Day 5: Sound Design Close To Wrapping

John Howard in Oakwood Sound Design

John Howard in Oakwood Sound Design
John Howard hard at work on the challenging Scene 5.

After a lot of hard work, it looks like the sound design is pretty much wrapped up. In today’s session, much work was done to tweak the final scene in which protagonist Jenna Whitmore must face her greatest fears.  As part of the efficacy of the scene must come from a variety of audio cues, the scene required a lot of hard work from audio designer John Howard and director Jeremy Hanke to come up with the right blend to allow the audience to follow the different lines which converge in the scenes.

Lee Clements Recording Narration
Lee Clements recorded narration for the secret intro to Day 419 on Friday.

Later in the day, voice over artist (and 3rd Unit Camera from Monday’s shoot) Lee Clements came in to record a critical announcement that will be part of the intro to the film.  In an interesting twist, that’s somewhat reminiscent of shows like LOST, Fringe, and Jericho, there will be clues and information hidden in a variety of locations in Day 419, including the introduction and even the studio logos.  As to the specific information or clues, neither Hanke nor Howard would elaborate, although the director did say that QR codes would no longer be the only codes for fans to watch out for, remarking: “The interesting thing about post-apocalyptic worlds is not just who can manage to hold on to technological secrets, but who can re-master the secrets of the past.”

As for Day 419, once a final day of audio polishing and the semi-final score is completed next week, all that will be left is final approval of the score and final mixing and mastering.  The release draws near!

Day 4: Score Work and More Sound Design…

Jeremy Hanke was again in the studio with John Howard working on the final sound design for Day 419. Meanwhile, score composer David Todd Singleton is working on a semi-final pass of the score, after a late night meeting with John Howard the night before. While it doesn’t look at this point like the team will quite finish the film by the end of the week, they will be very, very close indeed!

Day 2: In The Audio Studio…

New Sound Effects Composed in Studio

Jeremy Hanke spent the day in Oakwood Sound Design working on the final sound design for Day 419 with Sound Designer John Howard. One of the more interesting elements of the day was one of the effects heavy gun shots in the film that featured more than 14 unique sound effects, including a composed time warp effect on the piano. (As seen in this low-rez video screen cap.) Videos will be coming shortly.

New Sound Effects Composed in Studio
In this handheld screen grab, Sound Designer John Howard plays a rapid series of notes to create a complex sound element for Day 419.

New Score Composer Officially Announced for Depleted: Day 419

David Singleton at Keyboard
daVid Singleton at Keyboard
daVid Singleton at Keyboard (Photo By Brooke Banks)

Today we are pleased to make the official announcement that daVid Singleton has been selected as the score composer for Depleted: Day 419. After he had first met with Sound Designer John Howard, I had a chance to personally meet with him at the Oakwood Sound Design studio for more than two hours and found that his understanding of both the genre of apocalyptic literature and his creative musical talent made him the right choice for the score composer for this film!

Singleton moved to Lexington, KY after living in LA for a number of years, where he recorded background vocals for Arnold Palmer’s smash “Addicted to Love” as well as Fleetwood Mac’ s “Rock a Little” album.  (He also sold an original melody to A&M Records in 1990, which became Amy Grant’s chart topping smash, “Baby Baby.”) In addition to his work with other bands and composing for television and film, he has  three albums of original music that have been released. We’re extremely excited to complete the film under his score composition!