Look Who's Talking

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0:00:02 > 0:00:03Good luck, studio!

0:00:05 > 0:00:11'For the first time on Confidential, we hear from the sound teams who put the hullabaloo into Doctor Who.

0:00:15 > 0:00:18'A day trip to disaster leaves the Time Lord lost for words.

0:00:18 > 0:00:23'Thankfully, behind the scenes an army of audio engineers are speaking the same language.'

0:00:26 > 0:00:29The horror of what is happening to him

0:00:29 > 0:00:32is doubled because we know he's not in control of events.

0:00:35 > 0:00:37# I will sit right down

0:00:37 > 0:00:41# Waiting for the gift of sound and vision... #

0:00:42 > 0:00:46The Doctor is possibly more scared than he would be facing a legion of Daleks.

0:00:59 > 0:01:02- Tell her to stop. - She's driving me mad.- Make her stop!

0:01:02 > 0:01:05- Make her stop! - Stop her staring at me.- Shut her up!

0:01:05 > 0:01:09- That's impossible!- Impossible! - I'm telling you...

0:01:09 > 0:01:13- Stop talking. Just stop talking. - Shake, shake, shake!- Six, six, six!

0:01:13 > 0:01:17THEY ALL SHOUT AT ONCE

0:01:19 > 0:01:20Stop repeating!

0:01:22 > 0:01:25The unsung heroes, and I have said this many times,

0:01:25 > 0:01:26is the sound department.

0:01:26 > 0:01:33Both the on-set recordists and the post-production, which is an immensely complicated process.

0:01:56 > 0:01:57Action.

0:01:57 > 0:01:58I'm telling you to stop!

0:01:58 > 0:02:01There were slightly different challenges,

0:02:01 > 0:02:04and they involved departments in ways that they hadn't before.

0:02:04 > 0:02:07Usually, they're about how we're going to blow up that Cyberman

0:02:07 > 0:02:10or how we're going to hang off that spaceship.

0:02:10 > 0:02:14It's quite good to give the sound team some things to worry about.

0:02:14 > 0:02:17You know, put them to work! Not that they don't work hard enough already.

0:02:19 > 0:02:22On Doctor Who, we have a team of sound editors.

0:02:22 > 0:02:28They lay up, on average, about 70 soundtracks on a Doctor Who,

0:02:28 > 0:02:31and then you come to a bunch of things on the desk.

0:02:31 > 0:02:35That'll be dialogue, sound effects, music, Foley...

0:02:35 > 0:02:38I mix them all together to produce a coherent soundtrack

0:02:38 > 0:02:41for transmission on the telly that pleases everybody.

0:02:41 > 0:02:44They slave away at this programme and it's a noisy programme.

0:02:44 > 0:02:48We push and nag them to fill in every sound.

0:02:48 > 0:02:53- Never be dominant on a close-up of someone else.- Yes.- It's confusing.

0:02:53 > 0:02:55Absolutely. Marvellous.

0:02:55 > 0:03:00'Once the pictures have been perfected, the sound team lend their ears to those 70 tracks.'

0:03:00 > 0:03:04This episode is quite different to other episodes because...

0:03:04 > 0:03:08there's not many monster noises to design.

0:03:08 > 0:03:12There's not lots of crowd effects, but it's a psychological one.

0:03:12 > 0:03:17This is something that we haven't touched on on Doctor Who before, normally you have to do a werewolf,

0:03:17 > 0:03:21or a beast, but this one, because it's dialogue-driven,

0:03:21 > 0:03:24that's why it's quite difficult and quite different.

0:03:24 > 0:03:26- It's your idea!- You thought of it!

0:03:28 > 0:03:32- Professor, help me!- When I first read it, I was just thrilled by it,

0:03:32 > 0:03:36that we were doing something that different and quite bold in Doctor Who terms.

0:03:40 > 0:03:43I also remember thinking, "How are we going to shoot this?!"

0:03:43 > 0:03:46You've got a character who repeats everything.

0:03:46 > 0:03:48BOTH: Bananas.

0:03:48 > 0:03:50The Medusa Cascade.

