One afterthought to this thread:
I was reading John Belton's book "Widescreen Cinema" (Harvard UP, 1992) over
the w/e: He mentions that studios encountered boom mike problems whilst the
early sound ratio (which he puts at 1:1.5) was in use. Belton says the frame
was so tall that, in order to keep the mikes outside it, they had to be
positioned so far above the actor's head that there were problems recording the
dialogue. Apparently this situation got so bad that it was one of the reasons
why the Academy ratio was eventually introduced. Perhaps this principle also
accounts for why boom mikes regularly appear in the unused part of a spherical
w/s frame.
Leo
__________________________________
Leo Enticknap
Postgraduate Common Room
School of English and American Studies
University of Exeter
Queen's Building, The Queen's Drive
Exeter
Devon EX4 4QJ
United Kingdom
email: [log in to unmask]
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