Resurrect Dead

So, this afternoon I was feeling a little down and Robin suggested that we go to the movies tonight. We decided that we'd go see something at the Ambler Theater since I have some gift cards there that Robin's parents got me for Christmas. Anyway, we looked up what was playing and were toying with going to see either The Artist, or The Iron Lady. Then I looked a little further down the list and realized that there was a documentary playing there - today only - that I'd really wanted to see since I came across the trailer a few months back. The film is called "Resurrect Dead" and it was in Sundance where it did pretty well. The bonus of this trip was that the director of the film, Jon Foy, was going to be there and was going to do a Q&A after the screening. So we decided to go.

The film was interesting - in short, it's about the appearance of these mysterious tiles in the streets of cities all over the U.S. and South America. They've been showing up for over two decades, and nobody knew who put them there. The tiles refer to a man named Toynbee and the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the notion of resurrecting the dead on Jupiter. In any case, the film follows a group of guys who are somewhat obsessed with solving the mystery of these tiles and who made them. I liked the film overall. I felt that in a few places there were some pacing problems and some choices that I might not have made, but overall I was sucked into the story and found it really engaging.

Afterwards there was a Q&A, and it was pretty standard stuff, except for the one guy who raised his hand and told the director that he actually knew one of the guys considered by the film to be a main suspect. He also said that he had originally planned to see a different movie, but saw this was playing when he got to the theater and changed his mind. So that was pretty crazy. Afterwards, Robin made me swear that I would introduce myself to Mr. Foy, and tell him that I, too, am a local filmmaker and give him a card. She's good at pushing me to do that kind of stuff. I'm terrible at networking. In any case, we hung around and I did just that. We talked for a few minutes about filmmaking and his film, and he was a very pleasant guy. He took my card and put it in his wallet, so mission accomplished. Whether I will ever hear from him again I have no idea, but I did something that was difficult for me to do, and I'm proud of that.

Then we stopped at McDonald's on the way home (bleh - but it was cheap and fast) and now here I am writing this up. All in all it was a very enjoyable evening. If you get the chance go see "Resurrect Dead", or get it on dvd. It's worth a look.

Later!

Check out the trailer for "Resurrect Dead":

Resurrect Dead Trailer from Resurrect Dead on Vimeo.

Sound Effects, etc.

Now that the dialogue has been edited together, I need to move on to sound effects and foley work. Basically all the sounds other than dialogue and music that need to be in the film. Yesterday I went through the film scene by scene and mapped out what sounds I need and where they are supposed to go. The total list is somewhere around 322 sounds or so.

Anyway, before I can cut the sounds into the film, I actually have to go and record them (obviously). Now, a couple of years ago (2008, I think) Rufus, Nick and I actually did do some recording of sounds for the movie. I think we got about 60, but having just listened to them again I realize that a few need to be re-recorded. And I think there are more sounds on my new list than were on the original list from 2008 but the edit has changed here and there so I'm not really surprised.

So, the task at the moment is to go through the list of sounds and see which ones I can get from sound effects/foley libraries, which ones I may already have from another past production or two, and which ones I will have to record myself. Once I have done that I will collect all the sounds together on my computer and begin the process of cutting them into the film.

Then, onward to sound mixing!

Later!

One Step Closer...

Just a quick update -

Finally finished the 1st sound pass on Preservation! It was tedious and took a while, but all the dialogue is edited in, and the bumps have been smoothed out.

I'm really happy that's finished. Of course, now I have to basically go do the same thing again - but this time edit all the sound effects and stuff in. It will also be tedious and take forever, but it'll get done. And then we'll be closer than ever.....

....closer to what, I don't really know....stay tuned!

Later!