Hot News
|
||
|
||
Hot News
|
||
Post was recently completed on “Death of the Iceman,” a documentary written and directed by Noel Dockstader of the Far West Film Company and now airing on The National Geographic Channel. The Iceman was discovered in the Ötztal region of the Alps along the Austro-Italian border in 1991. At first, the corpse was assumed to be one of many hikers lost in the area in recent decades. Further examination of the body and the tools found nearby revealed that “Ötzi”, as he was dubbed, was a naturally preserved mummy from the copper age. The film examines the three leading theories as to how and why the Iceman died. Stephen Berke did extensive sound design for the many re-enactment scenes while Mark Escott and Ryan Dorp edited and cleaned dialog and b-roll. The films were mixed in both stereo and 5.1 surround. Visit The National Geographic Channel for more information. Mark Escott recently mixed Open Eye Pictures’ upcoming release “Under Our Skin,” a film that seeks to shed light on a topic often swept under the rug in America, Lyme disease. The film investigates what is and isn’t being done to curb the spread and damage of Lyme and tells the story of several individuals currently dealing with varying stages of the disease. The film’s premiere will be April 26th at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. For more information on the film, directed and produced by Andy Abrahams Wilson, visit underourskin.com. Newly remodeled with a high end Mac, Pro Tools LE, and an HD monitor, Studio C is ready for action! In honor of this momentous occasion, we are lowering our rates for any audio production booked in that room to $85/hour. Sound design, music and dialog editing, plus stereo mixing and leveling are just a few of the services we can provide in this cost-effective room. Send in your videos/clips/pod casts remotely and we’ll sound design and post files on our high speed server. Some restrictions apply, please call or email to find out if your project is a good candidate. Robert Berke Sound went to the extreme with Jalbert Productions’ “Honda Session 2008.” Kevin Delaney and Preston Strout recently stopped by the studio to record play-by-play and commentary for an upcoming DVD of the event. Mark Escott just completed the scoring and sound design for the new chocumentary: “In Search of The Heart of Chocolate”- a delicious romp through the rich and creamy melt in your mouth passionate world of chocolate obsession. Produced and directed by veteran documentary filmmaker Sarah Feinbloom, the film journeys to the past to uncover chocolate’s special place in our hearts. Look for the premiere in February, 2008. Visit www.chocumentary.com for more information on this delicious chocumentary. We’re happy to announce the arrival of our super high-speed Internet connection. Now you can download from us much faster than ever before. With no geographical boundaries and no traffic delays, physical delivery of music selects, Quicktimes and finished audio is a thing of the past. Spend less time watching the progress bar and more time being creative. The Tech Museum of Innovation has once again turned to Robert Berke Sound to bring the Tech Museum Awards laureate videos to life. Each year, The Tech honors innovators in the fields of Health, Education, Economics, Equality and the Environment at a black tie gala held at the Tech Museum in San Jose, California. Engineer Mark Escott recorded voice-over, scored the five videos with library music and helped the visuals pop with rich sound design. Visit techawards.org for more info. Mark Escott recently sound designed and mixed a fireworks display DVD for Panorama Productions. For those who leave a 4th of July celebration wanting more bang for their buck, this DVD features a dazzling array of fireworks and a hard-hitting 5.1 Dolby Digital surround mix that puts the viewer right in the middle of the action. Stephen Berke recently recorded and designed a set of podcasts for McDougall Creative/Hewlett Packard. Utilizing binaural microphones and spectral shaping plugins, Berke created four distinct aural environments for the show's hosts to interact with. The end effect is a headphone surround experience for the listener.
