Location Recording for 'Billiam'

We have recently been on location, recording for new Swindon-based film 'Billiam'. It's a story of how one brother literally met his other brother!

The film is produced by Bald n Hairy Films (Billy Rees and Doug Kirby) and also directed by Doug Kirby.

For part of the film the superb Oxford Brooks Ferndale Campus training centre in Swindon proved itself as an excellent film set with most props on site already. The film also has a number of external scenes shot around Swindon.

Some of the other internal locations (in normal houses and flats) posed challenges both from a camera and sound point of view, partly due to very limited space and poor acoustics. Once a small bathroom has a camera, tripod, lighting and actors there's not much room for the microphone too but fortunately we managed to get some good sound in the end. Possibly the most cramped location was lying down across the back seat of a small hatchback car complete with sound mixer, recorder and leads draped on top!

A very tight, multi-location filming schedule meant that the first take was often the rehearsal, so all crew members and actors were kept on their toes in order to get it right first time.

Dialogue mics were interchanged between shotgun and hyper-cardioid, depending on the space we were recording in.

Dreambase Studios will be completing the sound post on this film later on this year so stay tuned for another Blog regarding that stage in the production.

The clip below is an out-take from one of the bar scenes in the film. Enjoy!

The Boy Who Wanted to be a Lion

Dreambase Studios were approached by Producer, Polly Stokes (National Film and Television), to provide sound consultancy and guidance to the student sound designers for this short. "It was a real pleasure working with Polly, we sat down, watched the temporary animatic and discussed the directors creative intentions. I then suggested that as the sound should be POV, all the high frequency should be dropped until the hearing aid was inserted, then an influx of noise and distortion should be present. The dynamics of the hearing aid and without should really highlight how the boy is feeling..." said Alex.

The director, Alois Di Leo, created this short animation as part of his graduation project from the National Film and Television School. Using Hand drawings and a mixture of silence and static noise to echo the boy’s deafness, this film has captivated audiences across the film festival circuit. The plot lines effect is a mixture of laughter from its playfulness and stock from the tragic ending.

At Cannes in 2010, The Boy Who… was selected for the Critics Week, where Alois Di Leo said:

“Our film is being screened in a new 35mm print and it looks fantastic; there is a new depth and richness to the images. I can feel the story taking possession of the audience – the cinema feels still and alert! The film is only eight minutes and the ending is realist, perhaps not what an audience expects from animation material.”

Polly said that "Alex really helped us to think outside the box with his recommendations which gave our sound designer the confidence to push the boundaries and create a soundtrack that more than compliments the mix"

SYNOPSIS: Max is a seven-year-old deaf boy growing up in the 1960s. One day he goes on a school trip to the zoo, where he sees a lion for the first time. A feeling begins to grow inside him that will change his life forever.

"The Boy Who Wanted to be a Lion" - Trailer from Alois Di Leo on Vimeo.

Recording a World Music Community Choir

Lingmara is a world music community choir which meets each week at The Cause Music and Arts Centre in Chippenham. It was set up by Elena Winch in 2006 and now has a new musical director, Sian Penlington as Elena moved recently to Ireland. The choir sings songs from all over the world, with beautiful harmonies and rhythms. Lingmara regularly performs in Music festivals and local events.

Lingmara were the winners of the Wootton Bassett Arts Festival, Adult Chior in 2010 in which Dreambase Studios supported by offering the winners a recording session were recorded by Dreambase Studios and James Shannon earlier this year at the Cause in Chippenham. The 34 strong choir were recorded during a 2 hour live performance and Dreambase Studios produced the album, mixed and mastered in-house, providing the photography and artwork too.

 

Surround Sound for Tritton Headphone Promo

We've recently completed the sound mix in partnership with Echoic Audio for a gaming headphone promotional animation.

Tritton Technologies Inc. manufactures a range of gaming specific headphones, most with multiple speakers in each ear cup. As part of their promotional campaign they needed an audio visual promotional piece to take to trade shows and to put up on-line to show off the products.

We worked with Echoic Audio to mix an engaging and dynamic soundtrack with enough surround to really show off the capabilities of the headphone system.

The sound on this video uses special audio encoding which mimics the effects of surround sound on a standard pair of headphones, sit back, put on a 'normal' pair of headphones and enjoy the 'out-of-the-head' experience on this fantastic project. The Tritton headphones have 4 tiny speakers in each ear giving a discrete surround sound experience.