Design, branding and production studio Picture Mill–known for its original main titles, motion-designed IDs, and commercials–has hired Chad Feeback as executive producer. Feeback rounds out the company’s strategic management team and further extends its reach in the advertising arena.
Feeback’s extensive experience includes producing for such noted companies as Buck, Troika and The Famous Group, and leading projects for high-profile brands including Microsoft, Samsung, Toyota, Sony and Cisco. He most recently served as EP/partner at The Core.
Led by creative director William Lebeda, Picture Mill’s offerings span conceptual design, live action direction, editorial, visual effects, and 2D & 3D animation. Picture Mill recently designed and edited the main and end title sequences for “The Heat,” starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, and is completing the title sequence for “The Wolverine” opening later in July. Picture Mill’s spot credits include AOL, Smirnoff, Dell, SkiDoo and Coca-Cola.
Craig Henighan Sounds Off On “Deadpool & Wolverine”
Hollywood lore has it that character actor Edmund Gwenn--while on his deathbed--quipped, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”
The second part of that darkly witty utterance remains all too true today as Craig Henighan--a Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Oscar nominee in 2019 for Roma--can attest in that he had to grapple with the sonic of being comic for this year’s box office hit, Deadpool & Wolverine (20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios).
The degree of inherent difficulty was ramped up even further because Deadpool & Wolverine had to seamlessly bring together high action-adventure exploits with moments and dialogue that tickled the funny bone. There’s a mesh of humorous banter--a staple of the franchise--along with major spectacle replete with explosions, fights, an impactful score and off-the-wall musical numbers.
Henighan explained that among the prime challenges for him from a sound perspective was having to make sure every joke landed within the construct of a superhero film. The tendency for a tentpole movie of this variety, he noted, is to gravitate towards big, loud audio spanning music, dialogue and sound effects. But the unique comedic element of Deadpool & Wolverine necessitated that re-recording mixer and supervising sound editor Henighan strike a delicate balance. “You need to get out of the way for the comedy,” he related. The jokes in a superhero film become “a real dance” as Henighan had to establish a rhythm that did justice to both the comedy and the action as the narrative moves back and forth between them--and sometimes the funny and the high energy, high decibel superhero dynamic unfold simultaneously in a scene or sequence. The “sonic fabric” has to... Read More