Music of Sound

I can’t embed this short film & I respect that – youtube & even vimeo have their limits in terms of the quality of streaming videos, so go watch it here as a quicktime video…. its definitely worth your time – beautifully conceived & shot! Heres two stills I grabbed:

Everyone knows piracy is an issue, and the worst kind of piracy has to be the leak. There is no greater insult to an artist than for their work to be stolen & released to the world before it is finished, and while piracy of a finished product has a negative financial impact, piracy of an unfinished product has far deeper ramifications. What prompted this post? Well, I was reading an article about the picture editorial workflow on the new Star Trek film and while it is an interesting read, one section totally stunned me, get this:

Another issue was steps taken to reduce the risk of the film being pirated.

“Security-wise we made sure all the footage we gave out to the music or sound effects guys were in black-and-white. Eventually we did give them color but it was just another security precaution to make sure things weren’t going to get out. Of course all the footage had massive block letters with the name of who it was going out to. And it wasn’t just on the top and bottom it was through the entire image. Otherwise you just crop the top and bottom.

We had a lot of ADR sessions and some of those were done internationally because some of the actors were overseas. For those we were extremely cautious with and we actually blacked out the entire screen and made a little circle around the actors face and tracked the circle to their face so that is the only thing that was being seen. It’s a little scary when you are dealing with another country, another company and department that you have never met doing the recording. So it was a lot of tedious work involved but you do feel better about sending it out.”

Good grief! So THAT is the creative cost of piracy. To try & prevent the possibility of a leak, the sound post team are required to work to BLACK & WHITE video??? And the actors doing ADR are expected to get back in character, engage with the story & create evocative performances while looking at DISEMBODIED FACES???? In closeup that would seem a little weird but in a wideshot it must be bizzare!
While I feel sorry for the people working in such circumstances, I feel total disgust for the people who create this situation by pirating & leaking original artworks. What exactly is the motive for leaking something? What possible benefit is there? And is this a direct side effect of the Wolverine leak? There must be better solutions than those suggested above.

One of the best things about winter in New Zealand is the Film Festival, and its always a lottery as to whether I’m flat out working at the time & have to juggle schedules to catch movies, or I’m between projects & can enjoy one of life’s pleasures of going to movies during the day. There is something fantastic about wandering out into daylight after spending a couple of hours in the dark, with the psychological residue of the film still floating around in your mind… I guess it brings back the feeling of childhood & going to matinee screenings of films during the day too…. But Film Festivals serve many purposes aside from the pure entertainment of seeing movies & I figured its maybe poignant to consider the significance of these other parallel functions…

Embassy Theatre photo credit here

The first aspect is a cultural one. I consider art to be a fundamental part of a nations identity, and cinema is a place where this is especially apparent: we get to see & hear other culture’s stories as well as our own. Relatedly I have always admired the French for the way they protect their culture. In New Zealand American culture can at times feel all pervasive, such is the marketing might of Hollywood. But at Film Festivals there is a level playing field: no matter the scale or budget of each film, they are billed equally. Quoting from a relevant article, this is also a timely reminder that a good story transcends budget. Accordingly one of the joys of Film Festivals is finding the unexpected gems; a good example would be a film I saw at the Film Festival a few years ago called 3 Iron which I went to solely on the basis that the film apparently had less than a dozen lines of dialogue… I loved the film & after the festival proceeded to check out the other films the director Kim Ki-duk had made as well as a number of other Korean directors…



The second aspect is professional. As someone who works in the film industry I think there is an inherent incentive to experience as many relevant films as possible, if for no other reason than to increase your exposure to a broad variety of film making. I’m always silently appalled when I ask someone who works in the industry what was their favourite film at the Festival & they reply, ‘none, I didn’t go to any.’ But then I’ve always been aware there are two types of people who work in the film industry; there are those who do it for the creative passion & then there are those for whom it is a job. I personally don’t understand how you can work in such a creatively demanding industry without having a desire to experience great works of art, for pleasure & as references, but I guess it takes all sorts…
An additional bonus at Festivals is that some directors travel with their films & I remember last year being incredibly impressed with the young Chinese director of a documentary called Up the Yanghtze who took part in a lengthy Q&A after the screening. It was enlightening to learn just what was involved in making a documentary such as this; both physically – the time & resources involved, but even more so, culturally. He shared much insight & it was amazing how a lot of hugely memorable scenes from the film took on even more resonance as he explained the context in which they were shot.



A third, unique aspect revolves around the kinds of films that are often only ever seen at festivals (or otherwise in ghastly pixelated low resolution forms online) An immediate example is short films – its always a safe bet going to screenings of short films as there are bound to be some you like, and if you don’t like them all well at least you don’t have to suffer for long! But I enjoy watching short films for the same reasons I like working on them; they employ all the techniques of feature films but the duration requires a clarity of vision that can be profound. Similarly experimental techniques can work in short form that may be insufferable over longer durations, but as always it is the idea & the narrative that succeeds… At the end of each Film Festival if I reflect on the personal highlights having been to a dozen or more screenings, it is usually a couple of feature films and a couple of short films that stay with me permanently. And that says a lot about the perceptual value of short films.



