Lucky Life

Just finished production sound work for the feature film "Lucky Life." The film is being produced by Lee Isaac Chung and Sam Anderson of Almond Tree Films. The shoot lasted a month and involved shooting 2 1/2 weeks of location work in Kitty Hawk, NC and then the rest of the time in New York.



So what's it like shooting on and near the ocean? Really difficult.

When we arrived, the weather was intense. The wind was huge, the waves were bigger, there was some coastal flooding from the rain and ocean water coming over the sand barriers. It was quite a sight.

Shooting outside was a challenge, mostly due to the wind...and the sand...and the fear of a transmitter or two going into the ocean.

One flip side to this is that I was also able to get some really interesting SFX recordings. Wind, of many things, can change the sonic environment you are in quite dynamically. Plants, fences, windscreens, just barely open windows...all these things create unique sounds.





A Ninja in the field, boom op Mike Juarez













Some cast and crew during a camera re-load













Long live the plant mic...

If a shot doesn't allow us to get good sound from overhead (say, due to a wide angle lens) then sometimes I hide them within the shot.




(click the photo to enlarge)




Shooting outside a local restaurant.

















On a ferry ride from Ocracoke Island back to Kitty Hawk.

North Carolina is pretty darn cool. I plan on going back again. Outside of some crazy weather during the first part of our stay, it was great spending so much time on the beaches. The Brew Thru drive thru beer stores are awesome. Why aren't those all over the place? Lucky Life should begin post production early next year.

Annecy Double Win!

Well, this is pretty cool news: The Winner of the Annecy Interntional Film Festival Cristal for best feature is none other than "Sita Sings the Blues"! And "Special Distiction" (in other words "2nd Place") goes to "Idiots and Angels"! Read Here.

Check out this cool article in Variety!

And the man who created one of my favorite cartoon shows was one of the judges.

Go Nina and Bill! And for those of you new to this site, I sound designed both films, so go me!

Idiots and Angels Sound Design and Mix Completed

There will be a lot of updates and extra postings about "Idiots and Angels." This probably represents one of the more complex and demanding projects I've worked on. I initially started work on "Idiots" in October of 2007. The final mix was completed in April of 2008 with some additional fixes done in May. I wasn't working on Idiots full-time, but rather splitting it between working on "Sita Sings the Blues", "Hose", and various other projects.

There are a number of things that made this project challenging - 1st and foremost, there is no dialog in the film at all. This created a huge challenge in terms of how much storytelling the sound design had to accomplish. Fortunately, animated projects are probably best suited for such a scenario.

I was able to utilize a great set of talented voice over actors to add an extra dimension to the film with all sorts of vocalizations. Carrie Keranen, Mike Juarez, Marc Dirason, Michael Sinterniklass, and Ariele Doneson are all colleagues of mine and fantastic VO talents.

2nd - when I started working on the film, maybe 1/3rd of it was colored. Otherwise I was dealing with pencil test footage, and some of it was rather rough looking. When trying to really achieve depth and meaning with the sounds you are creating and editing, the imagery is (of course) your first clue.

3rd - Story. No matter what, you have to embrace the story. You have to make it your own.

4th - I basically had to mix as I worked. I knew there wasn't going to be a lot of money to pay a dub stage mixer, so I had to deliver as good of a sound track as I could. I ended up working with Peter Levin from Splash Studios to basically test the film in a larger space, and to make adjustments to the mix within 2 days. Peter was great to work with and really was able to bring some fresh perspective to the film.

5th - Flying solo. I did a hell of a lot of different sound work on this film. I didn't just create and edit sounds, I also directed the voice actors, recorded and mixed some of the original score, created all the Foley elements, pre-mixed the film and dealt with multiple picture changes (conforms). The list goes on and on, but I really think that next time I take on a feature that I need to find an equal minded sound person to split the work with.

I'll be posting some more info on the making of Idiots soon.

Hose Sound Design

"Hose" is a stop motion animated short by Kevin Watkins. It is easily one of the cooler projects I've worked on and is technically amazing. It's a sound designer's dream when a project comes along that is visually impressive and contains some great storytelling and needs all sorts of unique sounds.
The project required recording and creating a lot of new sounds. I made numerous trips outdoors with...well...garden hoses, and threw them around all over the place to capture the sounds of the hose. I got some strange looks and numerous questions from people who passed by.
















Living right next to Prospect Park in Brooklyn proved very helpful. Even in the middle of a big city, one can get a bit of quiet - enough to record outdoor Foley.
Besides recording a hose moving over various surfaces, I also recorded a lot of the other elements the hose comes in contact with - chain link fences, drain spouts, ladders, buckets, tools, etc... Also, the actual "squeak" of the hose was important to create and involved a lot of experimentation to come up with the right elements.
A stereo mix is finished for now. Look for a 5.1 mix soon. Hose has started hitting the festival circuit.

Sita Sings the Blues Theatrical Mix Completed!

On 01.17.08 the Dolby guys came over to World Wide Audio (home of mixer Georgia Hilton) to make the printmasters for Sita Sings the Blues. Originally, Nina had planned to finish the film as DCP (digital cinema) but due to the theater Sita will be screening at in Berlin, it became necessary to make a 35mm print. Well, all costs aside, it's completely worth it. Not only will it look wonderful on film, but you will be able to experience it in full 5.1 Dolby Surround!

pictured: Georgia Hilton, Nina Paley (director, animator), Greg Sextro