Sound Post for Verity's Summer

We recently completed sound post production on Verity's Summer, a new feature film by Palme D'Or nominee Director, Ben Crowe.

Verity's Summer is the story of a young woman’s journey from the security of childhood to the compromises of adulthood and moral ambiguities of love. It is also an intimate portrayal of a family coming to terms with the traumas and violence of distant war that are brought back home.

The film stars, Indea Barbe-Willson, Martin McGlade, James Doherty, Nicola Wright, and Christian Hogas and was shot on location in the North East.

'The ambiences play a big part in this film and we wanted to create distinctive 'backgrounds' for each part of the film', comments sound designer, Alex Hudd. 'The coast is ever present in the film and so from a 'sound tag' point of view I wanted to make sure the sea sounds were distinctive and repeatable if necessary in order to reinforce the scenes.'

For the ambiences, Alex spent a weekend in West Wales recording lots of different locations for the film. 'I had already spotted the film for what I needed to record but I took a rough cut of the film on my iPhone so I was able to get an idea of perspective there and then when making decisions on where to position the microphones for the best recording. I took many different sound perspectives from close up to the waves, to many hundreds of meters away, at times. I also took recordings of the countryside nearby as these also play an important part in many of the scenes in Verity's Summer.

A chance recording I made of some sea birds defending territory on one of the beaches was also very useful in several scenes during post production. I chose Wales partly because it offered the same 'sound feel' as the visuals had suggested to me but also because it is largely free of interference from transport such as aircraft, motorways and trains. In fact, recording on location in many parts of Wales is, at times like having your own outdoor studio, such is the absence of external sound interference. And I also love visiting this area, so it was a good excuse for a short break!!'

Ambience recordings were combined with other sounds in order to subtly change the mood of the film as a scene progressed. For example, we were keen to make sure we had simple but dark textures in some scenes, particularly the more difficult dialogue subjects. In others, such as Verity's garden we wanted to make the sound detailed and comfortable, as the garden is often a place of solace for her.'

Among the many Foley sounds we recorded were a variety of Trangia sounds for when one of the characters (Martin McGlade, as Castle) is eating in his encampment. Dreambase Studios' co-director Mark enjoyed a 'camping' lunch of cold baked beans and stale bread that day in order to complete the Foley recording for the scene, but once edited in it worked tremendously well and was absolutely necessary due to rain interference on the original production tracks.

Verity's Summer premieres on 21st April 2012 at London's Shortwave Cinema.

Hover Chase 4D Sound Design

We've just completed sound design on what is probably one of the most exciting experiences to come out this year. Produced by Lightworx Media and distributed by The Juice, Hover Chase 4D is an attraction ride experience that takes you on a hover bike race through city streets, oil refineries, forests, and caves. Participants in the ride not only experience 3D picture and 5.1 sound, but are also treated to moving seats, wind, smell, and water effects, amongst others.

The challenge for the soundtrack was to create a believable and powerful sound for the hover bike. You experience the ride from the point of view of one of the racers and so the sound of the hover bike had to react to every twist and turn during the 5 minute ride. The rise and fall of the engine was designed to compliment the speed and direction of the hover bike. In addition to this the other bikes in the race had to be sounded and directed as they moved on the screen in such a was as you really feel part of the action and excitement, not to mention the flyby's, battles and explosions,

In addition the atmospheres of each of the locations in the race were designed also to bring a sense of being there for the ride's participants. The underlying music score, composed at Dreambase helps to keep the pace of the ride throughout so that from start to finish the experience is one that you'll never forget and one that you'll want to come back for more.

The ride is now available for licensing from The Juice.

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.

Sound Support for The Shed

'The Shed' is an independent short film which intertwines complex yet charming family dynamics with the vibrant fantasies of a child who, within his garden shed, ventures to outer space.

Dreambase Studios was approached by Producer, David Tallon back in March who asked if we could help out with sound post on his film. David had already secured Dolby for the Digital Cinema Mastering and 2K scans from Deluxe Digital. A professional animator in Florida who has worked on Battlestar Galactica, Serenity has helped with some stunning space animations plus an American band have offered the project one of their main tracks to use. David also mentioned that a cancer firm were endorsing the project and offering some joint publicity screenings too!

