AudioMedia - February 2009 - (Page 32)

STEPHEN BENNETT offers up a ‘smorgasbord of aural delight’, that is perhaps 2009’s most provocatively titled film – and finds out exactly what lesbian vampires really sound like. C alling your film Lesbian Vampire Killers is a provocative move, as it leaves little to the imagination as to the thrust of the movie’s narrative. But, as the trailer for the film loudly proclaims; “In 2009, one film has it all – Killers! Vampires! Lesbians!” – so basically you get what it says on the tin in much the same fashion as Snakes on a Plane. “It’s snakes! On a plane!” Lesbian Vampire Killers stars Mathew Horne and James Corden of the BAFTA-winning BBCTV show Gavin and Stacey, as the film’s hapless protagonists who stumble upon the aforementioned lesbian vampires in an English rural hamlet. The movie boasts a substantial number of effects shots for its modest budget and, as Director Phil Claydon explains (see box), a prominent sound design and musical score. This wasn’t achieved in the more usual Hollywood fashion of throwing people and money at the problem in order to get the film ready for its March 2009 release, but instead required quite a bit of creative and lateral thinking from both Director and the sound editing team. “Our sound edit began when we received full quality OMF's from the picture edit. This provided us with the great sounding Simon Hayes recorded dialogues from the shoot to get going on,” says Andy Stirk, Co-supervising Sound Editor on the movie. “This film is interesting from a sound point of view, as we employed a different workflow from the norm. Fundamentally, my role in the film was that I edited and premixed the sync dialogue as I went along on Pro Tools in a small 5.1 premix room.” Working in this way meant that Stirk could keep the ADR to an absolute minimum, and also that he was party to all the sound editorial decisions throughout the project. Stirk received the edits of the atmos, Foley, ADR, and crowd from the other editors, and these were mixed on the same Pro Tools system. “Effectively, the mix built up as we went along rather than being split into the usual separate ‘editorial’ and ‘mix’ sections.” says Stirk. “This paid off hugely, as Phil (Claydon, Director) could pop into my room and listen to the progress of the actual soundtrack, instead of hearing elements in separation and having to imagine what the final mix might sound like.” The sound crew for the film was quite modest considering the film’s budget, as Stirk explains. “Bernard O’Reilly, my Co-supervising Sound Editor, was responsible for track laying all the atmos’s, spot effects, and sound design. Michele Woods did the ADR and crowd supervision, and Barnaby Smyth, the Foley.” Though the crew was compact, Stirk is proud of the results. “It’s sonically very rich and stylish, with surround dialogue, shooting crucifixes, magic swords, and exploding lesbian vampires,” he says. In addition to this smorgasbord of aural delight, composer Debbie Wiseman’s orchestral score features a 30 voice choir, recorded at Air studios in London. “It’s very big and busy throughout!” laughs Stirk. Technically, the film was also something of a a challenge, as Stirk’s team had to cope with many re-cuts, tweaks, and updated CGI shots coming in throughout the editing and premix process – all of which had to be resolved with minimum fuss as the budget didn’t allow for much manoeuvring.“We received a re-cut after we had been working on the film for several weeks,” says Stirk. “It affected all but one reel and was pretty extensive, with loads of nips and tucks throughout.” This could have caused a large headache for the sound design crew, but their methodology of working, by creating premixes which included dialogues, atmos and Foley while the rest of the crew were building up their respective tracks, kept problems to a minimum. Help was also on hand in the form of Gerard Loret, as Stirk explains. “We were able to palm all of our Pro Tools sessions onto Gerard. He spent a week re-conforming everything and emailing working edits and premix sessions back to us so that we could keep going almost uninterrupted.” This was another example of where the decision to premix in the box paid dividends, as it meant that all the automation and plug-in settings were also conformed. “This is often a much longer and arduous process ,” says Stirk. “Even if the desk automation re-conforms well, there’s normally loads of outboard gear such as reverbs that also need to be manually adjusted to the new cut. Working ‘in the box’ allowed us to quickly adapt to any picture changes.” Vampire Killers 32 AUDIO MEDIA FEBRUARY 2009 Lesbian

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AudioMedia - February 2009 Contents Recording News Post News Broadcast News GEO Focus: USA What's Up UK NAMM Review For the Record Project Profile: Hallelujah HHB CDR882 KORG MR-20005 Chandler Germanium Brauner Phanthera Final Cut: Lesbian Vampire Killers SE Electronics RNR1 The Royal Opera House Fairlight XYNERGI Limiting Loudness Product Sampler: Studio Consoles Video Guide AMSR News Stone Temple Pilots Fly Again Rode M2 Yamaha IM8 Series

AudioMedia - February 2009

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