1) We are so highly NDA’d on all projects that I can’t tell you what it was for but I can tell you what the process looked like and what we learned from it! We were working on a project where the sound design had to be musical but every single element had to be created from stuff in the store. We couldn’t just use items as they were, but we had to use items that could be combined to make sounds. The biggest challenge in the project for us was that they also had to be visually intriguing and work practically so they looked great on set.
We had to please the director, agency, art department and client as well as make it something that we would be proud of. We spent a month figuring the process out and even brought in a special artist to help us build. Everything we built had a sense of magic. It takes so long to create and build and what we learned was that it is really important to find the right creative partner on every project. If you don’t have a certain kind of mad genius mind, you find it and you find the very best one who can help you collaborate so that you always bring top level creative to everything you do.
2) The work we have done that I am most proud of this year was the NYT project we did with Droga and Darren Aronofsky. It was an absolute dream to work with Darren and he picked us as partners based on Morgan’s (sound designer Johnson) reel. It was such powerful work. It is so relevant and tells stories about people from the point of view of the journalist. We matched camera shutters to the actual cameras the photographers used, we organized sessions with them all over the world. We cried when listening to the stories of struggle and hardship. It is always so humbling to work on such emotional content with the best talent on the planet.
3) The evolution of music and sound has been really interesting. Everyone is working on so many projects at one time. Budgets are stretched beyond the normal limits and as a result it has led to a lot more packaging. Some of our clients joke that we have become an in house audio post facility for them. In a sense, that is great because we can completely manage the project. If we see that a ship date has pushed we can instigate that conversation for different mix time so that they get everything they need. The toughest part is making the budget work because as the job evolves and changes in a way that you would normally get overage, you no longer get the overage and so you are taking a budget that is starting small and making it work even harder.
4) Two things:
a) Companies and brands are really pushing to buy out music in perpetuity for a budget that would get you a six month license. It’s something we don’t really believe in unless the budget can accommodate that buy. It’s one trend that is making me nervous and I am hoping that we can keep that from being the new normal.
b) In-house post facilities. It is a trend that has started and is only getting bigger. I think that as a company you need to always bring something that they can not. We make sure that our process is always the most creative. We make everything by hand and only work with the best collaborators. To compete in 2017 and beyond you have to be the best at everything so they have a reason to leave the in house facility.
