Noisy floors

Noisy Floors can be the bane of a Sound Recordists life. There are two main problems; noise from things like heels hitting a hard and hollow floor and noise from the floor itself as objects move over the surface.

Heels and Legs

High heels and chair legs can easily produce enough noise to drown out the dialogue or at least be rather distracting.

Common solutions

Lay a strip of carpet along the route the actor(s) are going to take. If the floor is going to be seen this may not go down to well with Design.
Use small bits of self adhesive TESA Tape stuck to the offending heels or chair legs. This doesn’t last long, particularly on stiletto heels, so it is best applied during “checks” before a take.
Fit walking Stick Pads to the heels or chair legs.
With the last two remember that shoes are the domain of the Costume Department, the wise liaise with Costume before attaching things things to heels.

Creaks and Groans

Unless the Recordist is lucky enough to have attended a recce and highlighted the problem with the floor and got co-operation from Design and the budget to fix the floor properly about the best that can be hoped for is the minimisation of any movement during takes. If there is a moving camera dolly get the grips to lay the track on tracking boards to try and spread the changing load over a larger area.