Banging on a Bathtub

I've been doing a lot of research on sound design lately in order to be as ready as possible to record on set, foley, and then do our final mix. Arturo helped me by sending me some links to really cool articles and videos; one of them--that inspired the title of this blogpost--is below.

Foley is all about replacing, repairing, or enhancing the sound for a film. Ben Burtt was one of the first few sound designers to foley by combining sounds produced by real objects instead of using electronic sounds. His work in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope pioneered a new method of sound design in sci-fi films. One of the most well known sounds from the Star Wars films, Darth Vader's breathing, Burtt created by recording himself breathing through a Dacor scuba regulator.

I find this combination and editing of different (and sometime random) sounds so interesting. I don't understand how people even come up with some of this stuff. Even Burtt himself said that a lot of times you discover the best sounds by accident.

Foley artists seem to have developed a skill so unique, the only thing I can kind of compare it to lyrical dancing...but even that's a stretch. Foley artists usually work in pairs and they have to interpret a film completely in sound. Lyrical dancers have to interpret the lyrics of a song in movements. The equipment foley artists use is also very low-tech compared to the equipment other post-production departments use.

Greg Barbanell, a foley artist, at the Warner Brothers' foley stage. 

According to my research, most foleying can be divided into three parts: cloth, feet, and props. Foley artists will then playback every shot of every scene at least hundreds of times to get all the cloth, feet, and props in each one. It is very time consuming, and probably frustrating for a while until you develop the skill.

Foley isn't just used in fictional productions, though. Earth Touch is a global news network for wildlife and nature that focuses on education and preservation--even they foley sound in their films of wild animals. This is especially important for Earth Touch because it's dangerous for crew to get close to some animals. (This is the same reason they use HUGE zoom lenses). It is also necessary because the footage they collect may be from different parts of the day/week/month/year, which causes the ambient sound to change. When editing these shots together, the natural sounds are jumpy and jarring, so they add a different ambient track and then foley the sounds the animals make. This process of repairing and layering foleyed sounds enhances the film so it grabs the audiences attention.

Celebration of Star Wars

Star Wars was THE movie that got me hooked on the process of making movies. Whenever people ask me who my favorite writer is, I tell them its George Lucas. His creative ideas such as Indiana Jones and of course Star Wars have stretched the minds of audiences everywhere beyond their wildest imaginations. Particularly in Star Wars Lucas has made some of the most creative characters, worlds and story lines  the world has ever seen. I mean, who would have thought a enormous talking slug would be the galaxy's most notorious thug or tiny teady bears would be responsible for the destruction of an evil empire.

  
But I digress, I think that Star Wars is a prime example of how something so imaginative can be brought to life through film. This is what filmmakers can look to as an example of a cast and crew working together to make someone's idea come to life. The cast and crew threw away their disbeliefs about this film and trusted each other to make a movie that many would say is their favorite of all time (me being one of them).

 

Now that the Star Wars saga has been passed down to J J Abrams one can only hope that the creativity and imagination magic of Star Wars continues. I will admit, there have been times when the series has lost its edge, but theres a very good chance we can have a new appreciation for the saga.

(I don't want to point any fingers but he definitely had something to do with losing some edge)   

And the recent trailer, In my opinion, didn't disappoint. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, I will tell you theres going to be some new things that look exciting and some familiar things that will have the fans jumping for joy. (Check out the trailer in the video below!) 

I ask you J. J Abrams please, please don't make this movie suck! Help us J.J Abrams you're our only hope!  

Movies: to Score or not to Score?

The simple fact that films typically have a musical score always seems to slip right by me when I'm actually making any kind of short film or TV show myself. It's just not something that I would typically think about. Good audio? Sure. Sound effects? Yeah, why not. But never a score. This lead me to thinking, hey, who says that films need to have any kind of music or instrumentality at all? That, in turn, lead me to google, which lead me to some interesting websites, which lead me here, to this blog post.

As behind-the-scenes as they typically are, we all know the names of a few movie composers: Hans Zimmer (please click that link for your own sake), Danny Elfman, and of course, the legendary John Williams. Their scores don't just add noise to all of their respective films: they add feeling, and set a tone for any given scene or even the movie as a whole  If you need an example for a really amazing score that is spot on in terms of creating an entire atmosphere for a film, look no further Howard Shore and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It doesn't just add tension or give scenes a certain flavor: it's music that like, I could actually see hobbits playing out on their front porches. Or whatever hobbit holes have instead of porches. Dirt clods? I don't know. 

 But what I'm curious about is if some films rely too heavily on composers and a musical score in order to fix what would otherwise be a weak script. Recently, there was a video going around the internet called "Star Wars without Williams." While it was meant to be funny, it also pointed out something pretty important: this throne room scene is super awkward without music. What was once a jovial and triumphant scene is now just echoey and weird. Don't get me wrong, I like Star Wars as much as the next guy or gal, but Audio (and script) - wise, Lucas kind of dropped the ball here. 

