“Men in Black III” Filmed in Brooklyn, NY
Men in Black III, the sci-fi action and adventure movie starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and Josh Brolin was filmed partially in Brooklyn, NY. I wasn’t able to see the actual filming, but I did get a few snapshots of the area getting ready. I really should keep my video camera with me. I’ve seen a lot of action in Brooklyn recently, with a set seeming to pop up every few...
Read MoreA Word of Caution
Last week, I met with “The Dude from Downstairs”, Gregory Vilfranc. If you remember, Gregory is doing the sound design for PARALLAX. In our session, I filmed some behind the scenes footage of him working on the score. I planned on using two 500 watt hotlights to light the scene. One to his right as the key light, and one twice as far on his left to supply the fill. I had reservations about using 1,000 watts in a residential environment, so I made sure to bring extra bulbs and to plug the lights into an empty line. If you’re like me, you’re a beginner with no real experience. If so,...
Read MoreADR Session Scheduled: Time for Voiceovers
With the bulk of PARALLAX complete, we move to the ADR session. This brings us one step closer to completion, and ultimately to launch. What is ADR? ADR is automated dialogue replacement. That’s a fancy term for redoing the vocals, or dubbing them in. For this, the actors go to the studio and record the dialogue all over again. This can happen for many reasons. Some reasons would be: Flubbed lines Having a cold or allergies that day Too strong or weak an accent Unacceptable original audio recording Not enough umph or expression Errant sounds behind the vocals In this case, the audio...
Read MoreMy First Foley Session…Aah, What Fun!
I spent the better part of the day this past Tuesday in Track Headz Entertainment, Inc.’s studio recording foley for PARALLAX. It was an impressive experience and I’m pretty proud of the outcome. When I filmed PARALLAX, my plan was to use my Rode Video Mic. I did, but the audio did not come out clean. I had to settle on using it as placeholder audio that we’d recreate with ADR and foley. Gregory Vilfranc, my star, is responsible for scoring the film. Since he’s an able engineer (a graduate of SAE), he is also responsible for the audio post work. He introduced me to...
Read MoreFoley Session Scheduled
We’re nearing the end of production with PARALLAX and are confident that it looks good. But how does it sound? Not too good. There was a lot of interference with the sound on location. Rather than spend the time cleaning it up, we opted to recreate the ambient and local sounds (foley) in studio. I would have preferred to use the sound recorded live, but it just didn’t work. There was a hum in the audio. The room had too much echo. Some sounds did not work well at all because the room was brand new: it hadn’t “settled” yet. Those were some of the challenges of the...
Read MoreLessons Learned 101 Part 2
This short film was definitely an education for me. I learned about, or gained valuable experience in, different areas of independent filmmaking. I know that there are many newbie filmmakers with a lot less experience than myself. Remember: I boast a whopping few months’ experience, the majority of which was spent learning how to use my camera. Still, many just turn on their cameras, then point and shoot. The information that I’m sharing is so that they, and you, can benefit from it. Hopefully, it will help you on your way to becoming a better filmmaker. So, in the spirit of free...
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