0:03:50 > 0:03:55On first glance, Sky gets dragged into repeating

0:03:55 > 0:03:57the words of every other character.

0:03:57 > 0:03:59I didn't know how on earth

0:03:59 > 0:04:03we could film that, or how it's going to be possible to learn.

0:04:03 > 0:04:06It's more of a psychological horror than you traditionally get

0:04:06 > 0:04:11in Doctor Who, and I think it's quite a grown-up script, I think it's scary in quite an adult way.

0:04:11 > 0:04:15- I'm just travelling. A traveller, that's all.- Like an immigrant?

0:04:15 > 0:04:17Who were you talking to? You were talking to someone.

0:04:17 > 0:04:22- Who was that?- There's an interesting study of human behaviour and this whole idea that

0:04:22 > 0:04:27you look for a scapegoat if you're in a situation that scares the living daylights out of you.

0:04:27 > 0:04:31You're gonna look for an explanation and then you're gonna look for someone to blame.

0:04:31 > 0:04:35- Doctor, you've been loving this. - Oh, Jethro, not you.

0:04:35 > 0:04:38Ever since the troubles started, you've been loving it.

0:04:38 > 0:04:42I think he absolutely taps into human nature, really.

0:04:42 > 0:04:46We are pack animals and if we're threatened, we do gather together.

0:04:46 > 0:04:49You do seem to have a certain...glee.

0:04:49 > 0:04:51All right, I'm interested. Yes, I can't help it.

0:04:51 > 0:04:56'Over the next few weeks, the Doctor Who cast and crew will cram themselves

0:04:56 > 0:05:00'into this claustrophobic Crusader 50 set.

0:05:00 > 0:05:03- 'It's enough to drive anyone crazy!' - Action.

0:05:03 > 0:05:07What did they say? Did they tell you? What's wrong?

0:05:07 > 0:05:09Oh, just stabilising, happens all the time.

0:05:09 > 0:05:11I don't need this.

0:05:11 > 0:05:16- I'm on a schedule. This is completely unnecessary. - And you seem so... Thank you.

0:05:16 > 0:05:20It's a really claustrophobic episode, it's a small set,

0:05:20 > 0:05:23it's even smaller when it's full of the crew,

0:05:23 > 0:05:26and that all helps to feel hemmed in.

0:05:26 > 0:05:28There actually is the feeling

0:05:28 > 0:05:33of a lack of oxygen and a lack of space and nowhere to go.

0:05:33 > 0:05:37Out there, all there is is the darkness and the danger.

0:05:37 > 0:05:42Day three in Crusader 50, the crew and the cast

0:05:42 > 0:05:44are still talking to each other.

0:05:45 > 0:05:48It's the entrance, can he get in?

0:05:48 > 0:05:51I feel quite claustrophobic now as actress, having been in there

0:05:51 > 0:05:54for a week cos I'm taken from my

0:05:54 > 0:05:58hotel in the dark, brought here in the dark, spend all day in the dark,

0:05:58 > 0:06:03in this claustrophobic thing, and then driven home in the dark. I've got no idea what Cardiff looks like.

0:06:03 > 0:06:07And the script itself, it's built that way, you feed off of each

0:06:07 > 0:06:12other's tension, so the more nervous one person gets, it's infections.

0:06:12 > 0:06:18Claustrophobia is very infectious, so inevitably it's gonna end bad!

0:06:19 > 0:06:25'And making all the right noises is sound effects editor Paul Jeffries.'

0:06:25 > 0:06:27I'm the sound effects editor on Doctor Who.

0:06:27 > 0:06:31Midnight was an interesting one for us sound guys.

0:06:31 > 0:06:35There's different things going on, but we've got something outside,

0:06:35 > 0:06:39we've got a monster outside and the imagination runs wild. You don't know what it is.

0:06:39 > 0:06:43It's the sound man's job to try and feed the imagination,

0:06:43 > 0:06:47and try and satisfy the imagination as well.

0:06:47 > 0:06:51If it sounds slightly wrong, the illusion's broken

0:06:51 > 0:06:54and nobody cares what's outside any more.

