Gramercy Park Studios has promoted Sam Cross to sound designer. He’s spent four years at the integrated post facility within audio transfer. Having joined the company in its early stages, Cross has been instrumental in developing the sound department into an award-winning entity.
On his promotion, Cross said: “Becoming a sound engineer comes with a multitude of new challenges and pressures as it’s almost exclusively a client-facing role, but I’m excited to push myself further. It’s great to be working alongside two very experienced and creative engineers, and as we’re such a close-knit department my transition into engineering full-time should be very smooth. Having been at Gramercy Park Studios since its inception, it’s really rewarding to see just how talented a team we’ve built and the work we’re creating. We have a great team ethic that makes the working day genuinely enjoyable and a huge factor in wanting further my career at GPS.”
Cross, who is already building a strong client base, points to his work for Dyson and short animation Dead Ahead – hugely successful at various festivals and chosen by Vimeo as a Staff Pick, garnering 240,000 views to date – as highlights so far. Other work includes promos for The Science Museum with Grey London, where he reinforced the quirky nature of the visual with a soundbed to match.
Prior to joining Gramercy Park Studios, Cross worked at 750mph for five years. His promotion at GPS coincides with the expansion of the wider facility in Central London and the opening of a new sound suite. Equipped with the latest Avid hardware and the modular Pro Tools S6 mixing console, the suite is fully equipped for mixing 5.1 and 7.1, allowing it to service sessions across all formats and platforms.
Toby Griffin, head of audio at Gramercy Park Studios, commented, “We’re delighted that Sam has agreed to continue his progress with GPS. He has worked tirelessly over the past four years to help build our reputation and not only is he technically outstanding, he’s a fantastically creative sound designer.”
“Clients new and old are in safe hands with Sam and we’re excited to have a young and talented sound designer, reinforcing our commitment to up and coming talent, bolstering the creative output here at Gramercy Park Studios,” added Richard Ireland, managing director of GPS.
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 โ and those many "Babadook" memes โ 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 โ "Bah-Bah-Doooook" โ 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