Been a long time since I've written or posted on the progress of the digital action feature KERBEROS.
Much of what I posted before was concerning the use of a stock EX1 for filming, and the color correction and grading in after fx. I also tend to write about story and acting, as beautiful pictures of bad acting are just ugly...
A 21 month journey is almost at an end - and then of course comes the marketing and promotion. So what's happened since the months I've written?
More filming, a few pick ups, and the addition of some kickass music from 8 artist/bands - 4 from the US and 4 from AU. The addition of the score, composed by UK composer Russell Scott Johnson and reworked and mixed by me into entirely new compositions - became a group effort but a really powerful result. I'll be posting about that process soon. I'm sure it drove Russ crazy, but it serves the film and I'll be posting about that experience and those decisions soon. I'll also be talking about the role of these amazing bands and the way that all came about.
And of course the final mix of the entire soundtrack. This was done at world famous Twickenham Film Studios in London with BAFTA winning sound engineer and tech guru Rob James, and BAFTA winning, Co-Managing Director of Twickenham, Re-Recording Mixer Craig Irving.
Twickenham has mixed and worked on dozens, if not hundreds of films, with directors like John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, Proof), Garth Jennings (Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy), Mikael Håfström (Derailed, 1408). It was quite a thrill to even be considered - after all, their names are on this film - and I take the fact that actually worked on it as a huge compliment.
KERBEROS is the smallest feature film they have ever taken on, and while they couldn't fix all my mistakes, the 3 of us worked in concert to take our little film to a whole new level. I will be posting more and more about the process and the tribulations of going from a desktop system like Adobe Premiere Pro into a multi million dollar setup using Pyramix on a massive 272 input Harrison Mixing Console and doing my mixing playback on a 30 foot screen.
To give you some idea, the sub woofers, below the screen on the opposite side of a 60 foot theater, are about 8' by 5' by 5' - and there are 5 of them! Of course the rows of Dolby Certified speakers on the 3 other walls, the million dollars of computer equipment running it, the CEDAR noise reduction hardware and the Dolby encoding box, as well as the tech recordist working upstairs added to the experience!
Craig and the Studio did everything they could to accommodate me and facilitate my production, to the point of giving me full access and allowing me to work though out the nights on my own as I re-purposed the score and modified my mix. I pushed these guys to the limit, and they'll be the first to tell you they never had a director like me before! I can't wait to do it all again on future films!
And because of the rush and a wealth of technical issues, I have now had to take the mix and stems I left with from London and bring them back into Premiere to do my final tweaks and polish!
I will be posting a lot of info as fast as I can write it over the next couple months, and I hope some of it proves useful. Some will be technical, some opinions, and some just impressions of the advantages and disadvantages of spending such a huge proportion of our budget on the sound mix and working with such esteemed, experienced engineers. I have been posting more blogs and links, as well as a few pics with more to come.
Most of my info will be up on my own blogs. The previous blogs are directly on our website, and the newer ones will be with in WordPress blog I have recently started to help me keep up with it all.
We also had a badass review a few months ago from an early, raw test screening. The reviewer, Peter Demons not only liked the film, but has kept up with me during the post process. There are several threads on his site Mediasuars that are following the progress of the movie and from the request of his hardcore, film fanatic followers, Mediasuars will be doing an ongoing series of interviews, about the artistic and technical aspects of tackling such an ambitious movie with the small side of a micro- budget. The reviews of both mainstream and obscure gems out there are a blast to read - THESE GUYS KNOW FILM!
I wish you all continued success on your own projects, and hope that my info and experiences can in some way help. I look forward to posting, and catching up, and learning form the boards, as the minute I finish, I'll be starting on the next!
The links If you are interested, add me on Twitter and I post when new blog, pics, and info is up. Most of the pics I'll control thru Photobucket, to make them a bit more universal.
Kerberosbites on WordPress
http://kerberosbites.wordpress.com/
Kerberos Movie site
http://kerberosbites.com/
Mediasaurs - badass movie reviews
http://mediasaurs.blogspot.com/2009/08/kerberos_28.html
Twickenham Film Studios, London
http://www.twickenhamstudios.com/
And FUCZM - portal to my blogs and links - with many more coming soon!
http://fuczm.com/
--
"Film is Forever"
Kely McClung
follow me on twitter
http://www.twitter.com/kelymcclung
--
"Film is Forever"
Kely McClung
follow me on twitter
http://www.twitter.com/kelymcclung
Much of what I posted before was concerning the use of a stock EX1 for filming, and the color correction and grading in after fx. I also tend to write about story and acting, as beautiful pictures of bad acting are just ugly...