Incubator Wins Best Sound Design at 48 Hour Film Fest
Directed by Jeff Eagle of Eaglevision, “The Incubator” tells the tale of a real estate tour gone horribly wrong. The film, made for San Jose's 48 Hour Film Fest, took top honors in both sound design and cinematography. Ryan Dorp handled dialog editing for the short, while Stephen Berke completed sound design and final mix. The duo had a little less than 6 hours to complete audio post on the film, which was shot and edited the day before. You can find out more about the film and festival here. Mark Escott has also been busy; he recently mixed “The Peacemakers,” a documentary promoting Camp Tawonga’s efforts to bridge the Israeli-Palestinian gap. Produced by Josh Ergas of Freeplay Productions, the film follows last year’s camp, and aims to remind us that despite escalating troubles in the Middle East, there are still individuals who come together to talk about peace. The camp’s website can be found at www.tawonga.org. Robert Berke Sound recently completed post on Open Eye Pictures’ educational film entitled “The Caregivers”, directed and produced by Andy Abrahams Wilson. Commissioned by the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine in association with the UCSF Department of Neurosurgery, “The Caregivers” follows patients and the people who support them after brain surgery. The film is intended to raise awareness of the burden that family members bear as they care for disabled loved ones. For more information on the film, visit openeyepictures.com. Berke Sound’s Mark Escott also mixed a trailer for the upcoming Smush Media production “Mine: Taken by Katrina”, produced and directed by Geralyn Pezanoski. As people evacuated New Orleans ahead of Hurricane Katrina, thousands were forced to leave their pets behind. In the aftermath, many lost pets were sent to out of state shelters and adopted by new families. As Katrina’s victims slowly began to rebuild their lives, many were concerned about the fate of their beloved pets. Many didn’t realize their pets had been given to new homes. “Mine” follows survivors of Katrina who must struggle with their pet’s new owners to regain a piece of the life that was swept away by the storm. Mark Escott recently mixed a series of vignettes produced by Eaglevision (www.eaglevsn.com) for Blue Coat Systems. The series consists of several skit-like episodes that put a creative, comical spin on various aspects of WAN optimization. SF and LA based CPR (www.ineedcpr.com) was recently in the studio to record several flash-based learning guides for Palm, Inc. Stephen Berke recorded voice over for the Self Paced Learning Guides covering the Treo 680, which is currently available, and the Treo 755, coming soon. The guides are currently available at Palm’s online learning center at learning.palm.com.
Ending AIDS wins over CINE Jury
We are proud to announce that “Ending AIDS: The Search for a Vaccine” was selected for the 2007 Cine Special Jury Award for best Science & Technology Telecast. For more information and related media, please visit www.pbs.org/endingaids and www.cine.org. We are proud to announce that “Remaking American Medicine,” the four-part PBS series, produced by Frank Christopher of Crosskeys Media and mixed by Mark Escott, has been chosen as the best television program of 2006 by the Association of Health Care Journalists. The Association honors and recognizes the finest health reporting in nine categories covering print, broadcast and online media. The documentary series, hosted by Peabody Award and Emmy Award winner John Hockenberry, focuses on the need to improve the quality of healthcare for all Americans. Mark Escott recorded Hockenberry’s narration and mixed audio for the four films. For more information on the programs, visit here. “The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor and élan,” says Sue Ellen Cooper, the Red Hat Queen Mother. Fred Cohen’s new documentary explores the origins and evolution of the quickly growing group that is the Red Hat Society. Robert Berke Sound’s Mark Escott mixed the feature-length version that includes interviews with several Red Hatters, as well as the founder, Ms. Cooper. Escott also recently mixed the English language version of “Return to the Border,” the story of one filmmaker’s journey back to his hometown in northeast China, on the border with North Korea. The film explores what has and hasn’t changed in the last 40 years in Dandong, and the social structure that is firmly in place in so many similar border towns. As of the beginning of 2007, many broadcast and cable networks have changed the way they measure program loudness. The new standards are based upon the average dialogue level within a mix. Each network has its own set of specifications, and the variety of requirements can be dizzying. We have therefore purchased a Dolby LM100 Loudness Meter, the only device capable of measuring average dialogue loudness. This tool, along with our knowledge of the many different delivery specs that networks require, allows us to help you ensure that your mix will be accepted upon delivery. Robert Berke Sound’s Mark Escott recently finished mixing the theatrical version of Lantern Films’ “Row Hard No Excuses.” The film, which follows the only Americans to compete in the grueling 2001 Atlantic Rowing Challenge, premiered in the feature documentary category at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival (www.slamdance.com) in Park City, UT. In addition, the film has been shown at multiple film festivals, garnering several awards. For more information on the project, visit lanternfilms.com. Escott also recorded and sound designed City Story Walks’ San Francisco tour and overview. The overview provides information to a prospective visitor about the history and current state of the city, as well as answers to commonly asked questions. The walking tour is a set of mp3 downloads that guides a tourist to many of the city’s landmarks, and provides a wealth of information about them. The San Francisco tour and future city tours will be available at citystorywalks.com. Stephen Berke recorded commentary for several films to be included in the National Film Preservation Foundation’s upcoming DVD release, “Treasures 3: Social