Who's Boomin Who?

Q&A with a professional Boom Operator

Feb 09, 2024

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3…

Last year, I organized the inaugural Merylthon, a dad-pun-turned-film-festival fundraiser that supported a local non-profit organization. The festival was all about celebrating Meryl's iconic performances, but it got me thinking about how the people who helped capture them rarely get their flowers.

What if we gave out an award at each Merylthon - but not to Meryl? What if I could track down some of the skilled crew members who have worked with her - like the Sound Mixer on Sophie’s Choice or the Focus Puller on The Devil Wears Prada? Could the Merylthon also shine a light on the people behind the scenes who were essential to capturing Meryl’s iconic performances?

What’s it like to be in the room where it happened?

I've been a boom operator on a few short films and documentaries, so I know that a boom operator at times has close contact with actors and subjects.

You tape wires on their body. You might hear their burps and yawns in your headphones. You’re paying a lot of attention to the noises their body makes. It’s one of the best places to observe an actor flex their talent; You have a front row seat to the magic of a performance.

Kira Smith has been a professional for over 30 years, working on iconic independent films like Lost in Translation and the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and major Hollywood studio films like John Wick and The Amazing Spider Man 2. Early in her career, she worked with a respected sound mixer who invited her to join him on projects for the next 14 years.

When I first started, I decided that I wanted to make sure I worked with people who were really great so I could be better. That's all I ever wanted, to be as good as I could be.

The sound department - even on big Hollywood sets - are often only three people: the mixer, the boom operator and a digital wrangler. Film sets move fast and the sound department has to stay nimble in all kinds of lighting setups, tight spaces and audio environments - and still capture a high-quality recording of an actor's performance. It’s hard work with big personalities in high pressure situations. Kira rarely takes vacation, sometimes working from one job to the next. And she wouldn’t have it any other way, it seems.

A lot of people who go into being a boom operator are like, “I'm going to be a mixer someday, or I'm secretly a writer, or I wish I was an actor.” When I first started boom operating, I thought, “This is what I want to do. I don't want to be anything else.”

Kira has worked with Meryl on five projects. We talked about the craft of her job and what it's like to be one of the only ones in the room while Meryl makes magic.

Q&A WITH KIRA SMITH, PROFESSIONAL BOOM OPERATOR

EVAN: I have boom operated on short films before and on those small sets, you have face time with actors and can build a relationship and get to know them. Sometimes you’re helping them thread a wire under their shirt or taping it to their bare chest. I’m curious if you experience that kind of intimacy with actors.

KIRA: Some actors come to set and they're in character and they’re not looking to talk to anybody. They're in the zone and I don't talk to them. They want to pretend you're not there. Other actors aren't nearly like that. They're chatty. They want to know who they're in the room with. Like, Martin Short on Only Murders - he has to make the rounds and talk to everybody. My job is to find out what sort of actor they are and to respect that.

EVAN: One takeaway I want people to have after listening to you is to understand the craft of boom operation and how you capture a performance. Is there a craft to what you do?

KIRA: The craft of booming is to not distract. You’re making sure actors don't mind that you're there. Sometimes I'm the only person in the room with Nicole Kidman [in Margot at the Wedding] doing a scene where she's supposed to be masturbating… you have to be invisible.

I’m quiet and respectful. I don't wear bright colors, and I don't meet the actors' eyes. We're all in their peripheral vision, and we're just trying to help them do their best. Even if I'm directly in their eye line, there's a way to look at them and see the boom in my peripheral vision so I’m not actually meeting their eyes.

The best thing that can happen is to not have an actor want me to move. All they have to do is say, “I don't want you in my eye line” and I have to move… and where I end up probably isn't the best place for me to capture the performance.

EVAN: So technical skills - but also soft skills, it sounds like. Knowing how to be around people, how to read the room.

KIRA: When I went from the independent world into the big times, as they say, the hardest part was understanding who I needed to talk to for what and when to talk to somebody. What are the things I can ask for? What are the things that are just not going to happen? It’s a lot. So, set etiquette was the hardest thing to learn.

A good boom operator is someone who is really aware of other people's jobs, because you can't just run in at the last minute and expect to be able to do your job. You have to watch the lights go up, you have to watch the dolly tracks go down, you have to really understand what size are these shots, what is in the frame, how is this going to affect what I'm able to do?

“What is that light they just put up!? Is that going to be a problem for me?” And you have to develop relationships with the rest of the crew. You can't have a good soundtrack - good audio on set - without the help of everyone.

Share Don't Be Precious, Darling

Evan: In Doubt, one of my favorite scenes is the dinner scene towards the beginning. Do you remember anything about that day?

KIRA: I hate dinner scenes because of all the fork scraping and the silverware on the plates and the chewing sounds.

The nun habits were tough to wire. It was difficult because the bonnet came over their foreheads - sometimes it was hard to get the pattern of the mic underneath the bonnets. And when their heads are down, it was even harder! We ended up putting lav mics inside the hood of their bonnets, but there were a lot of shots of looking up at Meryl. And so then we would have to put it into that horrible, crinkly bow that they wore.

EVAN: You’ve boomed Meryl five times so far. What is she like as a co-worker?

KIRA: I just worked with Meryl on Only Murders in the Building and she rubbed me on my shoulder and said hello. We're not friends, but she remembers me and it was nice. We chatted a little bit.

She is aware of the awe and appreciation she inspires in people. She's humble, but she also recognizes that it's important to us to have at least some small interaction with her, and that it would be nice for us.

I've worked with a lot of actors who have reputations for being surly and not so nice to the crew or whatever. But when Meryl Streep comes onto the set, suddenly they're a perfect person. Nobody wants to look bad in front of her, you know. Everybody ups their game and is just a little bit nicer.

EVAN: You are listening a lot on set - you’ve got Meryl literally in your ear. Do you ever hear the director give a note and it changes the performance, or does that not happen with Meryl?

KIRA: I've definitely heard a director go up to an actor and have a little conversation - and then the performance completely changes. Most directors that work with Meryl are not going to ask her to do 10 takes. Unless you're Nancy Myers. And then you're doing like 20 takes!

EVAN: I’m curious about the impact of a really emotional scene on the crew. On one hand, you’re focused on the technical aspects and sound quality. But you’re also a human being and you have these emotions directly in your ear. What’s that like?

KIRA: It can be captivating to witness an emotional scene close up. It's a moment. You can see it on everyone’s faces. You have to remind yourself to pay attention.

It's especially difficult when you're booming Meryl and somebody else, because you get so absorbed that you forget to boom to the other person. I've actually screwed up a few times in rehearsal. I'm so drawn into Meryl’s first performance of the dialogue or whatever we're doing - so sucked into her that I forget there's another person!

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

But wait, there’s more!

In the short video below, Kari and I talk about her role in capturing iconic performances on the set of Doubt.

A Special Treat for all you Doubt-heads

First, watch this video of Meryl tell a story about shooting Viola’s close ups here.

Then, watch the iconic scene.

The close-ups of Viola in this scene are devastating. As Meryl mentions in the above video, Viola did multiple takes with the same tears, snot and emotional energy. But the director, John Patrick Shanley, wanted to reshoot them because there was a distracting bush in the background behind Viola’s head.

The following week they did pick ups and they captured the close-ups of Viola we see in the final film.

Kira shared the call-sheet from the day they shot the pick ups.

You can see on the call sheet that the cast called to set that day are 1,4.

Meryl as Sister Aloysius is #1 on the call sheet, and Viola as Mrs. Miller is #4.

So cool! I always wonder where I was when famous scenes were filmed.

What were you doing the morning of January 23, 2008??