Another unique form of screenings I have enjoyed at previous festivals & have already tagged to attend at the upcoming festival is the live film event. Now film is film ie its already been shot & is being projected so there are obviously limits to how ‘live’ a screening can be visually, but the concept of a live soundtrack obviously dates back to the birth of film & it is fantastic to experience a contemporary take on it. At the upcoming NZ FIlm Festival there are screenings with live soundtracks happening in Auckland, Wellington & Dunedin, thanks to conductor/composer Timothy Brock and pianist/composer Neil Brand.
In Auckland Tim Brock will be conducting the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra as they perform a newly restored score for Charlie Chaplin’s classic The Gold Rush. Tim Brock will also be providing piano accompaniment for the Fritz Lang film Spies. In Wellington Tim Brock will conduct the Vector orchestra as they perform Neil Brands ‘haunted house’ score for the 1927 silent classic, The Cat and the Canary & note: Neil will be performing on Theremin! And in both Wellington & Dunedin there will be live accompaniment for the Douglas Fairbanks film The Black Pirate.
In both Auckland & Wellington there will also be a live presentation of Neil Brand’s The Silent Pianist Speaks – quoting from the press release: ‘Neil Brand: Actor, writer and teacher, is also one of the finest exponents of improvised silent film accompaniment in the world. It’s that particular talent that he discusses and demonstrates in this funny, illuminating and entertainingly interactive show which he originally devised for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It’s a great primer on the ways music can direct our responses, but even seasoned musicians-for-film stand to learn something from the way Brand responds to a movie. The show culminates in a performance for footage he hasn’t seen, with him talking through the scoring process as he plays and struggles to make some sense of the film. His enthusiastic, generous and laconically unpretentious introduction reveals an artistry that’s much more extraordinary than he appears to realise.’



Another aspect of Film Festivals that may not be readily apparent to the average movie goer is that film festivals help films get made. This might seem like backwards logic, but a crucial part of securing funding for a film is about distribution and it is often via festivals that important distribution rights can be secured. This is obviously more prevalent in big market festivals like Cannes or Berlin, Toronto, Sundance etc but even in New Zealand achieving a screening can help films on their way to finding their audience. Variety magazine had an article about this very subject that is worth a read, especially the relevance to indie film makers.

And the last crucial aspect of attending Film Festivals I will leave for David Lynch to remind us of:

So book your tickets!

When VFX first started to make their presence felt in movies, I was like a fan boy! Yeah! More, more, more – there simply cannot be too many VFX in any movie! But as the years passed I slowly became disillusioned; basically they did not age well. In fact they aged more rapidly than a fake rolex watch, and I sure as hell know which cost more… So it always makes me feel good to see VFX/3D used in a way that doesnt even try to be photorealistic but instead creates new artforms. And while I am on the subject of photorealism, heres a hint next time you are being wowed out by some initially impressive VFX, 3D rendering, or that even more annoying HDR imagery, let me say it in capitals cos I feel like shouting: visually FILM is about CINEMATOGRAPHY which is about CONTROL OF FOCUS & CONTROL OF DEPTH OF FIELD/EXPOSURE so WHY do so many of those dreadful HDR photos & rendered 3D show reels show no true sign of visual awareness by making EVERYTHING in a scene IN FOCUS and OVER EXPOSED????? I dont care how good your 3D modelling is, it just feels like bad ADR & it wrecks every scene its in because it does the ultimate sin of film making: IT UNDERMINES SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF, or in short it LOOKS FAKE! Arggggg!

Anyway enough negativity, heres a few clips where you can ignore what reality looks like because these are works on art in their own right; they transcend/define their own reality.

The Zoo from zeitguised on Vimeo.

Christchurch Arts Festival ‘PowerPlant’ – Umeric from Umeric on Vimeo.

Mistabishi – Printer Jam from Hospital Records on Vimeo.

Much respect to the artists that created those works!
And is that a hang drum on the second clips soundtrack? I initially thought gamelan, but then heard a track featuring a hang drum on an old Giles Peterson show in the car the other day & thought hmmmm…. hang drum = one man gamelan?

Ben Burt was robbed!

I can’t really imagine it keeps him awake at night, and as with any awards ceremony if you dont win at least all that adrenalyn is dissipated instantly (as in; sheesh at least now I don’t have to get up there & make a speech… to a few billion people!!!) & then you get to have a fun night out without any of the endless ego vs graciousness issues that some people maybe handle better than others…

But heres my take on it (and I know I am in a minority since the mpse basically voted as per the Oscar voters) but don’t get me wrong: I have no issue with Slum Dog winning best Sound Mix (if for no other reason than in Hollywood that means production sound mixer as well as re-recording mixers & I haven’t been to India but many friends have & upon returning have described it sonically – enough said… ) And so the ‘mix’ well deserves its accolades… as does the Best Film/Director Awards… respect where due, and it most definitely was!

But those are some cold hearted voters that gave the sound edit award to a bunch of (admittedly fantastic) vehicle effects & a whole bunch of gadget sounds. Yeah yeah… and dialogue, FX & Foley… But how much emotion was in that Dark Knight soundtrack? Were any of those inanimate objects required to emote? I was blown away with the action sequences, but lets face it the same applies to going on a serious rollercoaster ride. And other than fear for ones life, there is no residual emotional impact. Personally the same was true for that film….

Comparitively I felt elated after seeing & hearing Wall E…. and almost cried a few times during… And my niece (5) & nephew (7) felt the same and THAT is quite an achievement, especially knowing ALL of the sound is unreal/(re)created. And I am sorry but can’t say anywhere near the same for Batboy & his mates…. and THAT is what film making is about; EMOTION. End of story.

Methink Oscar frowns on that decision…

If not then I do..

Congratulations Ben Burt!