There should be something inherently poetic in the physical exhaustion that making films causes. Especially from the point of view of the sound guy. Allow me to compare the process to one of my favorite sports, baseball, a game that writers have for some reason always attempted philosophize upon the metaphorical qualities of and poetize into some grand representation of the human condition. I will now attempt to do the same.
Looking at baseball one notices that the game plays out over the course of three or more hours during which only 20 minutes or so of action actually takes place. The rest of the time is spent waiting for something to happen. Of course there's more to baseball than this but, to put it simply, this is what it ultimately boils down to. The position that most epitomizes this is that of the relief pitcher. These guys sit around waiting for a majority of the game to get the signal from the manager to warm up and come in only to actually pitch for one or two innings and sometimes to only one batter. Working out the math on that, they can conceivably sit around for three or more hours to play for less than 30 seconds. Wow.
I've found that the same thing kind of applies to the sound mixer on a film set. It seems that most of the mixer's time is spent sitting and waiting for the DP, gaffer, and the grip and electric crew to set the lighting for each shot. Once the lighting is set, the actors rehearsed, and the shot ready to go, the Assistant director calls for the sound mixer and we go for a take. The director then calls cut and if he or she is happy they tell the AD that they're ready to move on and a new lighting set up is begun. Back to the bench for the sound mixer.
The difference between baseball and this is that while a baseball game lasts three hours, a film shoot can last 12-15. My mind isn't capable of calculating the amount of idle time that this works out to be for the sound mixer, but from my experience I can tell you that it's a lot.
My next stop in life is to try out to be a relief pitcher for the Tigers. I think I'm well qualified for most of what the job entails, I just have to work on the whole throwing thing. The waiting I have down.
Ryan the Sound Guy
Or perhaps you could be an actor, but only one that specializes in being an understudy. That way, you could go your whole career without actually filling in! Unless the lead was mysterious ill once or twice...
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