Driven Episode 1 – The Architect (Shannons Original Web Series)

The Crew

This episode is the first of six. The micro crew walked in on set without having met before (besides me knowing Brad Wilson) , within the first half hour, camera was rolling… sound was rolling… and… ACTION! We kicked off the day at sunrise shooting after a nice little breakfast brought by our Director!

Technically, the series is being shot on David Franjic’s  Red Camera (Scarlet), sound is recorded on my kit, a Sound Devices 744t, Mid-Side Kit with Sennheiser MKH50 + MKH30 + Rycote Windshield, an MKH60 shot gun mic for interviews, a Sennheiser EW100 G2 HF Transmitter/Receiver with a Sanken COS11 Lapel mic and a good old Zoom H4n that I am placing as close as possible to the exhaust for the back chasing scenes and under the hood for the front chasing scenes.

Yes, I said a Zoom H4n, I can hear some giggles in the echoes of Cyber Space but it’s doing really well for such high Sound Pressure Levels caption, it’s mainly for convenience, set up speed and safety. I didn’t want to have any cables hooked on a high quality mics under a hood connected back on the 744T inside the cabin, especially on the bumpy and winding roads we shot in. The risk of having a $2K mic dropping or a cable loosening up and getting entangled in the engine was far to high!! Besides, the time to set up for the next shot was extremely short…

Just fixing and securing the Zoom H4n itself was quite a mission!!

We went off to a bicycle racing track for some family and drone shots. We came back for a quick lunch, set up for the insightful interview Hugh gave us and we finally got on the road. That’s where I had to spend half a day in the foot well of the passenger seat, it’s really really tiny for a 6 foot tall guy, lucky I’m skinny. I learned to be a contortionist on the spot as I couldn’t be seen in the chasing sequences, I really wanted to capture  the inside of the car properly… A pretty unusual position to experience this amazing little Porsche!! It really felt like I was in a roller coaster ride in Warner Brothers Movie World, only a lot more uncomfortable!!

We finished the day shooting at dawn in the beautiful and scenic views that Mount Martha has to offer! The shoot went really well for a first! It felt like we had done this many times before! Was great!!

The post production process was pretty straight forward, after receiving a locked offline pictures, I spent a few days putting all the sounds together and we realized with the Director that some of the shots were not sounding accurate or satisfying enough… I asked Brad to organize an extra hour with Hugh, the car owner, to re-record the engine with the zoom placed at a different spot. The positive part is that I had a second chance to truly appreciate that incredible little sports car, in the passenger seat, with a seat belt on! Thank you Hugh for being so accommodating, flexible with your time and for giving a solid shake up in those tights round about!! Mind blowing!!

Click HERE to view Episode 1 – The Architect

COMING UP NEXT

Driven Episode 2 – The Sickness…