Music and sound boutique Nylon Studios, with offices in New York, Sydney and Melbourne, has added sr. sound designer TJ Dumser to its NYC studio. Dumser has more than a decade of experience in audio postproduction, working across commercials, TV, film and radio. He has worked on projects for such clients as Budweiser, NHL, Sunoco, LG, Dom Perignon, Michael Kors, Jeep , Sabra and March For Our Lives. Dumser has lent his talents to a wide range of award-winning spots that have taken home Cannes Lions, Clios, Webby Awards and Telly Awards.
New York-native Dumser steered his passion for music toward the music production space at a young age, learning the ins and outs of the industry hands-on in radio before pivoting to audio post. He joined Headroom as an intern and quickly worked his way up at the boutique audio post shop, stepping up to assistant engineer and sr. sound designer/mixer in his near decade tenure with the company.
Outside of the studio, Dumser maintains his audio sensibilities as a guitarist, regularly performing with bands in the NYC area. He previously collaborated with Nylon Studios’ sr. producer Deb Oh both on the audio post side and as a performer as a part of “Deb Oh and the Cavaliers” for over two years. Coming on board with Nylon will bring their collaboration full circle, picking up their creative shorthand to tackle a wide range of creative audio projects.
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