Back in the early summer of 2022, I had the opportunity to work as the sound recordist for a new tv show, a non-broadcast pilot for a new series about junior doctors working in the A & E department at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. The shoot went really well, capturing some great insight into the daily life of a junior doctor. The end result was a success with the W TV channel, and was soon given the greenlight for a full 10 episode series entitled Emergency: First Time Medics. Thankfully, I was asked back to be the lead sound recordist on the show and had to formulate a plan for capturing sound for a full series.
Putting a Sound Team Together
During my prep for the show, one of the first things I discussed with Production was how we were going to need a team of sound recordists, since there were going to be more than one camera for the full series. The shoot worked by having two crews, with each crew having; 1x Shooting Producer/Director, 1x Sound Recordist, 1x Assistant Producer and 1x Runner/Assistant. Each crew would then follow their designated junior doctor(s) for the majority of a full shift, e.g. 7am – 5pm. I needed at least 1 extra sound recordist to join me on the 5 week shoot so I decided to make contact with fellow Sound Recordist Michael Clayton, who was able to commit to some dates, but not all, so we also brought on Ewerton Rodrigo. Between the three of us, we were able to fill out the entire production schedule and start discussing our approach to capturing sound (special mention also to Tomo Davies, another Sound Recordist who covered for us on one of the shoot days).
Sound Recordist Plan for TV Show
After discussions between myself, sound colleagues and production crew, we came up with a plan for capturing the sound. Each Sound Recordist would provide;
- 1x Sound Mixer/Recorder
- 1x Boom Mic
- 2x – 3x Radio Mics
- 1x Timecode Sync Box w/ cable
- 1x Wireless Audio Feed to Camera
- 1x IEM Receiver w/ headphones
Each junior doctor would be miked up with a radio mic, as well as the lead consultant for that particular shift we were working on (if they consented to being filmed which they didn’t always do). This would capture all of their interactions with colleagues and patients as well as any vox poxs (short, snappy interview segments) to camera as we went through the shift.
The dialogue from patient conversations with doctors would then be captured using the boom mic (after consent had been given from them of course!) whilst also capturing vox pox from patients and doctors as well as a general ambient sound of the hospital.
The camera would be synced with my audio via timecode, using Tentacle Timecode Boxes, and a radio receiver would also be placed on there too to provide a wireless audio feed for post-production and on-site playback.
The IEM receiver and headphones would be given to the AP (Assistant Producer) who would use them to listen to the audio of what is being filmed so they could listen and take notes on what is going on throughout the shift. There were a lot of instances where the AP couldn’t be close to where we were filming for logistical reasons so it was vital that they had something to listen to away from where myself, the camera and junior doctor was.
Challenges
During the 5 weeks of shooting, we encountered many different challenging scenarios that really tested everyone involved.
Night Shifts
On one particular week of shooting, my team got the short straw of working night shifts following the junior doctors. It was tough! It had been a long time since I had completed a night shift of work, the last time being many years ago when I used to work in a 24hr security office! Everyone struggled that week, often feeling very delirious and exhausted. It took a fair amount of planning for me to get into a routine of sleeping in the day, prepping food for the night etc. I was glad it was only for a week, but it took some time for my body clock to get fully back to normal too.
Dealing with Patient Serious Illness & Death
Thankfully, I didn’t have to deal with any patient deaths on my crew, but unfortunately the other crew did… One elderly gentleman that got rushed into A & E from an ambulance sadly didn’t survive and passed away whilst the camera was rolling. I did however personally encounter patients who were seriously ill, often very elderly and frail individuals. I always found these instances very uncomfortable to deal with and was a delicate operation for me to capture their dialogue without being too invasive with the boom mic.
Dealing with Vulnerable Patients
Vulnerable people were also always very difficult to deal with too as it was always a challenge to gain consent for filming. Before we could start, we always had to first gain some kind of verbal consent from the patient that we could film them and ask them questions, but not every patient was able to give this in the moment and sometimes if they did, they were not sure what they were consenting to until the AP came over later to discuss more with them, which sometimes led to them removing their consent upon further conversation.Again, it was a delicate balance approaching a patient with the camera and the boom mic not knowing if we are going to get full consent or not.
Booming patient dialogue
For the most part, capturing the dialogue of the patients was straightforward enough, but often there were times where either the examination room/area was small or the patient was so softly spoken that getting the boom in an optimal position was very tricky! Together with the background noise of a busy A & E department too, it was a huge challenge to record conversations with patients and doctors that was clear to hear and understand. As a sound recordist, I always had to quickly analyse each scenario to find the best spot for the boom mic. Sometimes it was a position I wouldn’t normally go for, but in these scenarios it was more important to just simply hear the patient clearly over the loud noises in the background.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the show was great to work on. All the crew were lovely to work with and the team of junior doctors we filmed with were all so welcoming and accommodating. It had it’s challenges, but we worked hard to overcome them and I’m proud of what I and my small team of sound recordists managed to achieve.
Dan Guest
Sound Recordist
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