Project: Working with the Sound Designer

Our Sound Designer is Rabia Khan. She is in a difficult situation as the picture edit is taking much longer than intended, giving her less and less time to edit her sound piece. I scheduled my meetings with her before the picture lock was completed to give her time to prepare. 

I played her the current state of the edit and told her what sounds I wanted and whereabouts in the film I wanted them. I found this method much easier than simply giving her some notes, as she was able to physically see where the sounds should go and why they should go there. I was also able to describe the sounds more clearly verbally than on paper, and she was then able to make notes in terms she understood. We watched the film several times and Rabia took notes of all the sounds I spoke about. This gave her and the Sound Recordist, Jake, chance to collect all the sounds they would need for Rabia to do the edit. Here is a transcribed copy of Rabia's notes:

Scene 1 - Kitchen

• Typing of keys
• Washing machine sounds
• Faint woodland sounds
• Edith - La Vie en Rose
• Chime (looking at bags
• Door slam (After 'mum!')
• Car Key Sounds
• Twinkle/Chime - Libby looking at list
• Memory voice over
• Cooking sounds
• Oven Timer/beep
• Tea Pouring
• Chime (cookie biting)

Scene 2 - Libby and Gran

• Music Box - La Vie en Rose
• Chime/Twinkle - As grandma vanishes

Scene 3 - Libby and Mum

• Grace Jones - La Vie en Rose
• Water sounds (try)
• Phone ringing
• 'Boop' phone button
• Jewellery  jingling (try)
• Walking off voice over ('I know')
• Normal door sound
• Grace Jones - La Vie en Rose

As soon as Abi had gotten all the clips cut properly, we had a mock picture-lock. From this point, no footage would be moved - it was only colour correction, filtering and masking from this point onwards. This meant that Rabia could begin work on the sound edit whilst Abi continued with the picture edit, and the two could be combined at the end. Next time, I will make absolutely sure that the Sound Designer has plenty of time to do their job, however I do feel I made a significant effort to help her prepare.