On the opposite side of things, however, is it possible to have a good film without any scoring at all? Sure. Just check out No Country for Old Men, The Birds, and 90% of Castaway. The key to scoring films, as I'm slowly but surely finding out, is to balance a good script with subtle yet powerful music. Emphasize certain emotions or themes that you want to have emphasized, while at the same time making sure that your film could still be successful without the music shoving those emotions down your throat. If you're looking for some more interesting info on how composers mess with our emotions, you check out a BBC article on that very topic right here.

Puppet movies, puppets used in movies, and movies about puppets.

To be clear, "puppet movies" refers to movies that are made for puppets. There is yet to be a movie made for puppets, so puppets remain an un-tapped demographic. That being said, there are plenty of them IN movies, weather people know it or not.

Some movies revel in the fact that they feature puppets, with notable examples such as the Muppet movies or Team America: World Police.

The Muppet Movie, one of many movies starring Jim Henson's creations.

But most movies that feature puppets make it a goal for the audience to not realize it's a puppet! A great number of the aliens in the original "Men in Black" were puppets, as were the larger dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park. 

The "Star Wars" series is full of puppets as well, with one of it's title characters being one! 

Jedi master Yoda in all his glory!
(In the later movies, Yoda was CG.)

In more recent movies, the use of puppets has been replaced with CG effects. CG is often used in places where a good puppet would work just as well. In the late 1990's and early 2000's CG was over-used to the tune of laughable results. Though animation is powerful, there are times where a puppet adds an effect that can't be gotten anywhere else. 

  

 One of my personal favorite movie puppets, "Brundlefly" in the 1986 "The Fly" remains impressive, even today. 

Star Wars The blog Post Strikes Back!

What’s better than a Star Wars blog post? A second Star Wars blog post nobody wanted, and this is abut who should helm at least the first installment of a brand new trilogy. First off the bat is George Lucas’s best friend and Indiana co-conspirer Steven Spielberg. He hasn’t touched upon the genre of Sci-fi fantasy in a while and is one of the greatest directors of all time. But he has basically taken his name out of the running wit these comments "I've asked [Lucas]. He won't let me do one. I wanted to do one 15 years ago, and he didn't want me to do it. I understand why - Star Wars is George's baby. It's his cottage industry and it's his fingerprints. He knows I've got Jurassic Park and Raiders. But George has Star Wars and I don't think he feels inclined to share any of it with me." Next up in line would be LOST’s very own J.J. Abrams, he has already shown us he can reinvent a great sci-fi series with his reboot of Star Trek. A lot of us in the nerd community think he would be perfect to do the same with Star Wars. But probably my favorite right now would be Brad Bird. Yes the Incredible’s director has proven himself when it comes to filming a great live action movie with the recent Mission Impossible film. He is very open about his love for Star Wars and he is this nerds pick to helm the start of something really great. 

Money, Money, Money

             A long, long time ago, in a boardroom far far away, George Lucas had just sold the foundation for which his career is based off of, for what seems like a small country to Disney. Four billion dollars, that’s how much Mr. Lucas sold Lucas Films and all its properties, those include Star Wars, Indiana Jones, among the more profitable ones. I could talk about what this means for the future of a film franchise that was so ingrained in my childhood, but no I want to talk about what George Lucas is doing with this newfound mound of wealth. You would think that he would go off and buy an island somewhere near Richard Branson’s, but no he’s giving it all back….to education. Here is a quote from the man himself “I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education. It is the key to the survival of the human race,” Lucas said in 2010. “We have to plan for our collective future — and the first step begins with social, emotional, and intellectual tools we provide to our children. As humans, our greatest tool for survival is our ability to think and to adapt — as educators, storytellers, and communicators our responsibility is to continue to do so.” A lot of fans give him a lot of slack for “ruining” Star Wars but I see him now in a brand new light, and heck maybe Disney won’t f***k this one up.

May the Force be with you.

Like all of you (I hope) I grew up on this little trilogy that we knew as Star Wars. Now we call it Star Wars Episodes: IV - VI. Now I can spend this blogpost talking about why the original trilogy is the best and why Phantom Menace was my least favorite out of the six (I didn't see the Clone Wars movie so I am not counting it). But you can read all of that on some forum at some dark corner of the internet. I wanted to ask this question, do we not like the newer Star Wars because they are not meant for us?

I was at Comic Con and I noticed a lot of Star Wars cosplayers and Star Wars booths but many of them focused on the newer trilogy, or the Clone Wars tv show. At first I was not akin to this, me being a stern follower of Luke and the gang, but then I went to a press conference with one of the creators of Robot Chicken, Matt Senreich. A reporter asked him if they have plans on using characters from the Clone Wars Series in Robot Chicken sketches? Matt responded, "Why not? Its still Star Wars but for a different age group." That made me realize how accurate he was, the newer Star Wars are meant to get young kids hooked on the Star Wars. We should be happy that they are loving the Jedi and Wookies instead of shiny vampires and...homework.

Ahsoka Tano and Cade Bane may not be Luke Skywalker and Boba Fett but they are still in the a galaxy far, far away.