How to add sound to amateur films (1954)

long as you can hear clearly the words and phrasing used by the actor. After the film is edited, provide the actors with a corrected script prepared with the aid of the tape recording. You can even edit the tape to provide a guide track with which they can rehearse their parts. Then project the film in silence and the actors try to speak their lines in step with the picture. Undoubtedly a striped film is ideal for the purpose as each attempt may be recorded until success is achieved. The knowledge that expensive film or discs are not being used at each take goes far to put the actors at ease and so contributes to a good performance. In scripting and editing a film to which you are going to add post-synchronised sound, try to avoid extreme close-ups of characters while they are speaking. Such shots emphasise slight defects in timing which will often pass unnoticed in shots taken from farther off. An occasional close-up is permissible where the actor speaks only one word — "No!" or "Perhaps". In other cases, keep your close-ups for the characters who are listening. Begin with a medium shot of an actor as he starts speaking and then cut to the other characters as soon as reasonably possible. Dialogue on Tape Unless you use elaborate equipment true lip-synchronisation is not possible with tape. Even if you get good results one day, the odds are it will be unsatisfactory the next, owing to changes in capstan creep or tape dimensions. However, you can add short passages of dialogue quite effectively by a slight extension of the principles outlined. The following short script gives an example: Shot Sound MS Mother in kitchen. She opens Music fades down. door and looks into garden. Mother calls, "Claire! — Come in dear!" Claire's voice from garden, "Coming!" 134