Another
thing that needs to be added to the ADR sections are increased
and more finely tuned sound effects, as there are some parts
that feel hollow due to a lack of connected sound effects.
Additionally, the ones that are there need to be more realistic,
even though the film as a whole is designed to be campy.
Currently, a lot of the sound effects that are there are
hit and miss on realism, with most of them being simply
too loud and too unrealistic. For example, there is one
section during the initial Sorority hazing where we hear
the spokesman of the group walk down a hall where the sound
of footsteps (or bootsteps) don’t sound realistic,
even though they’re clearly recorded from actual boot-steps,
because they’re simply too loud. (Adding extra bass
to an effect can give it a more immersive sound, without
raising the volume to a distracting level.) Later in the
film, there is a scene where one of The Sorority
girls is getting spanked with a paddle, but the paddle smacking
sounds have digital reverb that makes it sound like it came
off an inexpensive Casio keyboard. Good sound effects can
be obtained via pay-per-download effects sites, or recorded
in a makeshift foley stage. (Additionally, Sony Pictures
has just released their entire sound effects library that
they use at Sony/Tristar. You can buy them per CD or you
can buy their master collection of over 5,000 theatrical
quality sound effects for $599 as an investment for future
films.)
The
last thing that I would recommend in regards to dubbing
is to more thoroughly mix the dialogue levels. The reason
for this is because, while Isabel, Cal, and Dr. Drake were
easy to understand, characters like Victoria and, especially,
the spokesman of The Sorority were a little too soft. While
the spokesman of The Sorority was probably supposed to sound
quietly dangerous, she instead just sounded quietly quiet.
(For more recommendations on doing ADR, read
our ADR basics article here.)
The
music in the film was pretty compelling, although it had
a tendency to end too suddenly, as opposed to fading gently
down into a bed. It seemed like it ended quickest when a
dubbed scene would conclude and a production audio scene
would begin. With problematic production audio, it is often
further muddied by music. As such, killing the music is
the right call for understandability, but it makes the problem-causing
production audio stick out like a sore thumb all the more.
Obviously, if most of the film is redubbed, this won’t
be a problem.
The
choice to budget for good lighting was excellent...
...and
helped convey a number
of different tones throughout.
Use
of Budget
Honestly, $700 would be a pretty small budget in any situation,
especially for a first feature. However, more than that,
I felt like he kept excellent track of his funds and really
put them to work in intelligent ways. Much of the film’s
budget rotated around the cost of tape stock, set dressing,
and food for the cast and crew. However a few nice pre-thought
portions were extra light bulbs for the Arri lights and
special animal innards purchased from a butcher to make
sure the horror special effects had an authentic touch without
requiring rubber versions to be crafted or purchased.
Lasting
Appeal
I found the film to be pretty enjoyable and I wouldn’t
mind watching it again, especially with the additional ADR.
I also would also like to show it to my friends, especially
ones that are into campy horror films!
Overall
Comment
When Bodie Norton directed this film, he decided that he
would do it with the intention of using at as a calling
card for himself and for the film itself. A $700 investment
couldn’t be expected to do more than that, and he
hoped that maybe a Hollywood studio would see it and decide
to invest in a re-making of it with a name-actress-du-jour
on 35mm film. To his surprise, York Entertainment contacted
him about distributing the calling card, itself. I think
that York made a good call as, with a few tweaks and some
more redubbing, this could easily appeal to the Army
of Darkness crowd and be a very viable video release.
Mr.
Noton is in the process of making his next film and I’m
quite interested to see what he does with it. If it shows
a continuation of the creativity he has shown in this film,
then it should be very interesting!
The
director of two feature length films and half a dozen short films,
Jeremy Hanke
founded Microfilmmaker Magazine to help all no-budget filmmakers make
better films. His first book on low-budget special effects techniques, GreenScreen Made Easy, (which he co-wrote with Michele Yamazaki) was released by MWP to very favorable reviews. He's curently working on the sci-fi film franchise, World of Depleted through Depleted: Day 419 and the feature film, Depleted.
