French sound engineer Stéphane Bucher used three DPA d:screet 4060 miniature microphones to capture Scarlett Johansson’s performance during the making of Lucy, a new film directed by Luc Besson that is due for theatrical release later this month.

“d:screet 4060 microphones are very small but that wasn’t the reason why I chose to use them,” Bucher explains. “It was all about their audio fidelity – when it comes to sound quality DPA 4060s are much, much better than other lavalier mics on the market.

"During the filming of Lucy, it was important to take on board Luc Besson’s directing style," Bucher explains. "He is not the easiest person but I was really happy to work with him. He shoots so fast and wants the actors ready to go when they come to set because he already knows exactly what he wants. Once the actors are here, it is too late, you’ll not have time to put a lavalier on anyone."

Fortunately, the film’s costume designer Olivier Beriot completely understood Bucher’s problems and was able to work with him to devise a way of permanently attaching a microphone to Johansson’s main costume.

“Olivier is the best costume designer I have ever worked with and I have huge respect for him,” Bucher says. “Scarlett’s main costume was a white, half translucent T-shirt so we used a white d:screet 4060 microphone which was inserted into the seam of the t-shirt by the dressmaker. We had three t-shirts ready at all times and the solution worked perfectly, giving us great audio but without any visibility issues.”

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