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March 11, 2011
Sound, color, the big screen
Even though the film is complete, there is still lots more to do.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
A beautiful sunset, the sound of crashing waves in the background. Such perfect scenes don’t happen very often and, when you’re on a tight production schedule, you can’t always wait for such moments. Sometimes, you just have to create them.
“In mid-January, the second to last edit that Brianne [Nord-Stewart] and I had done was viewed by not just the producers (which is usual), but also by the director of photography and the sound designer to make sure everyone was happy with the work and knew the issues to work on in the final stages,” explained filmmaker Adam Bogoch about where Complexity is in the production process.
“Brianne and I locked picture shortly after, and the film went to sound design and color timing simultaneously. Also, the composer [Ron Philips] got a chance to take a look at the final edit to make sure there was enough music and to fix anything that needed to be touched up. Of course, both Ron and I took advantage of that and added two more scores ... he was pretty pleased with that.
“Color timing for us started with just Andrew Stromotich, the color timer, fixing the obvious issues and presenting something nearly finished to me. Then I played with it a little more, making sure that the lighting and skin tones were right, and that everything matched. Later on, Paul [Mitchnick], our director of photography, came in to finish all the design of the images he shot.
“That was an interesting process,” continued Adam. “Paul, Andrew and I did some different things with the color that we couldn’t do when we actually shot the film. For example, we made a whole section look like it was happening at sunset. It was nice to work collaboratively like that. It was a very new experience for me.”
Sound designer Raphael Choi became involved with Complexity on Brianne’s recommendation. “Although I had previously worked on various documentaries and short film/animation projects, this is my first feature-length dramatic film,” he told the Independent in an e-mail interview.
“My job is to make a film sound more three-dimensional, so that the audience can be immersed into the film world. It’s also very important to make the dialogue sound clear and consistent, as the dialogue is the main storytelling method. I paid extra attention to create a balanced mix between dialogue, music and sound effects, in order to have a nice flow throughout the film.”
“Sound design is the longer process,” explained Adam. “Raph first edits all the dialogue to make sure everything is clean and audible. He then knows which lines of dialogue we need to get in ADR (automated dialogue replacement). That was fun because we had to bring in some of the cast to re-record small pieces of their performances that weren’t clean enough to go into the film. After all the ADR is complete, it is mixed into the film and hopefully well enough that people can’t pick out where the production sound is and where the ADR is.
“Dialogue editing takes the most time. Raph had to spend so much time making sure everything was absolutely perfect.... Raph and his foley artist recorded any physical sounds we wanted to emphasize or re-create, e.g. footsteps, paper folding, movement of clothing, anything that would make the movie experience that much more real, then all the atmospheric sounds were added to really pull you into the scene, like waves crashing, or cars going by.”
Adam continued, “After all the sound is designed and mixed, Andrew collects it and combines it with the work he did in color. This is the job of the online editor, producing the final masters of the film for mass production.”
With the end of post-production also comes the end of the fundraising aspect of the filmmaking process.
“Once the credits have been placed at the end of the film, there is no other opportunity to give thanks and credit to the people who come up with the money,” said executive producer David Bogoch, noting, “Speaking of the credits, it is now, when you add up the total number of names and jobs they each did to put this movie together, [you realize there were] so many people doing so much work or helping out in some way to make it all happen.”
And though David said his “heavy lifting” for the film was almost complete, he was “working away at organizing the tax credits, accounting and company year end for Redhaired Productions,” and Adam and producer Mattie Shisko were “working on film festival submissions and entries.... Work is ongoing to upgrade the website, the imdb page for the movie and personnel, and chronically promoting the movie to distributors, hoping to get picked up and sold to the many venues movies are viewed in.”
“We have Lesley Diana and the Promotion People as our publicists,” said Adam. “We have been working on the press kits and general publicity for next fall, when they really come into play. That’s been pretty cool, a nice break from the actual film. They have also been of great help in the preparation of the private screening of Complexity on March 13, as has Brent Calvert, our marketing consultant.”
“The screening on March 13 is for cast and crew, family and friends, and it is by invitation only,” said David, explaining, “Film festivals do not want to show a movie that has been reviewed, or seen by the general public. They like to be the official and exclusive screeners of the movie. It adds to the prestige of the festival and gives the movie-goer a stronger reason to attend film festivals.
“We will likely have a crowd of close to 500 people there on Sunday morning. Mark James and the Yaletown Brewing Co. have graciously agreed to sponsor the event. One of the scenes in the movie was shot in his establishment, and we will be getting the cast and crew and all who are able to gather after the screening at the Yaletown for a final get-together and a good time to pat each other on the back for a job well done.”
David added, “The job I look forward to most from this day forward is to see what kind of response the film gets at the screening, then attending a few of the film festivals and helping Adam walk down the red carpet. Obviously, I am extremely proud of Adam.”
“As much as the private screening seems like the end, it’s far from it,” added Adam. “I get questions about what I’ll be doing after the screening of Complexity, and my answer is, ‘I’ll still be working on it.’ The rest of the year is all about festivals, distribution, broadcasters, agents and publicity. Yes, primarily we will all be moving on to other projects, but, for the next year, there’s lots to do, just less of it than the last two.... Wow, has it really been almost two years? It’s been a long time. Hopefully, it’ll pay off for us all.”
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