I wish I had been a little less nervous during the sound design meeting, I might have walked out of our meeting with a few more coherent videos - oh well.
Last thursday Erica and I spent an hour at Kappa Studios going over sections of FToM; Nathan, the person who will hopefully be working on the film, was really amazing with ideas and feedback on what kinds of things we could try with sound design and foley - it could just be wishful thinking, but he seemed to really understand what the film was trying to do, and he genuinely seemed interested in working on the project… excited even.
The next step is finding a way to fund the cost of sound design, which will cost around $25k, in the neighborhood of what I expected proper sound to cost for the film; but, I have to admit, guessing about what sound should cost, and hearing the actual quote… is two different things - it’s a good chunk of change to raise, but… we’ll find a way.
In response to a very helpful suggestion via Mike Hedge, Erica helped record and edit this production update - I talked about the opening scene of the film, as it is one of the more complicated or SFX-heavy scenes; but if, weeks from now, I’m still struggling to find help with sound design, I’ll pick one of the other more complicated scenes as a follow up.
Erica and I ate lunch yesterday under a post-studio here in Burbank that I’m excited about, I had forgotten all about it, I used to drive past it almost everyday when we still lived south of Magnolia; she’s hoping to get in touch with them tomorrow.
Source: vimeo.com
Today was a bad day. Not in part to any particularly terrible news or setbacks, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open or my spirits up. I should start by saying that I feel fine now, much better actually, much clearer and focused; but, still, as I go on and on in this project, for what ever reason, it gets harder and harder to admit that sometimes I have days where I feel pretty foolish and beaten.
I am going to force myself share this post - I’ve formed too bad a habit since filming of hiding this kind of thing from the site. I have bad days… more often than I obviously care to admit. Still, bad days or not, I can’t spend every bad day in bed hiding from the world.
Moving on: I am back to square one with searching for sound designers. I am spending my weekends editing in a recent re-recoding of the narration for the film, despite Amanda trying her best to convince me to hire someone else for the narration. Erica is, whether I like it not, going to spend tomorrow calling a few places around town to try to secure us a olympic-sized swimming pool to record a scene that needs to match an archival sequence in FToM.
Every time I feel that I’ve made some progress with reaching out to teams that can help build things that are above my head… the conversations always seem to peter out without warning. It’s frustrating to be at a point where I’m able to pay for the services out of pocket - and still, I’m having a hard time finding people to do the work. Frustrating.
Just a quick check-in about two of things I’ve been keeping busy with as of late - there’s more that I’ve been working on regarding the film, but those will have to wait for another video. One quick update to this update, the sound place in North Hollywood wrote back, so I’ll be scheduling a meeting them as soon as possible *fingers crossed*
In the last week alone I’ve written three different people about doing sound design for the film - the week has gone by fast and I’m still waiting on replies; but the photos above are from a group here in North Hollywood that I feel most positive about. They are a team of younger sound designers who were recommended by Mike Hedge.
Earlier in the year I was convinced my biggest challenge was finding help with the last editing touches, but, especially after the last few rounds of screenings, I’m more confident now that I can handle the editing-challenges; what is far over my head is sound design - and one thing the film is most lacking is finished sound.
For budget purposes, I’m making notes about which scenes in the film absolutely rely on sound that doesn’t yet exists, and which parts of the film are doing okay with the sound and music they have. At least this way, if the initial money needed is too much, then I can at least split off a good 45 minute collection of different scenes from FToM and have just those be worked on for now. Baby steps.
IFP’s unique year-long mentorship program supports first-time feature directors when they need it most: through the completion, marketing and distribution of their films. Focusing exclusively on low-budget features (under $1million), this highly immersive program provides filmmakers with the technical, creative and strategic tools necessary to launch their films – and their careers. Through the Labs, IFP works to ensure that talented emerging voices receive the support, resources, and industry exposure necessary to reach audiences. Open to all first time feature documentary and narrative directors with films in post-production.
via NoFilmSchool, IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs
On this weekend’s to-do list: finish filling out the application for IFP’s documentary lab program. I’m really just at the stage now where I need a lot of help with sound design, which I mentioned recently here. But, of course, the attention of IFP definitely wouldn’t hurt the film’s momentum going forward. Fingers crossed.
I need help with recommendations on people here in Los Angeles who do sound design. Much of For Thousands of Miles, of course, takes place outside, but it is also told as a memory, so there is a lot of room for subtle play with otherwise natural sounds. The foley work has been a part of post that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, I need someone meticulous that I can trust. Any recommendations would be much appreciated.
Source: ftomfilm
