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!