0:06:54 > 0:06:56So now we come to the crescendo.

0:06:56 > 0:07:00The monster's getting closer, and now instead of being like a

0:07:00 > 0:07:04heartbeat, it's more like footsteps, getting faster and faster, running.

0:07:10 > 0:07:12It all goes bang.

0:07:12 > 0:07:16ADR stands for automatic dialogue replacement, and it's a necessary evil.

0:07:16 > 0:07:21'It's no secret that David Tennant is rather reluctant at recording ADR.

0:07:21 > 0:07:24'In fact, you could say he's quite vocal about it.'

0:07:24 > 0:07:29I don't enjoy doing ADR, which is no secret to the people who have to record it with me.

0:07:29 > 0:07:35I find it difficult and frustrating, because you're not there, you're not in that moment any more.

0:07:35 > 0:07:37You're not looking that other actor in the eye.

0:07:37 > 0:07:42You're not experiencing that story in the way you experienced it on the day that you shot it.

0:07:42 > 0:07:46And actually, what you're trying to do is recreate something artificially.

0:07:46 > 0:07:52What happens is, you record sound on set, obviously, you have microphones and sound recordists there.

0:07:52 > 0:07:58And they will get the best possible recording of the sound on that day, that they possibly can.

0:07:58 > 0:08:02But there are a number of reasons why that sound might ultimately not work.

0:08:02 > 0:08:05There might be a plane going overhead, which you just...

0:08:05 > 0:08:08And you didn't have time to do another take...

0:08:08 > 0:08:09Hello...

0:08:13 > 0:08:17You know, if you did, on the day, you did some strange...

0:08:17 > 0:08:23way of...saying a... sentence with funny little pauses that you put in on the day, because that felt right

0:08:23 > 0:08:26at the time, but if you are then in a recording booth six months later,

0:08:26 > 0:08:30trying to...recreate the...strange...pauses that you did,

0:08:30 > 0:08:32and trying to match it to your own lips

0:08:32 > 0:08:36that you're watching on the screen at the time, it's a curious process.

0:08:36 > 0:08:38And the cold...and the diamonds...

0:08:38 > 0:08:42On an episode like Midnight, because so much of it is to do with

0:08:42 > 0:08:48overlapping dialogue, dialogue that has to be simultaneous with another character's dialogue, inevitably

0:08:48 > 0:08:53there will be a bit of that necessary. But I do get a bit grumpy sometimes when I'm recording it.

0:08:54 > 0:08:56- BOTH:- The more we talk, the more she learns.

0:08:56 > 0:08:59Now, I'm all for education, but in this case...

0:09:01 > 0:09:04Maybe not. Let's just move back, come on. Come with me.

0:09:04 > 0:09:07Everyone get back, all of you, as far as you can.

0:09:07 > 0:09:11It's amazing how lacking in authority the Doctor becomes in this episode

0:09:11 > 0:09:14because his words don't feel like his own any more.

0:09:14 > 0:09:19He says all the things the Doctor normally says, the speeches that take control of a situation,

0:09:19 > 0:09:22that normally win people over and they don't work.

0:09:22 > 0:09:25And they don't work because someone is saying it as well behind him.

0:09:25 > 0:09:27My name's the Doctor.

0:09:27 > 0:09:29My name's the Doctor.

0:09:29 > 0:09:31- OK, can you stop?- OK, can you stop?

0:09:31 > 0:09:33- I'd like you to stop. - I'd like you to stop.

0:09:33 > 0:09:36It was so funny when Russell sold this idea to me,

0:09:36 > 0:09:41when he first talked to me about writing this kind of script.

0:09:42 > 0:09:46He said to me, "Ask me a question." I said, "What's your name?"

0:09:46 > 0:09:50He said, "What's your name?" I said, "What?" And he said, "What?"

0:09:50 > 0:09:52I said..."Oh, I see." "Oh, I see."

0:09:52 > 0:09:55The thing that kids do, they say, "Go to bed." "Go to bed.

0:09:55 > 0:09:58- "Shut up." "Shut up".- He carried it on for about four minutes

0:09:58 > 0:10:02and after four or five minutes, I was like, "Stop. I'm freaked out."

