Day Of The Sardine

Series

The Read is a miniseries made by Herefordshire-based Rural Media and broadcast on BBC Four. Each episode aims to breathe new life into an iconic novel through a creative performance reading, where the narrator performs an abridged version straight to camera. There is little or no on-screen action so the format could be described as a visual audiobook.

Story

I joined the post production team on episode three, a reading of Sid Chaplin’s gritty yet poetic novel Day Of The Sardine. Compellingly narrated by Mark Benton, it depicts the rough and tumble of working class youth in early 1960s Newcastle.

Arthur Haggerston is our lead character, a young man just leaving school and entering the punishing world of menial work. He has a tricky home situation, ineptly juggles romantic relationships and gets dragged into gang crime against his better judgement.

Block B Films

The episode was directed by Kieran Stringfellow and produced by Natasha Williams of Block B Films. I was thrilled when they approached me to do the sound design and mix. I’ve worked with them on a number of projects now and they always think deeply about the relationship between picture and sound - it’s basically a sound designer’s dream to collaborate with them.

Dialogue

Dialogue tends to be front and centre in any TV or film production, and this episode was no different. In fact, it was even more central here as the success of the format greatly depends on the actor’s delivery. Benton more than succeeds, giving a gripping performance which keeps the viewer engaged throughout.

My job in audio post production was to support the performance as well as enhance certain sections with sound design and effects.

The production sound recorded by Jake Mckenzie-Hayes was of a really high standard, which made my job of dialogue editing relatively easy. It was a case of levelling it out to ensure it was at a consistent volume, removing a few distracting sounds, and applying EQ and compression so it sounded pleasing to the ears.

With the dialogue in place, it was on to sound editorial and designing the sounds to help add colour to the narration.

Cutaways

This was the first time I collaborated with Kieran and Tasha on a dialogue-heavy piece. In contrast with their previous films Tow Truck (minimal dialogue) and Bulldog (no dialogue at all), Day Of The Sardine warranted a different approach.

To add interest to the story they had filmed several cutaways, beautifully shot by DOP George Haydock. These would also serve as a kind of canvas for sound and allow us to paint a more vivid picture of Newcastle in that time period.

The drama unfolds in rainy streets, clanking dockyards, bubbling canals, clattering building sites and echoing churches - all of which are conducive to sound design.

Accents

As there was less room for ambiences, hard effects and foley than is found in a more traditional filmic approach, it was important to choose key moments which would be best served by sound design.

Arthur is noticeable for his ability to land feet first into fights and other difficult situations. It was fun to use sounds such as punches, grabs, grunts and footsteps to help heighten the drama and tension of these scenes.

We were also able to use opposite types of sounds to good effect, where the violence of battle contrasted with the serenity of a boat entering the harbour or a choir resounding in the church. These moments underline the dual nature of the novel, in which fast-paced action scenes are followed by brief moments of peace.

Fitting In

With the episode running at an hour, a lot of story had to be packed into a short timeframe. There weren’t really any periods where the narration stopped apart from the chapter breaks.

The mixing process involved weaving the sound effects around the voice to ensure that the dialogue remained centre stage, while keeping the effects audible at the same time. This is standard in any mix, but in this case it was a bit more like mixing for an audio drama which was an unusual and interesting challenge.

Episode Three of The Read, Day Of The Sardine is now available to stream on BBC iPlayer.