Jim Cummings and Tom Kenny Talk 'Winnie the Pooh'

I've had the pleasure of recording both of these legendary voice actors. Just knowing they were involved makes me MUCH less apprehensive about a new Winnie the Pooh movie.

A Session With VO Artist Paul Kirby

This man is a narration master.
It was my pleasure to engineer an upcoming documentary that he was hired to narrate.

Movies You May Have Missed Updates - Audio Episode 1 and Teaser for Episode 2

Hey all!

We're getting som fun feed back on MYMHM, and while we're having some issues with the video, we do have the first audio episode up and ready for your scorn!

MYMHM 01a - Juan & Lee FALL Into a Great Film

Also, since we don't have video up yet, we've cut up a teaser for the next film we'll be discussing. Can YOU guess which movie it is?

New Episode Wednesday!

SUBSCRIBE TO MYMHM VIA EMAIL OR RSS!

'Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' is fun, but MAN am I tired of crappy CG effects...

So before I jump in I want to make 2 points:

1. I'm going to try really hard to make spoilers avoidable. Any time I bring up specific plot points I'll blend the color of the text into the background, so you'll have to highlight that text to read it (if anyone REALLY cares what I have to say).

2. This is going to read A LOT like my diatribe on CG and Jurassic Park...

You've been warned!

I don't like to review movies here. Other places do that, so I'll try to stay focused on the technical aspects of the film. That said, the movie IS fun, and while I have some issues with the plot, the larger than life characters are so much fun to watch on screen (Karen Allen and Harrison Ford!?!?! COME ON!!!). It's hard not to get amped about a film like this.

Seriously, I was 8 when the last Indy movie came out.

My biggest problem with the film is I happen to hate LucasFilm visual effects. They look fake. REALLY fake. They look like giant cartoons. They DON'T relate to gravity. They become hyper-kinetic, moving in ways that real objects don't. LF relies on these effects as front and center visual pieces, and they just don't hold up. They're glaringly obvious.
Indy movies were always fantastic adventures taking us around the globe to exotic locations. Most of this movie felt like it was shot on a sound stage.

The most egregious for me (spoilers, highlight following text):
-GOD DAMNED CG GOPHER THINGS!?!?!
-After the bomb goes off, we really needed a bouncing cg fridge? Were refrigerators in the 50's made out of rubber? THEY COULDN'T HAVE JUST DROPPED A REAL FRIDGE?!?!
-CG Monkeys looked like crap. CG ants not much better. CG scorpions even worse. Even Temple of Doom had real bugs...
-Aliens? Sigh... Aside from just being plain lazy story telling, one of the worst Aliens I've ever seen. Why not just use a puppet like in Close Encounters?
-People in the showing I went to laughed at how Blanchett's character met her demise. Looked silly, made little sense.
-Flying saucer? Meh....

I think the problem here is laziness. Movies like Epsiodes 1-3 of Star Wars, Speed Racer (talk about vomiting cotton candy all over my childhood), King Kong (Jackson's) and now Indy 4 have failed to learn the lessons of movies that have come before (Jurassic Park still looks awesome and was made 15 years ago).
You can't make the whole movie up in post. CG only works to augment what you've already shot. The only exceptions are highly stylized movies like comic book films, and even then this stuff shouldn't be front and center.
Iron Man did a MUCH better job of tackling that. Even after seeing it a second time, there were still several moments where I had a really hard time figuring out if it was a guy in a suit, CG, or both.

Directors are going to have to relearn their craft IMHO. CG makes it WAY to easy to have your characters perform the impossible. Not the improbable, or the fantastic, but the impossible. The take-you-out-of-the-moment-and -break-suspension-of-disbelief-impossible. That moment where you go from having fun to realizing you're just watching some silly cartoon in a movie theater, and it doesn't matter what happens to the characters next because it's just going to be even more ridiculous then what they've already done.
Imagine if the boulder scene in Raiders had just been a wash of CG bouncing rocks and motion blurring effects.There's no fun in that...

