Capturing the crazy things kids do can be a daunting task, and this was very much the case recently with “Les pieds dans la marge,” a French comedy show for teens that airs on Canada’s CBC network. With the action taking place entirely in an Olympic-size pool, capturing location sound required the expertise of Pascal Van Strydonck and his Lectrosonics wireless equipment.
Van Strydonck is a sound designer and consultant whose credits include Cirque Du Soleil’s “O” at the Bellagio in Las Vegas as well as Franco Dragone’s “Le Reve” at the Wynn Las Vegas. As a location sound engineer, his talents are equally in demand and, presently, his skills are being put to good use on “Les pieds dans la marge.” The series takes risks and aims to shock. For a recent show, the contestants had to, or at least try to, remain afloat for 12 hours. This required capturing the sound with boom mics from all areas of the pool. Because the cameraman needed the freedom to move, all sound had to be wireless.
Martin Rioux, the show’s director of photography (DP), was very concerned about the weight that a wireless receiver would add to the camera during this long session. “Nobody wants to carry a camera for 12 hours,” Van Strydonck said, “and the prospect of shouldering the additional weight of a camera-mounted audio receiver made this task even more challenging. For this very reason, I knew that Lectrosonics’ new SR dual-channel slot-mount ENG receiver was the perfect piece for this project.”
Van Strydonck mounted the SR receiver onto the camera using a tiny pouch and a wiring harness, with power supplied by the camera. The entire project was miked via boom using two Lectrosonics LMa Digital Hybrid belt pack transmitters. “When I brought the receiver to the job,” Van Strydonck said,” the DP discovered that the cables to connect it were actually heavier than the unit itself. He was positively thrilled.”
“The sound quality of this system is terrific,” Van Strydonck continued. “This setup enabled me to boom from the 3m diving board so as to get deeper into various areas of the pool without being tied to the camera. Even with a distance of as much as 100ft away, the system’s performance was flawless. Not once did I experience any dropout.”
For more information, visit www.lectrosonics.com.
