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Another issue is that–especially at the beginning—the dialogue is off-sync. Combined with the very isolated sound of ADR recorded with no ambient noise or room tone, it felt as though I was watching an English-dubbed foreign film. However, it didn’t appear that the ADR was recorded wrong, but rather that the dialogue track was a few milliseconds off, and just needed to be re-aligned.
One of the downsides to ADR is the sterile quality of audio that sounds like it was recorded in a padded cell. (Which is probably what most audio techs feel like they’re in anyway!) While this is what we aim for in doing ADR, we have to go a few extra steps to eliminate the “padded room” quality, and make it sound more natural. The two primary things needed are reverb and room tone. Reverb is when the sound waves bounce off of objects around you. In a studio, the sound waves are absorbed by the soundproofed walls. Because we need the dialogue to sound like it’s bouncing off walls and objects, it is necessary to go back through and add reverb in post. Room tone is the sound that the environment has when nothing is going on; smaller, more confined areas (e.g. car) have a different room tone than, say, a hotel lobby with marble floors. There are several programs out there that will let you record room tone or that have room tone samples to use.
Use of Budget
Considering that the budget of “The Wanderer” was $500 –most of which went to the pay the actors—I’d say that this film was right on target for its budget. It’s good to see that Poche took the time to use Magic Bullet to apply a film look to his project. This type of thing is essential, because production quality isn’t limited to shooting and editing. I would, however, have liked to have seen some of the budget go toward some better lighting. (NOTE: check out our article on “Assembling a Micro-Budget Lighting Kit” for some great, inexpensive ideas.)
Lasting Appeal
As it stands right now, the audio would have to be significantly improved and the plot snags would have to be explained before I would consider showing this to my friends. I have no problems with films that make the audience say, “What the heck just happened?” (Memento and Donnie Darko are perfect examples of such films!) However, technical problems and plot inconsistencies don’t just confuse the audience… they make it harder for the audience to suspend their disbelief and buy into the world you’ve created.
Overall Comment
It is very encouraging to see that, even with an 18-minute short film, Poche took the time and effort to use film-look and ADR. However, The Wanderer can be greatly improved by: adding simple explanations about the story (through dialogue), making the lighting more realistic and even (with better use of lights), and improving the audio (by balancing the volume levels and improving the sync and ADR). These improvements will eliminate distractions and help the audience understand and appreciate the film even more.
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Content |
6.0 |
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Visual
Look |
6.5 |
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Use
of Audio |
5.5 |
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Use
of Budget |
6.5 |
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Lasting
Appeal |
6.0 |
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Overall
Score |
6.1
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A
powerhouse in management, Kari
Ann Morgan successfully produced a feature length film before
coming to work at Microfilmmaker as Assistant Editor. In addition
to writing for the magazine, she's been successfully working with
various distributors to get microfilmmakers the chance for theatrical
distribution. |
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