Cobble Hill Fair!

We had a great time at this year's Cobble Hill Fair. I love looking at the old-timey machinery and technology. One amazing sight was this foot powered bow lathe.

The children's vegetable sculptures are also a favorite of mine. I used to make a pretty respectable car sculpture out of cucumber, carrots and beets when I was a kid and I love to see what kids are making now. This one is quite clever.

Voices

Filmmakers often talk about how sound is half of your film, meaning the quality of the audio track can propel or destroy the visuals. A great visual film will fall flat with weak or poor quality sound, but a rich audio track can support and invigorate an otherwise dull series of visuals. When both are vibrant, responsive, and dynamic, then the film really comes to life.

With my latest film about Blackleg disease in Canola, we decided to have only music and narration, with no additional sound effects. The video is heavy with information; meaning a subtle background score is all that would be needed, save for the intro, so that it doesn’t get too acoustically busy, which leaves a substantial burden on the shoulders of the narrator to carry half the film. 

Who could we find that would be right for delivering this message? To the internet!  We wanted the narrator to sound confident, compassionate, intelligent and articulate with the scientific lingo.  There are a plethora of choices when it comes to auditioning voice talent, as well as a broad range in prices.

Luckily, I stumbled upon Voices.com, which has an effective platform for finding talent with such qualities. In a short amount of time, I had narrowed the search to about ten narrators and decided to initiate a project on their site.  I was astonished to receive audition clips from the ten narrators, each with a price labelled, that same day.  It was interesting and revealing to hear the narrators read a segment from our script. What at first sounded like the perfect choice, based on their demo reel, was quickly ruled out when we (the producers and I) heard the audition. They were all good, but we had to choose one so we had to get picky. Too slow, too fast, too nasally, too sexy, too car-salesy, too dull.  I suppose I was also so picky because I am also the film editor and would be spending countless hours working with whoever’s voice we chose.  Within a few days, the full recording by the talented Alison Matthews was complete and ready to be cut into the film. The audio quality was excellent and when a pick-up was required, they were happy to oblige. Every step of the way the team at Voices.com was in communication with me to ensure I was getting what I needed and that I was satisfied with the results. I am pleased and appreciative of the product and treatment I received from Voices.com and will be sure to seek their help again for my next film. 

For post-production of our audio, we went to [Root]Chord Sound, which has done all the sound mixing for all of our films. The importance of a good sound mix can’t be overstated, as they take the raw audio materials and weave them into a clear and appealing track that can support its half of the film’s weight.

Scott Gillies

Director at Azara Effect Productions.