0:10:02 > 0:10:05When someone keeps doing it, it drives you mad!

0:10:05 > 0:10:07When a kid really sustains it for five minutes,

0:10:07 > 0:10:10five minutes is enough, it drives you bonkers!

0:10:10 > 0:10:13It's like a dripping tap. And I think for a sense,

0:10:13 > 0:10:15for those 45 minutes,

0:10:15 > 0:10:21the people in that Cruiser go mad. I think he drives them all mad.

0:10:21 > 0:10:24- Why's she doing that? - Why's she doing that?

0:10:24 > 0:10:25She's gone mad.

0:10:25 > 0:10:26- Stop it.- Stop it.

0:10:26 > 0:10:28- I said stop it.- I said stop it.

0:10:28 > 0:10:30- I don't think she can. - I don't think she can.

0:10:30 > 0:10:33Why it is so annoying when someone does that?

0:10:33 > 0:10:36I think...it robs you of something, it sort of...

0:10:36 > 0:10:39We are our voices and...and...and...

0:10:39 > 0:10:41somehow it's like it's taken away and it's mocked.

0:10:41 > 0:10:44Action, Liz and Lindsey.

0:10:44 > 0:10:47Stop talking! Do you hear? Stop talking!

0:10:47 > 0:10:48Action, Lindsey.

0:10:48 > 0:10:50Stop talking! Do you hear? Stop talking!

0:10:50 > 0:10:54I'm standing behind a monitor so basically my head -

0:10:54 > 0:10:58I've never been a monitor before! - is a monitor and...

0:10:58 > 0:11:01when I do my first little section, she then repeats

0:11:01 > 0:11:04so she gets the same intonation, rhythm and pattern.

0:11:07 > 0:11:10- Make her stop!- Make her stop!

0:11:12 > 0:11:13Great, like that. Great!

0:11:13 > 0:11:15There's no room for error because...

0:11:15 > 0:11:19you have to say exactly what someone else is saying. You can't...

0:11:19 > 0:11:24make any sort of slip ups, put a "the" in at the top of a line

0:11:24 > 0:11:28or an "and" where it shouldn't be. It has to be absolutely precise.

0:11:28 > 0:11:31Doing that all on your own, it probably would've driven me mad.

0:11:31 > 0:11:33- BOTH:- Hush, now, hush!

0:11:33 > 0:11:37- She's doing it to me!- Just stop it all of you, just stop it, please!

0:11:37 > 0:11:40The most difficult sequences to shoot were the ones where I had to be

0:11:40 > 0:11:46- absolutely in synch with David.- Is it Sky? That was wrong, wasn't it?

0:11:46 > 0:11:48- So are you.- Yeah.

0:11:49 > 0:11:50Pick it up, please.

0:11:50 > 0:11:53Russell rather kindly gave us the square root of Pi

0:11:53 > 0:11:56to learn to 30 decimal places.

0:11:56 > 0:11:59For someone who scraped through their Maths Higher,

0:11:59 > 0:12:02you start by learning it, that's the first obstacle to get over.

0:12:02 > 0:12:05- BOTH:- 72981674823411...

0:12:05 > 0:12:08- Wow.- Wow. HE LAUGHS

0:12:08 > 0:12:13- BOTH:- The square root of Pi is 1.77245385090...

0:12:13 > 0:12:18It's 1.772453850905516...

0:12:19 > 0:12:24..0207298167483341.

0:12:24 > 0:12:26And so on.

0:12:26 > 0:12:28So I can, but the thing is...

0:12:28 > 0:12:31on recall, I can get it at a certain speed,

0:12:31 > 0:12:34but David and I had to do it like that,

0:12:34 > 0:12:37and I had to really, really keep going through it in my head

0:12:37 > 0:12:39to make it come out quickly.

0:12:39 > 0:12:41..60272984167...

0:12:41 > 0:12:42Wow.

0:12:44 > 0:12:47Sorry! LAUGHTER

0:13:12 > 0:13:15Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:13:15 > 0:13:17E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk