Show of Hands is a film by Anthony McCarten that we completed sound design for earlier this year, so I was thrilled to hear the other day that it had been accepted to screen at the Montreal Film Festival. The film is an incredibly engaging dialogue driven drama starring Melanie Lynskey and Craig Hall, and was scored by the incredibly talented Don McGlashan. This is the second film I have worked on with Don (previously Toa Frasers film ‘Number Two’) and apart from a dramatic score that illustrates his deep undertsanding of drama, both times Don has also delivered a hugely emotive song that in normal circumstances (ie just as music) would be wonderful, but in the context of the film is almost overwhelming…. check the trailer below, the film is released in NZ on November 13
direct youtube link for iphone/ipod touch
Show of Hands is partly about sleep deprivation, a subject I have had more than a little personal experience with & it was fun to explore sound design for dramatic moments in the film where the effects of sleep deprivation start to become apparent, especially moments in point of view…
And a few fun facts about sleep deprivation:
- People who drive after being awake for 17–19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol level of .05 percent, which is the legal limit for drunk driving in most western European countries!
- Randy Gardner holds the record for sleep deprivation: 264 hours!!! Thats 11 days!?! If you want to try competing with this, bear in mind by the fourth day he was hallucinating & for example mistook a street sign for a person (I wonder how long that conversation went on?)
From personal experience, I think the worst I have ever done is 24 hours straight & yes it was due to a deadline for a film! But that was many years ago – as I get older & one hopes wiser I aim to avoid those kinds of schedules. The one thing I remember from serious sleep deprivation was the lovely feeling of ‘instant meditiation’ ie you can be wide awake & concentrating, but then momentarily close your eyes & quickly enter a state that is like very deep meditation… But funnily enough I know of another certain film being made in NZ at the moment (not the one I am working on) where the sound crew recently did a 27 hour day in aid of meeting a temp mix delivery deadline!!?!! I sure hope they all got taxis home….
