Listening to African Series
Sound is often the weak point of African productions. Twelve sound technicians from Cameroon, Ghana and Burkina Faso came together in Ouagadougou from 15 to 26 July 2013.
Episode 7 of a two-year programme of 12 practical courses to enhance professional standards in African TV series production.
Over the ten days of the course, the experts and their African counterparts discussed their experience of sound recording and the roles of the two key technicians: the sound mixer and the assistant (boom operator).
Picking up sound sources and putting them together coherently is the chief concern of the production sound mixer, helping the assistant to find the right positioning for the microphones, making sure the dialogues are intelligible and giving the film its own specific sound colour.
Moderated by Renaud Michel (sound mixer, ENS Louis Lumière graduate) and Stéphane Roché (experienced boom operator), the course was organised during the making of L'Avers et le Revers , a new series produced and directed by Burkina Faso's Adama Roamba.
A practical sound-recording exercise on a long take
with changing acoustic environments: vehicle interior (HF microphone)
then outside (mike boom) with changing background sounds (stereo music).
This programme is CFI's response to an
ACP Cultures+ call for projects, coordinated by the ACP Group of States Secretariat and financed by the European Union.
This "Sound Recording" workshop was part of the "Afrique en Série" programme, following earlier courses on sound mixing, camera work, directing, editing and also coaching for producers.
All in all, some one hundred African professionals will be taking part in the different training courses.
