And then there's sound. One of the really quick ways you can tell a low-budget film from a major studio film, other than the logo, is by the sound. We've decided that we're only going to be recording the voice on set. What that means is that all of the other sounds, from footsteps to car engines, from smart-phones buzzing to a fist slapping against skin, all that has to be recorded and synched after the fact.
Sound guy for over a decade here [1], and I am off to shoot another feature starting Saturday. This is emphatically not true. You record as much as humanly possible on set. Even if you layer and resync it afterwards, doing all that in post is crazy expensive. On your limited budget it's self-defeating. Engineering the room response of the real location in post is very time consuming compared to capturing your raw material on location.
I'm open to helping with this project (EDIT: but won't be in the Bay area or online much until after 12/18); it pains me to see someone tying their hands unnecessarily.
Ha! I doubt it, but I have the DVD in a box somewhere in the attic, I'll upload it when I get back. Edit: apparently it's on Netflix. I'm in the opening scene (in fact I have the first lines in the film), which is a good thing because it will spare you having to watch the rest of it.
I wasn't supposed to act in it; IIRC we were one actor short that day so I got drafted.
It's awful in so many ways. After I played the film for my wife she turned to me and said 'that's 2 hours of my life that I will never get back.' Good times :-)
Do you have any advice for someone looking to get involved (as an actor and/or a sound guy) with the Bay Area indie film scene? I was on a local mailing list for a couple years called "Low/No Budget films" or something but it seems to have fizzled.
Honestly, it's difficult. I have family ties here or I would have moved to LA 5 years ago; it's hard to make a living up here because there are relatively few productions and not much networking infrastructure.
You can check in with Film Arts Foundation in SF (9th street I think) who have some decent resources, but the best ways to get gigs are a) craigslist and b) lurk around the Academy of Art in SF, which is always churning out film students, and which is dominated by wannabe directors/cinematographers, which means few of the students are interested in or good at sound.
There's a couple of talent agents in SF; get some decent headshots and put them on file, plus FAF has a headshot file cabinet so you can put your face in there for free. Although I actually have a fair bit of acting training, it's never been my personal ambition and I don't consider myself all that photogenic so I've never tried to do that as my main job; it's just another thing I can do on an as-needed basis on a film set, like lighting or packing a truck. You need to be versatile to work in the indie scene.
Drop me a line near the end of the month, I like teaching.
Will do! I used to be pretty active in the sound scene (mostly live/acoustic recording) in the Bay but have been away for a couple years. I'm looking forward to returning and getting back into it. :)
Thanks for the tip. I'd love to talk more about getting good sound. Send me an email. jonathan at spiritusvult dot com. As far as it being expensive, I'll be doing all the post myself. I work cheap, for myself. ;)
Sound guy for over a decade here [1], and I am off to shoot another feature starting Saturday. This is emphatically not true. You record as much as humanly possible on set. Even if you layer and resync it afterwards, doing all that in post is crazy expensive. On your limited budget it's self-defeating. Engineering the room response of the real location in post is very time consuming compared to capturing your raw material on location.
I'm open to helping with this project (EDIT: but won't be in the Bay area or online much until after 12/18); it pains me to see someone tying their hands unnecessarily.
1. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1961377/