Rodrigo Cortes Interview - Dolby Atmos

Recently we were asked to provide video production for an interview with Spanish film director, Rodrigo Cortes. The interview, by Dolby's director of Distribution Services, Julian Pinn formed part of Dolby Laboratories' promotion of their new Dolby Atmos surround system.

Dreambase provided camera, lighting and sound recording services for the interview, which was filmed at Dolby's Wiltshire-based theatre.

Dolby once again changes the auditory experience for the industry and consumers with Atmos. Dolby Atmos is a break-through, new audio platform that will change the way people experience entertainment sound. The revolutionary technology seamlessly blends onscreen visuals with enhanced audio by not limiting the sound to channels or fixed speaker locations. Launching in the cinema, Dolby Atmos delivers an even more natural and realistic sound-field, by transporting people into the story with a life-like, sensory experience.


About Dolby Atmos
from Dolby Laboratories on Vimeo.

Rodrigo Cortes' new film Red Lights is to make use of the Dolby Atmos system and was released in the UK on 15th June

Dolby's Julian Pinn interviews Director Rodrigo Cortés on Dolby Atmos
from Dolby Laboratories on Vimeo.
 



Official Trailer:

Dreambase Studios Newsletter 2012

For more information on the projects above, click here.

Dreambase Studios is a creative production and post-production facility built on 25 years of film industry expertise.  We work across all media platforms, including film, TV and web, on projects such as feature films, television, commercials, animation, music and corporate videos and alternative content.

With our network of trusted contacts within the industry we are able to offer a one-stop solution for all your creative media requirements, overseeing the entire production if required.  Our services include: directing and producing; story-boarding; filming; location sound; editing sound and picture; sound design; mix; composition; and deliverables for all platforms as well as a range of additional design and media services.  We provide a free initial consultation on every project.

Our extensive working knowledge and background in the international film industry means we aim to bring film standards to everything we are involved in to raise the bar for all your projects.  Working closely with our clients, we pride ourselves on maintaining high quality while providing innovative solutions with excellent communication at all stages. Please get in touch to discuss further. We look forward to working with you.

Sound Design: Coffin Fit

We recently completed original music and sound design for award winning director, David Hawk's new film teaser trailer 'Coffin Fit'.

David's brief was for the sound to be dark and menacing, with an air of mystery and uncertainty.

We made extensive use of the excellent Sculpture soft synth found in Logic 9. Combining wind type textures with a ring-modulator; random morphing of low and high frequency string sections along with some Gregorian choir type sounds on a Gsus4/D chord, we created a menacing and brooding bed. Over this we added some flicker effects to coincide with the text effects on the picture. We also used location recordings of the coffin lid used for the filming to get some hinge creaks and lid bangs. The 'finale' is punctuated by several layers of sound including a pig squeal and a human 'ch' sound. The title script is carved into the wood at the end of the piece and actual scraping of wood was recorded and carefully processed and timed to fit with both the strength and length of each letter scratch. The recording of the struggle from inside the coffin was also made during the shoot. If you're wondering whether or not he escapes in the end, then you'll just have to wait for the final movie to be released...

The incidental music appearing over the end credits continues with the same brooding bed, only this time accompanied by a lonely piano around a C11/Bb and C#maj7 chord pattern, which in conjunction with the aforementioned Gsus4/D creates an atmosphere of both mystery and unease.

On hearing the final soundmix David commented, 'Thank you so much for this. You really made the work leap from my brain onto the screen'.

The teaser trailer has been released but the film has been put on hold for the time being whist David concentrates on another film project. Dreambase Studios also shot the 'Behind the Scenes' making of the teaser trailer which can viewed here.

David Hawk has recently won awards for his excellent short film 'Special Delivery' and we look forward to working with him again on future projects.

ADR Session for Pleasure Droid 3000

Last weekend saw Dreambase Studios recording an ADR session for new high-profile short film, 'Pleasure Droid 3000'. The film is produced and directed by Oliver Purches and was written by Stephen Scott-Hayward. Set in the near future this sci-fi comedy is about a guy who takes his robot girlfriend back to the shop were he bought her, complaining that he bought the 'pleasure model', but his robot is acting like a real woman! The film is cast with James Harrison, Richard Cambridge, and Jessica-Jane Clements, star of BBC series 'The Real Hustle'. Pictured from L-R are: James Harrison, Jessica-Jane Clements, Stephen Scott-Hayward, Kate Timmons and Oliver Purches.

For those not familiar with the term, ADR stands for Automatic Dialogue Replacment or Additional Dialogue Recording, and happens when production dialogue recorded when the cameras were rolling is unsuitable for the final version of the film, perhaps because there was too much background interference for instance.

A Day in the Life

We were commissioned to produce a short promotional film, highlighting a typical day at Red Oaks Primary School. The shoot was completed in a day, the music was recorded in the morning during an African choir performance by the students for their African guests and the whole film lasts only two and a half minutes, a real whirlwind of a film. A fabulous school and a real pleasure to be involved in such a project. The film was shot using the EX1 in 1080p with stunning results. Click here to see the film.

