About the Film
Originally contrived as a 12 minute live action film set to e produced and created in conjunction with the School of Cinematic Arts at USC for the Fall 2020 semester, plans came to an abrupt halt when COVID hit.
Due to restraints and restrictions put in place by Los Angeles County, the creative team was unable to follow through with the plans for the creation of the original piece and had to re-write the script and get created.
What we ended up with was a 6-minute short created using a combination of 2D animation and stop motion film. The entire film was done with zero physical contact occurring between cast or crew. Everything was done over zoom and supplies and materials were either emailed or physically mailed between crew members.
The script was re-written to allow for a short that could be feasibly accomplished in the time frame that we had. There was an overall 13 week turnaround with picture lock happening in the 11th week giving me just over 2 weeks to fully sound design and mix the final product.
About the Sound
I was the only sound person on this film crew and was involved throughout the process of revising the script and deciding on the final process. My role on this film included being present for the recording of the Voice Overs by the actresses, choosing the microphones and equipment that would be sent, talking them through how to record and then talking them through how to upload the sounds they recorded into a place that I could have access to them.
We used simple USB microphones and I had them record into Audacity, a free audio software program that had the capabilities of accomplishing everything I needed it to. We met over two days via zoom managing to have them record into their microphones and into audacity while on the zoom call with each other so they could still feasibly act their scenes. Once everything was recorded, I had them export the audio as a wave file and upload that audio file into a google drive that I created. I then took that audio and downloaded it and edited it in ProTools.
Sound effects used for this film were a combination of Foley and pulled effects from a sound effects database called SoundQ. The monsters' voices were created through a variety of techniques. Birdman (the birdlike figure) was a combination of live recorded birds taken from the streets of LA and pulled effects from a variety of online sources. Oxbone (the more ominous one) was my voice recorded and altered to create the voice you hear in the final film.
Being an animated film, I was given a mute file that I then created the entire soundscape for. Turnaround for the film overall was 13 weeks with picture lock coming in at the 11th week giving me just under 2 weeks to create the final soundscape.
This was an extremely fun and very rewarding project and I am so glad that I got to be a part of it and work with the extremely talented, versatile, and flexible crew on this film.