ADR

Sound design on To Rest in Peace is moving steadily forward. Today we recorded ADR, and next week we'll record foley.

For those of you outside the world of filmmaking, ADR is 'Automatic Dialogue Replacement'. I'm not sure where the 'automatic' part comes from, it's quite laborious. There were a couple of scenes where the production sound had distant construction noises, or the sounds of a car motor running. In order to clean up these sounds, and have greater control in the design, we re-record the dialogue for these scenes. Actors have to listen to themselves, wait for a beep, and then repeat their line in the same tone and rhythm.

We also added an unscripted line at the end of the film, to strengthen the climactic moment.

Pictured above is Michael Benyaer (Malek) at the microphone, with Chris Whetstone (the sound designer) at the control board. It was such a joy to see the cast again, and catch up. ADR is often a frustrating process, but with the quality of artists we had today, it was sheer pleasure.

In other news, we've set a screening date in May with a group of USC thesis films. Once all the details are confirmed, I will post the information up! The film will also screen in Toronto and Kuwait, before hitting the festival circuit in the fall.