"Working with Dreambase Studios was an absolute pleasure; nothing was too much trouble and our vision for the film has more than been fulfilled." [Terri Menham, Head Teacher, Red Oaks Primary School.]

"The School day film is STUNNING, utterly brilliant!! LOVE IT!!" [Jack Smellie, Relaxed Web Design.]
 

Buffalo Black and Asian Film Festival

The film Our Time Alone, directed by Gurchetan Singh and produced by Hank Starrs came runner up as Best Short film at the Buffalo Black and Asian Film Festival, held at the Battersea Arts Centre on 6th June. The festival presents the very best of Black and Asian short films and is attended by development executives from Channel 4, BBC Drama, UKFC, Miramax and Working Title, amongst other media professionals.

Dreambase Studios provided sound design and mix for the film, which has been consistently well received at all screenings. Watch the trailer for the film here.

Wootton Bassett Repatriation Documentary

We were asked to provide camera and filming services for a Liverpool based film maker, who is developing a documentary about the Wootton Bassett Repatriations. Using a two-camera shoot we obtained footage from the event and conducted interviews with members of the public, many of whom attend the repatriation services on a regular basis. The idea behind the film is to show what it's like to really be there - something that's not often portrayed on the news reports.

The event was extremely moving at times (even though it had been attended before by us) and getting the balance of obtaining film footage and paying the utmost respect to the five repatriated soldiers and their families was a very difficult challenge.

Blood Pagan Films visit the Studio

Scriptwiter and producer, Angus Brown of Blood Pagan Films visited the studios today. (Blood Pagan is a supernatural horror, feature film: Forced to help defend his Pagan Community against a ruthless sect intent on their demise a man must reconnect with the forces of nature or both he and his people will die.) We'd previously met up with Angus Brown at the UK Film Council Public Consultation networking event and again at the Bristol Media Tuesday event. Angus is passionate about filmmaking and is currently in his 7th iteration of scriptwriting. We are looking forward to collaboration with Angus in the future.

RED ONE Workflow

Lighting cameraman David Read provides a comprehensive Red Camera package plus the services of a talented and experienced cinematographer with over twenty years in the business.

“The idea behind the RED camera system is simple. Design and build a high performance digital cine camera with the quality of 35mm film and convenience of pure digital. RED delivers unmatched image quality with no recording system limitations.” - taken from www.red.com

David visited our studios for the day to test the RED ONE workflow with Final Cut Pro 7 in our HD edit suite. After setting up a few shots, making full use of David's knowledge and lighting, we then ingested the footage via firewire 800 using the RED drive RAID and FCS 3 Installer that Provides native REDCODE media (R3D) support for Final Cut Pro and Color. Includes: RED QuickTime Codec (v3.8.0), Log and Transfer (v20.0.0), REDCODE plugin for Color (v2.9), and Final Cut Studio RED workflow whitepaper. Note: Supports RED ONE cameras up through Build 20.

The results were stunning, working in ProRes 4:4:4:4 was not an issue for FCP7, we could easily edit multiple HD streams using our G|RAID's and had no issues streaming HD direct from our RAID5 server to HD Plasma for client screenings. The 2k stills were impressive and the detail when grading in colour and zoom in motion was impressive to say the least.

Magic Mathworks Travelling Circus

The Magic Mathworks is a travelling hands-on maths exhibition for schools, museums and discovery centres. This touring maths lab demonstrates and explores a multisensory approach to the learning of mathematics based on the Multiple Embodiment Principle of Z P Dienes.

As part of an on-going project with a local school, we are filmng a series of events that will be used to promote and highlight the ethos of the school for the interest of new parents and governing bodies.

Our Time Alone

Our Time Alone is short film by Gurchetan Singh (dir) / Hank Starrs (prod) for Blank Slate, part of the UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund Digital Shorts Scheme. Blank Slate is a UK-wide digital short film scheme supporting the next generation of cutting-edge black, Asian and minority ethnic filmmaking talent. Blank Slate is produced by B3 Media in partnership with the UK Film Council and Arts Council England.

Dreambase Studios provided complete sound post-production for this short film involving foley recording, ADR, sound design and mix as well as creating a DVD working copy for the B3 Media tour.

"We really love what you guys have done with the film. I look forward to working with you again very soon" [Hank Starrs - Producer]

To view the trailer, click here.



B3 Media Blank Slate Showcase @Encounters Short Film Festival
Bristol Watershed 2009

Dolby 5.1 Mix for IBC

IBC is the leading annual event for professionals involved in the creation, management and delivery of entertainment content. IBC prides itself on the highest technical standards in its demonstrations and conference facilities. It could not do this without the active support of many companies who provide equipment and expertise including Dolby.

Dreambase Studios was commissioned to re-mix a total of eighteen, 5.1 soundtracks from various broadcast and film sources to provide a 5.1 showreel piece for Dolby to demo at the IBC event.

"Great job, easy to work with. Delivered on time and on budget" [Mick Dwyer - Senior Engineer, Broadcast Systems, Dolby Laboratories Inc]