So, all that above being said, Skywalker Sound did an AMAZING job. This movie sounded every bit like an Indy film. Great score, incredible mixing and ADR (Barbara Harris knows her shit), and the foley was incredible. I have to say I got a little giddy when I heard the classic Indiana Jones"punch" sound effect (sounds like a shotgun going off while breaking a 2x4).

All in all the movie is fun, with great performances, and is totally worth seeing. It is Indiana Jones after all, and it's been 20 years since the last one came out, so that's reason enough right there.

Having seen it though, I don't think I need to see it again.

A friend of mine still hasn't seen Iron Man though. I think I might be up for a third viewing there...

Cloverfield is great! Go see it! It has Billy Brown (Voice Actor)!

I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about the movie. Other reviews will do that better.
I really enjoyed it. I thought it was brutal and harsh. The shakey-cam was a bit upsetting (I get crazy sea-sick), and there are a couple CG-y moments, but on the whole I was engaged the whole time. I was about half way through the credits before I let the muscles in back unclench.

I think the greatest strength of the film is it's brevity. They don't explain anything more than what the main characters get to see, and it leaves a lot of the tension up to you to create. At no time did this feel lazy or like a cop out. Walking out of the theater I felt that all of the choices of what to see or not, were very strategic.

The creature design was really cool. It wasn't the huge lumbering sprawling beast of concept art, and I like that the beast seemed massive, yet maneuverable.

I thought the story was set up well, getting us in and out with a minimum of effort, and I thought the ending was really sweet. Much in the same way that Spielberg's War of the Worlds was an intense film (but totally fumbles the end), Cloverfield doesn't ever give you a chance to rest, and I think the payoff at the end is great.


Ok, all the movie stuff aside, I was STOKED to see Billy Brown as Staff Sgt. Pryce. Billy is a great VO actor, having been in a ton of games (C&C3, KOTOR2, Path of Neo), has an awesome "trailer voice", and is currently the voice of the Marines. That last being so appropriate to see him as a soldier in this film. His part in the film wasn't huge, but he easily has the largest (and most important scene) with the main characters. I was really impressed with his performance as well. The setting is way over the top, and Billy plays his role very real and grounded. Excellent job Mr. Brown!

Jurassic Park turns 15, looks better than most movies made today...

Why is that?

Now bear with me here. I am an audio guy, and really have no business talking crap about visual effects, so I'm kinda just rambling on as a movie fan, not an authority, but JP still looks awesome.



AMC is touting the 15th anniversary of Jurassic Park (though it's technically not til June), and Mrs Audio Guy, Biggelow, and I are watching it now. It's a great monster movie. Great jump moments, incredible creatures, fantastic music, dismemberment without being too icky, watered down plot, it's pretty much everything you could hope for in a family friendly creature feature.



When it came out I was entranced. I was already a HUGE dinosaur nut, and had read the book twice before the film was released. I blew my allowance on seeing this movie over 10 times in theaters (maybe even more after it hit the $1 theater). It made a huge impact on movie special effects, and along with T2, ushered in the CG era of film making.



So why don't movies look any better today?



OK sure, looking back there are some flaws and we have improved animation since then. The lighting and shadows don't always look quite right. Often the dinosaurs have a slight "green screened" look to them. The gallimimus look a little cartoony, but those points aside, I think the dinos look far better than anything we've done recently. They react properly to gravity. Their movement doesn't suffer from that weird CG wiggle (where muscle and skin seem to get WAY over animated). They impact their environment well. Just great work, still a high water mark for animation.



I mean comparing JP to Peter Jackson's King Kong is almost no contest. The textures and lighting are better in KK, but the dinos, well, not as good. The "brontos" look cartoon, every piece of the raptor moves independently of every other piece, the T-Rex looks great, but moves kinda goofy. Whenever I would complain, people would explain that the dinos were supposed to be "stylized", but I don't buy it, what with the level of detail that went into Kong himself (which does look REALLY good).



