Sound Design
My Philosophy
Sound design is, in my opinion, the most overlooked but important aspect of filmmaking. People can watch a film with poor image quality and great sound, but a film with awful sound ruins the entire experience. Films like "No Country for Old Men" demonstrate that you can build tension, set the tone, and tell a whole story with just sound alone, without the assistance of music. My goal as a sound designer is to create an aural environment that is appropriate to the story and pulls the audience deeper into the film, rather than taking them out. I do not like to use stock sounds in my films but rather record my own, so that the sounds are specialized to the project.
"Bloodsucker"
For "Bloodsucker" there is a whole scene that takes place in the dark, so it was vital that I used sound to tell the audience what was happening. This meant we had to pick out a few sounds that clearly conveyed the actions taking place. For example, we had to get the sound of a character dropping a knife down an attic ladder. When we dropped the knife, it did not make the sound we expected it to make, so we tried other objects until we found one that sounded more like a knife than the actual knife. Also, due to the cramped environment of the attic, I had to use devices like a pistol grip instead of a boom.
"The Tulips"
Sound design was also one of the most challenging on-set tasks I have done, especially for "The Tulips," which had multiple outdoor scenes with rain and strong wind. This meant that I had to utilize a zeppelin and a dead cat to block the wind. Due to the extreme weather conditions, I also had to use the back up dialogue recorded by the lavalier mics. Having multiple forms of sound capture ensured all necessary audio was successfully recorded. This project helped me adapt to unforeseen difficulties. It required me to pivot to alternate plan so I could accommodate the changes in filming conditions.