After a meeting David, the director Jon Moy and his production team, we were keen to help out and offer sound consultancy and support through post production for this extremely exciting and ambitious project. Dreambase provided feedback as required to the sound post team at The Arts University College at Bournemouth on a number of levels from project planning to mix reference levels, sound ideas and post production techniques.

Lead sound designer and mixer, Sezin Tugen said "It was great to have Dreambase on-board and regular contact with Mark, who provided instant feedback on the work that I had done was invaluable. From work-flow to confirmation of my monitor and mix levels was essential, to know my dialogue was to industry standard and the additional sound design ideas really helped me, knowing that my work was to a professional level."

David Tallon's last project 'Way Back When' was nominated for 'Best Student Production' award at a film festival at the BFI London, and just received an official selection at the British Independent Film Festival and nominated for the 'British Lion Award' too, please click here for the award winning short.

SYNOPSIS: “The Shed” is the story of Neil; an imaginative 8 year old boy who grew up in his parent’s bohemian style house. He is surrounded by a fruitful lifestyle of music and art but the balance is disrupted when we learn that Neil’s mother could be sick with cancer.

 
This causes an uncomfortable distance within the household which Neil can barely detect through his naivety. In an attempt to protect her son’s innocence, Neil’s mother describes the word ‘chemotherapy’ as a “distant planet”. This stimulates Neil’s imagination and inspires him to visualise a futuristic spaceship in his very own garden shed  in order to travel to “planet chemo” and in turn save his mother from ill health. Accompanied by his noble crew of  pet mice, we follow Neil's adventure through the cosmos while facing all of its mysterious obstacles.
 
The premier of The Shed will be screened at the BFI London on the 4th July, 1pm onwards. We wish David and his team all the very best and look forward to working with him in the near future. If you would like any further information, please contact David at: davetallon@gmail.com

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.

Experience Dolby Mobile surround sound

We were recently commissioned by global entertainment technology company Dolby Laboratories to provide concept and sound design for a series of 5.1 soundbites to help promote the new Dolby Mobile microsite. Working with the Dolby creative marketing team and Bristol based digital marketing agency True Digital we designed four distinct 'soundbites' to put you right in the centre of the action. The microsite also features several soundtrack examples from well known films plus a specially made video by UK beatbox champion Beardyman!

So grab your headphones and click to the Dolby Mobile microsite to see what it's all about. You can also download the soundbites to your computer or mobile phone.

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.

Classic Car Event

Over 40 classic cars and motorbikes parked around the town hall on Saturday 5th June for the 'Brilliant Bassett' event organised by volunteers from the Wootton Bassett Chamber of Commerce.

Visitors wandered amongst a variety of vintage cars including a 1935 Austin 7, 1951 Daimler, 1963 Humber Super Snipe, 1966 Mini Riley, replica AC Cobra, a range of MG’s, as well as more modern classics such as a Ferrari 348 Spider and Morgan Areo 8. Additional motorbikes were also welcomed along this year, including Royal Enfield and Douglas motorcycles, and a 1917 Alldays & Onions which has been in the owner’s family from new.

You can see the little video we made for the Chamber website here, which includes one of our music tracks.

Special Delivery Sound Mix

We've recently completed a sound mix for the short film Special Delivery, produced by Richard Cambridge and written by David Hawk. The film will premier at the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival, which takes place between 9 and 18 April.

Wootton Bassett Arts Festival Support

Running from the 10th to the 14th June, the 2010 Wootton Bassett Arts Festival (WBAF) brings art, creative writing, music, speech and drama right into the community, giving the opportunity for all to exhibit and compete for prizes in a variety of classes. Following a highly successful 2009, this years WBAF is being looked forward to with great anticipation. The WBAF is affiliated to the British and International Federation of Festivals for Music, Dance and Speech (BIFF) of which Her Majesty the Queen is Patron. This year the festival brings a new range of art and photography classes, including a 3-D artwork section. The creative writing section includes categories for poetry, monologue and journalism, to name a few. The speech and drama section includes solo acting, prose reading, public speaking and debating, amongst others. Lastly the music section covers choirs, vocal, and instrumentals, including ensemble and piano sections.

Please visit the WBAF website for more information and to enter a piece of work into the festival.

Dreambase Studios is proud to be supporting the festival this year and we're offering the winners in the Adult Choir category a chance to record their show piece in our own studios or on location.

