Squeaky shoes on a film set are the absolute worst. It affects both crew members and actors! I decided to put together a simple remedy for silencing squeaky shoes on a film set. This remedy is something that you’re going to have to do multiple times a day depending on the actors’ shoes. A sound engineer’s job is to record the dialogue on set, so we have to make sure that we can get those shoes as quiet as possible in order to capture a clean soundtrack.

Discover the Source

The first step is to discover where the squeak is coming from . If the squeak is coming from the rubber soles of the shoes on the flooring, that is easily remedied. One of the easiest ways to do this is with a bar of soap. You do not need to buy an expensive bar; some of the cheapest soaps actually work the best. I recommend picking up a big pack of them and it’ll last you a season, or two. 

THE PROCESS

The process is quite simple.

Go to the corner of the room or another area that’s not being filmed on. Take the dry soap bar and rub it on the ground in a circular motion making a circle about 1 to 2 feet in diameter.

When you do this, you do NOT use any water. You do not need to have any actors slip and fall. What you are doing is getting the ground saturated with a fine layer of the soap.

Then call your talent over and have them rub their shoes on top of the layer of soap. It’s literally having them do the twist and shout dance on the circle. You may need to get some of the soap off of the floor onto the bottom of their shoes. An alternative would be if the actor can take off their shoes for a quick second while you rub soap directly on the shoes.

QUICK TIP

Always remember to give the actor a friendly reminder that they just put soap on the bottom of their shoes and to be careful. They shouldn’t be slipping around like crazy because there is no water present. However, it can still get a little slippery until they are used to it. 

If the squeak of the shoe is coming from the actual shoe itself, that can be very difficult to remedy and may require a different type of shoe for the scene. Talk to wardrobe if this is the issue!