A 21 month journey is almost at an end - and then of course comes the marketing and promotion. So what's happened since the months I've written?
More filming, a few pick ups, and the addition of some kickass music from 8 artist/bands - 4 from the US and 4 from AU. The addition of the score, composed by UK composer Russell Scott Johnson and reworked and mixed by me into entirely new compositions - became a group effort but a really powerful result. I'll be posting about that process soon. I'm sure it drove Russ crazy, but it serves the film and I'll be posting about that experience and those decisions soon. I'll also be talking about the role of these amazing bands and the way that all came about.
And of course the final mix of the entire soundtrack. This was done at world famous Twickenham Film Studios in London with BAFTA winning sound engineer and tech guru Rob James, and BAFTA winning, Co-Managing Director of Twickenham, Re-Recording Mixer Craig Irving.
Twickenham has mixed and worked on dozens, if not hundreds of films, with directors like John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, Proof), Garth Jennings (Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy), Mikael Håfström (Derailed, 1408). It was quite a thrill to even be considered - after all, their names are on this film - and I take the fact that actually worked on it as a huge compliment.
KERBEROS is the smallest feature film they have ever taken on, and while they couldn't fix all my mistakes, the 3 of us worked in concert to take our little film to a whole new level. I will be posting more and more about the process and the tribulations of going from a desktop system like Adobe Premiere Pro into a multi million dollar setup using Pyramix on a massive 272 input Harrison Mixing Console and doing my mixing playback on a 30 foot screen.
To give you some idea, the sub woofers, below the screen on the opposite side of a 60 foot theater, are about 8' by 5' by 5' - and there are 5 of them! Of course the rows of Dolby Certified speakers on the 3 other walls, the million dollars of computer equipment running it, the CEDAR noise reduction hardware and the Dolby encoding box, as well as the tech recordist working upstairs added to the experience!
Craig and the Studio did everything they could to accommodate me and facilitate my production, to the point of giving me full access and allowing me to work though out the nights on my own as I re-purposed the score and modified my mix. I pushed these guys to the limit, and they'll be the first to tell you they never had a director like me before! I can't wait to do it all again on future films!
And because of the rush and a wealth of technical issues, I have now had to take the mix and stems I left with from London and bring them back into Premiere to do my final tweaks and polish!
I will be posting a lot of info as fast as I can write it over the next couple months, and I hope some of it proves useful. Some will be technical, some opinions, and some just impressions of the advantages and disadvantages of spending such a huge proportion of our budget on the sound mix and working with such esteemed, experienced engineers. I have been posting more blogs and links, as well as a few pics with more to come.
Most of my info will be up on my own blogs. The previous blogs are directly on our website, and the newer ones will be with in WordPress blog I have recently started to help me keep up with it all.
We also had a badass review a few months ago from an early, raw test screening. The reviewer, Peter Demons not only liked the film, but has kept up with me during the post process. There are several threads on his site Mediasuars that are following the progress of the movie and from the request of his hardcore, film fanatic followers, Mediasuars will be doing an ongoing series of interviews, about the artistic and technical aspects of tackling such an ambitious movie with the small side of a micro- budget. The reviews of both mainstream and obscure gems out there are a blast to read - THESE GUYS KNOW FILM!
I wish you all continued success on your own projects, and hope that my info and experiences can in some way help. I look forward to posting, and catching up, and learning form the boards, as the minute I finish, I'll be starting on the next!
The links
If you are interested, add me on Twitter and I post when new blog, pics, and info is up. Most of the pics I'll control thru Photobucket, to make them a bit more universal.Kerberosbites on WordPress
http://kerberosbites.wordpress.com/
Kerberos Movie site
http://kerberosbites.com/
Mediasaurs - badass movie reviews
http://mediasaurs.blogspot.com/2009/08/kerberos_28.html
Twickenham Film Studios, London
http://www.twickenhamstudios.com/
And FUCZM - portal to my blogs and links - with many more coming soon!
http://fuczm.com/
--
"Film is Forever"
Kely McClung
follow me on twitter
http://www.twitter.com/kelymcclung
--
"Film is Forever"
Kely McClung
follow me on twitter
http://www.twitter.com/kelymcclung