What does Wild Lines mean?
Wild Lines are lines of dialogue recorded by an actor without the camera rolling — typically at the end of a scene or shooting day — to be used as audio-only inserts in the edit. Wild lines may be recorded when a specific line of dialogue was unusable from the original take (due to background noise, a stumble, or a sound issue) but the camera performance was strong enough to keep. They can also be recorded to give the editor additional options for pacing, emphasis, or continuity that were not captured during principal photography.
Example:After completing the scene, the sound mixer asked the child actor to stay on set for five minutes to record wild lines — three specific sentences from the scene where the boom had caught interference from a nearby crew radio, rendering the original audio unusable.
Example: The director asked for wild lines of the key emotional lines after each day’s filming, knowing from experience that clean audio options would give the editor flexibility during the fine cut even if the camera performances were ultimately used from different takes.
Did you know?
Wild lines are distinct from ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) in that they are typically recorded on the actual filming set with the natural acoustic environment of the location, whereas ADR is recorded in a controlled recording studio. Wild lines recorded on set often sound more natural and require less acoustic matching work in post-production, making them preferable when the set noise is the only issue with the original take.
You can also find “Wild Lines” and related terms in this category: Editing and Post-Production.
