One Union Recording Studios, a Bay Area provider of postproduction sound services, has hired Jaylen Block-Smith as studio manager. Block-Smith brings a diverse background in sound and music, and more than 10 years of managerial experience to her new role, which will include oversight of the facility’s scheduling, client relations and accounting activities. One Union has also brought on Elisa Gonzales to lead client services.
One Union president John McGleenan said the company is adding staff in response to new business growth. Demand for sound editorial, mixing and ADR services has been growing steadily since the company completed a facility-wide rebuild earlier this year. “Business is ratcheting up and we are now at nearly full capacity,” said McGleenan. Recent work includes commercials for Xbox, Honda, Wells Fargo and Levi’s, the television series Deadliest Catch, Grand Hotel and 13 Reasons Why, the podcast series Root of Evil and the games World of Warcraft and Assassin’s Creed.
Block-Smith previously served as audio manager at Oto Float, a floatation therapy studio in Chicago, which produced original music recording sessions. Prior to that, she served as general manager of the Rock House, an entertainment venue, café and music school in Chicago. A professional musician, songwriter and singer, she earned a degree in business management from San Diego State University.
Gonzales will fill an expanded client services role designed to ensure clients’ personal needs are attended to and audio sessions proceed in a relaxed and efficient manner. She arrives from a similar position with Pixar Animation.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More