16 June: UPDATE: The Lingmara Community Choir won the Adult Choir category, a sample of their music can be found here:

Filming is 'The Dogs' at Lucy Pet Carer

Lucy Pet Carer is growing and expanding every year to meet new clients demands and have now relocated to new premises as a more intimate family business set in a 3 half acre estate overlooking the countryside around Wootton Bassett. Providing professional service to clients who want peace of mind when they're away from their pets. They offer free range play and boarding, no kennelling. They also have cat and rabbit hotel facilities!

Dreambase Studios produced a promotional video for the business to add to the website as a follow up to the annual Doggie Christmas Party held at the facility. The content was shot on our EX1 and both operator and equipment got very muddy! And they say never work with children or animals...

The Fire Service College

The Fire Gateway is a web portal which has been developed to allow businesses and the general public to access, and interact with, an array of fire-related services on-line. The Fire Service College are the responsible body for the Fire Gateway. Nomos Media were responsible for providing a full-time 1st line support function for the Gateway, for providing an interface between the public and all 44 Fire and Rescue Services in England, for managing all 3rd party suppliers and contracts and for designing and managing all developments across the Portal.

We provided Nomos with a short testimonial for use at trade shows and events. Nomos, being a web technologies organisation specialising in the production of provision of internet based services filmed the content on the Canon 7D and provided the footage on hard drive. We ingested, transcoded and creatively edited the footage to a 3 minute video and delivered on both HD and SD.

Picture courtesy of Fire Service College

Greek TV Commercial

WIND Hellas is today one of Greece’s largest telecommunications operators with an annual turnover of €1,26 billion for 2008 and more than 6 million customers in mobile and fixed telephony as well as in broadband services.

We were asked to provide recordings for this Greek TV commercial by our friends at DNA Labs which aired in Greece throughout the month of December. They approached us in the final hour, requesting a recording of English children singing the traditional "1-2 Buckle My Shoe" rhyme. We managed to turn the recording around the same day and deliver via our FTP account, an edited recording the next day. The guys at DNA Labs did a wonderful job with sound on the final commercial.

"The client was super happy with the latest version, thanks a lot" [George Lowtronik Ramantanis, Mixer/Sound Designer DNA Labs, Greece]

Lab Consultancy for Dolby and Technicolor

At the end of November we were asked to provide consultancy services to Technicolor on behalf of Dolby Laboratories to check and ensure the operation of the optical sound camera installed at the Technicolor Pinewood Site. The visit was part of Technicolor's ongoing program with Dolby to maintain the highest quality of soundtrack photographic processing on motion picture film and is carried out as part of Dolby Laboratories' Lab and Camera Certification program.

We provided a full check and test of the optical sound camera along with process control training for Dolby personnel resulting in an improvement to the already high quality soundtrack reproduction. A full report was provided for the certification records and future reference.

Anyone Can Play the Guitar

Oxford born Jon Spira was introduced to the medium of film by his dad and one of his earliest childhood memories is assisting his father in the creation of short animations using Super 8mm film. Since returning to Oxford Jon has been engaged in an ongoing documentary project which seeks to trace the history of Oxford's music scene over the last 30 years. To read the full article, click here:

Jon Spira and editor Ben Lavington Martin visited the studio with a rough cut of the feature music documentary "Anyone Can Play the Guitar". We offered advice on the sound post production and Jon was happy with the consultation. He is currently in the process of trying to secure funding to complete post-production for sound mixing and legal and licensing fees for the feature-length documentary and we look forward to working with Jon in the near future.

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

Radio In Schools

Radio In Schools is an independent, not for profit organisation. It offers a safe podcasting platform to allow schools, children and a new generation of listeners to get their voice heard in their own communities.

Dreambase Studios provided 100% post production creating a promotional video for the nationwide launch of Radio In Schools. A high definition version was used at trade shows and a standard definition version for the Radio In Schools website. We provided video capture, ingest, upscaling, transcoding and editing as well as sound design, mix and music composition delivered to a very tight schedule. The promo can be viewed in full on Dreambase Studios' Vimeo and YouTube channels.

"I love the ident, sounding fantastic and really like the direction of it." [Melissa Thom - Director, Radio In Schools]

Picture courtesy of Radio In Schools.