Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” winner Ben Callner‘s “Goat 4 Sale” commercial began with an idea about a ravenous Doritos-eating goat. Culminating the narrative he envisioned relied heavily on sound to sell the authenticity, dramatic tension and humor at play in his 30-second spot. He tapped longtime collaborators Tunewelder Music Group to make it work. Led by Music & Audio Post Supervisor Ben Holst, Tunewelders worked closely with Callner to hone the spot through sound design & editing, Foley, voice-over, mixing and mastering.nn
nTo view “Goat 4 Sale,” online at Vimeo click here.nn”Ben Holst and Tunewelders put the project first,” remarks Callner. “Other than being just really down-to-earth, excellent people, they go above and beyond to make sure that you’re not only happy, but that everyone (including them) is proud of the final product. In something like the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest, I wouldn’t think of going anywhere else. I know they’re going to make whatever I give them, in whatever condition, sound absolutely fantastic.”nn”Ben has a way of theatrically pushing the envelope and making the absurd believable and not too cartoony,” adds Holst, who has collaborated with Callner on numerous film, commercial and interactive projects since the two first met on set during a film production in Atlanta in 2007. “A big part of that comes from his care for detail across the production, and with his deep musical background, that certainly extends to sound and creative where he’s very hands-on. Even inside all the tedious work of syncing goat crunches, which fly by you in a matter of milliseconds, there’s always an element of fun and general silliness working with him.”nnCapturing sounds unique to Callner’s story required more than the SFX package and pre-cleared music that Doritos made available to all of its contestants. Greg Linton, location sound, provided a library of real goat crunches recorded on site. The tedious process of syncing the crunch sounds with the goat’s chewing gestures needed to demonstrate both believability and comedic timing.nnFor the comedic payoff when the goat screams from apparent Doritos withdrawal, the challenge was finding the best voice-over performance for the scream, and then realistically syncing it. The solution involved Callner’s childhood friend Keith Bahun and an iPhone.nn”Goats actually have a distinct scream, so mimicking it with the human mouth was tough to cheat,” Holst recalls. “We explored it all the way to the final delivery because it was so crucial to the punchline. A bunch of us had recorded some takes, but Ben still wasn’t sold. Keith was known for this great scream, but he was all the way in Savannah, GA. I said, ‘iPhones make great recordings, just have him do a lot of takes and make sure he stands far enough away from the phone so it’s similar in distance to the goat in the shot.’ We managed to pull it off last-minute and it came out perfect.”nnHolst and Callner went beyond the obvious visual cues using Doritos’ trademark crunch samples. For example, to intensify the goat owner’s growing insanity as his pet incessantly snacks, their sound design incorporated building several layers of different crunch sounds to embellish the moment.nnFor the final scene of the goat ominously hoofing it towards his owner, the team also enlisted Foley work using the same prop hooves shot in the scene.nnThe project offered Tunewelders the opportunity to showcase what they have quietly been doing since launc
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“Ǝvolution” Comes Full Circle At The Chelsea Film Festival
The Chelsea Film Festival, running from October 16th through October 20th, 2024, at Regal Cinemas here in Union Square, is set to host the East Coast premiere of Ǝvolution, a thought-provoking experimental micro-short film that proves big ideas can come in small packages and in perfect circles.
In just 1 minute 16 seconds, this cinematic gem by Award-Winning Director Romina Schwedler, with original music by Argentine Composer Ignacio Montoya Carlotto, explores a cycle as old as time: life leads to progress, progress leads to destruction, and destruction, well, leads back to life. But is this vicious circle unbreakable? Ǝvolution suggests the answer is yes, unless we decide to open our eyes.
Inspired by the overwhelming number of recent events that threaten human existence, Ǝvolution, possibly the shortest film in this 12th edition of the festival, plays out entirely through the symbolism of circles, cleverly illustrating —in the blink of an eye— the repeating patterns of history, and confronting viewers with the uncomfortable truth that our so-called “progress” may, in fact, be guiding us to our own ruin.Premiering at the Regal 14 Union Square, New York City, on October 18, 2024, at 11 a.m., Romina Schwedler's micro-short, featuring Leah Young with cinematography by Alan J. Carmona, will be sure to spark conversations longer than the film itself! Forcing viewers to reconsider the true meaning of evolution, not just as a biological process, but as a reflection of our collective journey as humans.
With a string of festival appearances across the globe, including CineGlobe at CERN (Switzerland/France), Oscar®... Read More