Moving Images, Understanding Media

90 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding Media

There are two major

considerations for the boom

operator: to record the sound

well and to stay out of the frame.

It may seem very easy to movie

viewers to keep the boom and

microphone out of a shot, but there

are a number of factors to consider,

including a changing frame line,

shadows created by various light

sources, and the necessity to record

high quality sound, which means getting as close to the actors as possible.

Th e sound crew must weigh all of these factors in preparing to record sound,

and during shooting, the boom operator oft en must be very active moving

the microphone to maximize the quality of the recording.

Figure 3-10 Boom

microphone with windscreen

being used to record sound

on independent digital

feature. (Courtesy Mike Chase)

Figure 3-9 Boom operator

and sound mixer recording

sound on location. (Courtesy

Kendelyn Ouellette)

VIEWFINDER

“Movies depend so much on rhythm, they are so close to music... If the

sound, and the rhythm of the sound, is wrong, no image can save it...

I believe sound is the fi rst human sense, not the eye. I think the fi rst

theater was a story told by a storyteller, and it’s the voice.”

–Orson Welles–

Director of many fi lms including Citizen Kane (1941),

Th e Magnifi cent Ambersons (1942), Touch of Evil (1958);

also a notable actor and writer

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