would need to book out Lav Mics.

Operations

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 11:49:13 UTC

We split the roles for the sound recording between the tow of us. We used the H8 zoom recorder as that was the one Callum had worked with most and so I booked one out to learn how they worked weeks ahead. For the beach scene due to logistics I was the only sound recorder at the beach so I wanted to make sure I was comfortable with doing both.

Beach filming

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 11:50:18 UTC

To protect the equipment on the beach filming day I plugged everything in and got it all sorted in my car. I then wrapped it in clingfilm meaning no sand could get anywhere in the device. With the boom pole I taped a bin bag to the bottom as that's the only part that touched the ground.

SOUND RESEARCH

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 11:51:19 UTC

Since this was my first time using sound I watched a video on both the H8 recording device and also the best ways to hold a boom pole as I would be holding it for hours throughout the day and didn't want my arms to fall off.

H8 ZOOM RECORDING

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 12:04:10 UTC

Judd, C. (2020, 30 August) ZOOM H8 Audio Recorder Review: A Swiss Army Knife Audio Recorder [Video] YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHPIO7MYvho

Boom Pole

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 12:30:33 UTC

Senzaki, K. (2015, 20 May) Pro Tip: HOW TO HOLD A BOOM [Video] YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoUWSrrQVv0

Bookings

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 12:31:41 UTC

I used the website on Blackboard to go through the proper way of booking out University buildings which was a very good skill to learn. I now feel very confident with filling in those forms and it allowed me to look into booking places all throughout greater Manchester.

Tech Run

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 12:43:19 UTC

On the Monday of production as it was a bank holiday we couldn't get to any of the filming sites so instead we all got together with equipment to make sure it was all working. Whilst here we made sure the Lav mics worked and also how long it would take us to set up equipment.

Problems

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 12:45:58 UTC

A few problems we had with the equipment. During filming the H8 would disconnect the headphones. We went to the equipment store and swapped out both headphones and the H8 and finally solved the issue. Another issue we had was with the Wireless Mics. The ones we originally booked out only came with one microphone. So we booked another one of the same Mic's but then it meant that we couldn't pair them. Eventually we found out we had meant to book out entirely different mics and we booked those ones and tested them. Luckily we got it all sorted before we needed to use the Lav mic's.

FireWood Film

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 12:46:11 UTC

Misha, R. (Director) (2024) FireWood [Film] Moonrise Film Productions

Podiatry

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 12:47:12 UTC

When discussing the doctor's scene I knew immediately the Podiatry would work well. This was because in an old film I was in we used the Podiatry clinic as a place to have bad news broken so I knew it would match the setting and also be available for booking.

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H8 Beach Protection

ethansalford — 2025-05-09 13:02:03 UTC

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