ADR: A Post Production Life-Saver
Let’s just say that film sets are not quiet at all. There are fans, wind and rain machines, extras, animals, and a large staff talking, running, and moving things around. Even a film set in a quiet studio involves noise. Although many sounds are under the control of the producers, the murmurs of actors, the brush of the microphone against clothing, a passing airplane, the sound of someone coughing, a barking dog, or others, are unwanted elements that can easily end up being recorded.
Of course, these types of sounds are obstacles to getting a decent final product, and almost always represent a lot of work, especially when there is limited time in the recording locations (for example, an avenue in a metropolis). Most likely there will never be silence, but, anyway, there is a shooting plan and everyone has to work. Then, when the director reviews the recording, he or she finds a lot of sounds that he/she doesn’t need and must remove from the tape.
So when the sound is recorded in difficult conditions, such as windy exteriors, at the seashore, or with too much traffic noise, it is often necessary to re-record the dialogue to improve the quality of the product. In these cases, once the post-production phase has arrived and the parts of the dialogue that need to be improved have been decided, the actors are re-recorded in a controllable place, which is usually a soundproof sound studio, and this is where professionals like Enhanced Media come into play. The goal of voice re-recording is to make everything look like it was recorded live.
This is known as ADR: Automatic Dialogue Replacement.
When this process is carried out, and unless the director indicates otherwise, the actors must repeat their lines in the same way and with the same intensity as they did during the shooting. This result is synchronized with the image that viewers end up seeing in the cinema. To do this, a screen is placed in the recording studio where the video will be projected. The actor must pay careful attention to timing, tone, and inflection.
If this is done well, and with the proper technical adjustments, then the audience does not notice the difference.
This is most often the case, however, there are many other causes that force a re-recording process. For example, when the camera moves on the rails, a small group of crew members moves with it, and even if they do so barefoot or even with very little noise, the microphones often pick up sounds of various kinds. The director never has absolute control of the location, and there is always something to clean up. On the other hand, this process is driven by technical problems. The level of sound pickup is too low, and it is not well understood when whispers are recorded due to a lack of projection.
There are many other causes, though. Let’s say that the audio is noisy or unintelligible: most directors prefer to avoid ADR if they can, but if the filming takes place in a city, on the beach, or in a torrential rainstorm, the dialogue will not be heard properly. If the director decides to shoot in such a location, it is best to be prepared to re-record a good portion of what is initially recorded.
Also, and, on a regular basis, an actor’s line sounded good on set but no longer works in the studio while editing, so the director feels that a scene is missing something, hence it is re-recorded. It also often happens that actors have to use accents, which can result in an occasional lapse, and ADR happens again.
Another cause relates to continuity problems in the film. These problems are unforeseen plot holes in the story and are usually detected after the production has finished, so ADR can be a useful tool to add a little extra content when needed. There are even cases where the production decides to rename the main character after the film has been shot. Finally, some distribution companies require alternate versions without explicit language, and this requires reshoots.
The ADR process has a number of phases. First, re-recording the audio in a quieter, more controlled environment, typically in a recording studio. Then, replace the unusable audio with new audio. Of course, it is very important that the voice retains the same pitch as the one recorded live. For this reason, the same microphone is often used for filming. After the line has been recorded, the ADR technician plays it back with the footage of the rest of the scene and if the director and actors are happy with the take, they move on to the next one until all takes have been recorded.
ADR may seem like a magical arrangement, but recording good ADR is very difficult, and one of the toughest challenges is that the actors are in a completely different environment to the set and are asked to repeat their previous performance without the rest of the cast interacting.
