Friday, February 27, 2009 at 09:16PM ABC World News recently featured this report on Baby Moshe and FAE’s Elephant Hospital. Very exciting to see them!
At Friends of the Asian Elephant hospital, mine injuries are some of the most devastating cases treated by doctors.
Photo from ABC Website
Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 08:50PM Them: “That was great!”
Us: “Thank you!”
Them: “Love the music.”
Us: “Oh, well, actually. That’s not ours. We’ll, uh, have to replace it.”
The above scenario is not an uncommon conversation in the early stages of editing. In order to help establish the mood, tone, and pacing of the film, using temporary music is a very helpful tool. And it’s no surprise. Film is an entirely collaborative medium – not only do people need to work together, but the media must as well. Eventually though, you have to say goodbye to those temporary tracks because they are from movie scores written by people like Nicola Piovani, Mark Mothersbaugh, Philip Glass, or Nathan Johnson. And as an indie filmmaker, licensing them is entirely out of your price range.
It varies depending on the project, but most often the final music arrangement isn’t made until the picture is locked – or you’ve reached a point where the image will be edited no more. At this point, a composer can begin writing their score and the editor can lay the pieces in to the film.
For LEiT, we debated whether to hire a composer for original music, or use a website with pre-fabricated tracks available for purchase. I generally would opt for a composer – truly, original music heightens the production value (and some would argue, integrity) of a film. And again, film is about teamwork and the composer is an important member, and they need work too! It was just very recently that we decided that we would go with the pre-fab option, in part, because we found a kind of “happy medium” in www.revostock.com
RevoStock is an easy to use site, with user provided content. So in a way, you’re not leaving anyone out. Indie music producers register with the site to upload their work, and film makers can purchase tracks from them at reasonable prices, which vary according to the kind of licensing you desire. (Standard, Wide Release, or Wider Release)
Just enter whatever you’re looking for into the search engine – some of ours were descriptors like “bittersweet careful cautious curious delicate dreamy haunting heartbroken helpless light lonely longing magical melancholic mysterious peaceful pensive reflective reverent serene smokey solemn somber strange suspicious tender thinking thoughtful touching tranquil” -and up pops a list of songs, which you can simply mouse over to hear. Their sound is high quality, and most of them are quite good. Of course, you do get a few ultra-cheesy pieces.
I used another free audio editor and recorder software program, Audacity, to record our selected tracks and test them with the film. (And don’t you think about stealing these songs to save a buck, for a breathy, male voice repeats “RevoStock” over the tracks every few seconds. A little creepy, but you get used to it.)
So far, our experience with this site is great, and I don’t feel so terrible about not working directly with a composer. This is certainly expediting the editing process, which is a good thing. Not because we want to rush through the final steps, but because we want the message of LEiT to get out soon. Perhaps we’re biased, but we feel it’s an important one.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 08:44PM Here is the teaser trailer for LEiT.
We cut this in the very early stages of writing and editing, before we knew entirely which direction the project would go. Of course, when you go out to shoot a documentary, despite every effort to plan ahead, you never know exactly what you will return home with. Especially in our case, as our first shoot in Thailand was also the first time we would meet our main characters and visit locations.
So, as we were beginning to sift through all of the information and footage we gathered on the first visit, we sliced a quick teaser together that would give a general idea of the project’s aim. And potential!
Now that we’ve identified more specific story lines, a new, more informational preview will be posted in the coming weeks.
But in the meantime, enjoy!
(The temporary music used in this teaser is “Showing Kara’s Ace” from the Brick OST byNathan Johnson & Chris Mears.)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 08:29PM Welcome to the official film blog for “The Last Elephants in Thailand”.
We’ve been meaning to do this for a while. So, here we are!
In 2007, HAE Pictures culminated to make the short documentary film about the world’s first elephant hospital in Thailand. This film has since evolved into a more sweeping account of the lives of domesticated elephants in the country, and what is being done to save them.
In our travels, we meet elephant management experts in both Thailand and the United States, and ask:
“Why, in a country that reveres the elephant a religious, political, and national symbol, is the population disappearing so rapidly?”
We are nearing the end of our editing process, and plan to post photos, trailers, screening schedules, and other items of interest. We also hope to keep this journal as an account of our experiences making the film, & reflections on what we’re learning. Hopefully, it will serve as a resource for other (very new!) indie documentary filmmakers like ourselves.
Thank you for your support!