JP T-Rex















KK T-Rex





















JP Raptors



















KK Raptor (best shot I could find that wasn't a mess of motion blur)

















Also, why doesn't anyone use puppets anymore? The Nedry scene is classic, and is accomplished without a single CG shot. I can just imagine if the same scene had been done today, or Dr. Grant lying on the Triceratops. I get really frustrated watching CG elements thrust front and center. We're not there yet. We're still smack dab in the middle of the "Uncanny Valley". We rely on this stuff more and more, but it almost always lets us down.











I just wish sometimes we could take a step back and realize that maybe CG Neo's and Jabba's aren't such a good idea, and that sometimes the T-1000 just needs to be a dude wrapped up in tin foil...





Anywho, Happy Birthday Jurassic Park! Here's to hoping that the plans to make Jurassic Park 4 fall apart!



;-)





Oh, and the JP T-Rex roar is one of the coolest sound effects ever produced. There's my audio tie in...

Moby is ready to help you soundtrack your student or indie film! For FREE!

I don't know HOW I missed this!
Futuremusic's blog posted this up a week ago, but apparently Moby is feeling for indie, student, and ultra-low-budget film makers.

I just signed up for an account to check it out, and there is a pretty substantial chunk of his catalog up to help you out, 90 songs in all.

Check it out here!

Now before you go crazy requesting licenses for everything up there I would highly recommend reading the terms of use. If Moby holds to his intention of this being non-profit (for him) that's great, but this is still the music industry, and if you aren't careful (holding to the terms of the agreement), you could manage to put yourself in a pretty actionable position.

From MobyGrais.com:

hi,
i'll keep this brief.
this portion of moby.com, 'film music', is for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short.
to use the site you log in(or on?) and are then given a password.
you can then listen to the available music and download whatever you want to use in your film or video or short.
the music is free as long as it's being used in a non-commercial or non-profit film, video, or short.
if you want to use it in a commercial film or short then you can apply for an easy license, with any money that's generated being given to the humane society.
i hope that you find what you're looking for,
moby

AMPTP wants "Wait and See" for New Media/Distribution

To steal a line from Sexy Beast "NO NONONONONO NO! NONONONONONONO! NO!"

From Broadcast Newsroom:

"All three contracts expire within the next year. But the profit picture for new platforms -- including Internet Streaming, ipod content purchases and video-on-demand -- will be clearer in 24-36 months, they argued.

...

Producers suggested that unions allow for a three-year study of the impact of Internet viewing before new contracts are crafted. Right now the digital landscape is so unpredictable that deals for broadband productions are rarely more than one year, he said."

COME ON! Cable, Home Video, DVD, Video Games, HOW MANY TIMES IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN?!?! If AFTRA, SAG, WGA, and the DGA dont play this round smart I really see disastrous consequences (and strikes) for 2008.

Alternative Distribution Methods Affecting Union Talks

HOW THE HECK DID I MISS THIS!?!? - Academy of Motion Pictures Edition

Damn it!
I'm seriously pissed. The Academy does an examination of sound effects throughout film history, highlighting films that have had serious impact on the way we watch (listen to) movies, AND I FIND OUT JUST IN TIME FOR TOTAL RECALL!?!?!

So if you're uber slow like me then you've already missed 'The French Connection' and 'Jaws'. BOO! I know! It DOES suck!

Anywho, I'm hoping to salvage this a bit by catching this:

"The “Sound, Camera, Action!” series will culminate on May 17 with “The Sound behind the Image,” a program, hosted by Oscar-winning sound designer Ben Burtt and 19-time Academy Award-nominated sound mixer and Academy governor Kevin O’Connell.

“The Sound behind the Image” will explore the extraordinary impact of sound in the history of the action-adventure genre and pay tribute to the sound design of the 1977 Oscar-winning classic “Star Wars.” A panel discussion with key members of the “Star Wars” sound crew will be moderated by O’Connell."

For $5, how can you go wrong?

Check it out, maybe you'll see me there.

Dont laugh.

I've been working out...