Issues in American Film.” The DVD is a compilation of films from 1900-1934 that have been restored and preserved by various organizations. Several leading university film historians provide the commentary. To find out more about Treasures 3 and other film preservation projects, visit filmpreservation.org. Robert Berke Sound is proud to announce that “Daughters and Sons, Preventing Child Trafficking in the Golden Triangle,” with audio by Mark Escott has been selected as the best short documentary at the 3rd Annual Artivist Film Festival. Produced and directed by Sarah Feinbloom, the film follows Sompop Jantraka and his fight against child sex slavery in Thailand. Throughout the project, Escott used many innovative mixing techniques to deal with the intricacies of third world location audio, which helped bring rich detail to Jantraka’s story. The end result is a moving documentary about a serious issue that is often kept hidden from the western world. For more information about the film and its cause, click here. Escott also mixed a series of webisodes for Capcom’s upcoming Xbox 360 release “Lost Planet: Extreme Condition.” The webisodes, produced by the Shane Francis Company were mixed in 5.1 surround sound and are available on the Lost Planet website here. Building on the success of 2004's critically acclaimed documentary: "Keeping Score: MTT on Music - Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony", Marin based InCA productions has recently completed three new documentaries to continue the series. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) investigates three remarkable composers and their individual creative journeys: Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Eroica", Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", and Aaron Copland and the American Sound. MTT visits Vienna, Prague, St. Petersburg, Paris and New York to tell the stories of the composers' lives. Mark Escott completed sound design and final mix, while Robert Berke cleaned and edited dialog on the David Kennard produced films, which are directed by Joan Saffa. For more information, including broadcast information, visit InCA's website here or the official Keeping Score website here Mark Escott mixed “Living with Fibromyalgia", a documentary produced by Trillusion Media. The film features interviews with fibromyalgia patients and their doctors, and aims to bring some clarity to an often confusing and misdiagnosed disease. For more information or to order a copy on DVD, click here. Mark Escott has completed sound design and audio mix for "What’s Up in the Universe", a film by producer/director Susan Friedman. The documentary, which discusses inter-planetary relationships and the nature of the universe as a whole, is an integral part of a multimedia educational campaign aimed at inspiring young people to explore the possibilities of science and astronomy. It features spectacular visual effects, for which Escott built rich complementary soundscapes. For more information on the film, which airs May 3rd (Space Day), 2007 visit whatsupintheuniverse.org. Berke Sound also recently mixed the audio for Pam Walton Productions’ new documentary entitled "Grassroots: Contesting Ohio". The film investigates the legitimacy of the 2004 presidential election by following local movements protesting the abnormal voting conditions that plagued various Ohio districts. It features a pointed mix of congressional footage and home grown political activism. Grassroots airs on Free Speech TV this October. For more information visit pamwaltonproductions.com The Shane Francis Company returned to Robert Berke Sound with television spots promoting Capcom’s “Dead Rising". Mark Escott designed zombie-smashing sound effects for the high-intensity trailers and completed the audio mix. The spots are currently airing nationwide. Our own Stephen Berke recently completed an original short film titled "Lemons" which is currently making its way through the festival circuit. Berke directed, photographed, edited, and mixed the five-minute short produced by San Francisco based Theoretical Films. The short was scored using production music from the APM library. The film is currently touring in festivals nationally including the Queens International Film Festival in New York and FirstGlance Hollywood. Recently, the film took top honors, winning the comedy grand prize at the Radio Alice 3 Minute Film festival held in association with Pixar. More information can be found at the Theoretical films website at www.thefilms.org. Stephen Berke mixed the audio for a series of web spots promoting “Into the Fire", a documentary about the heroism and hardships faced by America’s firefighters. The film, presented by Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, is directed by Academy Award winner Bill Couturié and airs nationally on The History Channel on October 13th at 8pm/7pm Central and October 22nd at 4pm/3pm Central. The promotional spots will be available on The History Channel’s website and the Fireman’s Fund website. Escott recently recorded audio commentary for a Japanese film entitled “Train Man: Densha Otoko". Based on the Japanese best-selling book of the same title by Hitori Nakano. The movie follows the exploits of a geeky protagonist as he attempts to break out of his shell and connect with his true love. The commentary is provided by Patrick Macias, Tomohiro Machiyama and Jay Tack, authors of various books about Japanese pop culture. “Train Man” (www.trainman-movie.com) is set to be released in the US on DVD by VIZ Pictures in January 2007.
|
||
"Phoenix Dance" is a new film by Karina Epperlein, which tells the story of Homer Avila, a dancer who lost a leg to cancer. His refusal to allow the amputation to end his dancing career so impressed choreographer Alonzo King, that he created a pas de deux called "Pas" for him (dancing on one leg) and Andrea Flores. Stephen Berke edited the dialog and Mark Escott mixed the inspiring documentary which will be shown at film festivals and used in disabled and recovery programs. The film premiered in New York this January and had its West Coast debut at the San Francisco International Film Festival on May 1st.|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
