I know they can add audio in post by Foley artists, but how do they keep sounds of equipment, people, or other background noise that isn’t wanted out of the movie?
I’m especially curious about older movies that were made before the rise of digital audio.
In: Technology
This question has a very interesting answer because this has been a problem ever since movies first started having sound and despite the years of innovation when it comes to filming and recording equipment the situation today is not much different than what it was nearly 100 years ago, with many of the same hurdles being overcome with the same solutions.
For starters unwanted sounds are a big problem for productions so ideally they want to have next to no sounds because it’s easier for them to add sounds in post production. That means that nearly every sound you hear in a movie or TV show, even mundane ones like a character closing a door or walking, are often added in post. Prop departments have a wide range of silent props meant to look like real objects but without being as loud. Think paper bags, ice cubes, cue balls, tableware and all other sorts of things usually amde of rubber, so that they don’t make loud noises during filming. They often also add special soles to shoes so that they’re quiet when actors are walking. Secondly they use a wide variety of sound recording equipment and many different kinds of microphones. If you’ve ever wondered why there’s always that one guy holding a mic on a boom just out of frame, often causing the classic blooper of the mic dipping into frame just for a moment, it’s because when recording dialogue they’re using microphones that only pick up sound from very close to them, so they’re held just above the actors to pick up dialogue without also picking up a bunch of ambient noises as well. Actors often wear hidden mics or mics are hidden in props around the set, like in flowe vases on a table or objects near the characters. Ideally you want dialogues to exist on completely clean tracks with no ambient noises. This still gives movie productions problems as there is often no convenient way of hiding a microphone or keeping out ambient noise and it requires very creative solutions.
Lastly the only major difference between the past and now is that we have digital technology that can, in a pinch, try to edit out an unwanted sound. If they cannot record a scene again this is the last resort. Overall the actual sounds being recorded during filming are few and far between, mostly being dialogue or some select sounds the filmmakers want to be part of the scene for authenticity. Practically everything else, from the sound of objects around the actors, the spaces they inhabit, their shoes on the ground, their cups on their lips, theor clothes, their keys, aaaaaaall that is recorded separately by foley artists and added later.
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