Sons & Daughters of Thunder sound designer Chris Ryder captures audio with actors Justin Marxen, Thomas Alan Taylor and Tristan Tapscott.
Sound. Good sound is as important to a film as the picture itself. As wonderful as our Sons & Daughters of Thunder locations were to film in, sound was one of the biggest challenges to contend with.
For instance, the beautiful Dillon Home in Sterling, Illinois (the stand-in for the Lyman Beecher home at Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio) was sandwiched between the busy Lincoln Highway and active railroad tracks--not exactly conducive to the ambience of 1834 Cincinnati, Ohio. The planes, trains and automobiles certainly kept sound technician Chris Ryder on his toes.
Chris Ryder captures Kimberly Kurtenbach's (Catharine Beecher) dialog in the Dillon Home.
Most of the sound captured for Thunder at places like the Dillon Home, Jenny Lind Chapel (the stand-in for Lane Theological Seminary's chapel) will be re-recorded. Dialog that cannot be salvaged from production tracks must be re-recorded in a process called looping or ADR (Automatic Dialog Replacement).
Joe Maubach as Marius Robinson during a debate scene filmed at the Jenny Lind Chapel in Andover, Illinois.
Thanks to a grant from Quad City Arts Dollars, the bulk of the ADR work on Sons & Daughters of Thunder will take place December-January as the film reaches its completion. Key cast members will be called in to re-record their dialog as they watch their edited performances onscreen.
Some early ADR work has already begun. Joe Maubach who portrays Lane Rebel Marius Robinson in Thunder recently re-recorded his dialog for the film.
Chris Ryder prepares to role sound on actor Mike Kennedy at the quiet Augustana House on the Hill. Actor David Shropshire appears on the monitor.
The re-recorded dialog will then be edited into the film to replace the temp dialog track. Ambient sound and sound effects will also be layered into the film so when it premieres in March 2019 the sound will be pristine and an important element in telling the story of the Lane Rebels and the awakening of young Harriet Beecher to the realities of slavery.
◊ ◊ ◊
Sons & Daughters of Thunder is based on a play by Earlene Hawley and Curtis Heeter and tells the unforgettable true story of the beginning of the end of slavery in America. In 1834, if polite discussions about abolishing slavery were considered inappropriate among Americans in Northern states, then eighteen days of public student-sponsored debates on the divisive subject at Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio (a border community) were scandalous. Organized by Theodore Weld, one of the architects of the abolitionist movement, the shocking oratory sparked intense controversy and awakened a young Harriet Beecher (Stowe) to the realities of slavery.
Sons & Daughters of Thunder is produced and directed by Kelly and Tammy Rundle. Their company Fourth Wall Films is an award-winning and Regional Emmy® nominated independent film and video production company formerly located in Los Angeles, and now based in the Quad Cities.
Mark your calendars and save the date for Saturday, March 16, 2019 for the Quad Cities premiere of Thunder at the Putnam Museum National Geographic Giant Screen at 6:30 p.m. Advance tickets are available HERE! It will be a wonderful celebration with a number of cast and crew appearing at the event. The film will be dedicated to Kent Hawley (whom we lost in November 2017) and his wife playwright Earlene Hawley.
Saturday, March 23, 2019 join us in Cincinnati for the double premiere (4pm & 7pm) of Thunder at the Garfield Theatre. Advanced tickets are available at https://www.cincyworldcinema.org/
Follow us on Facebook by LIKING our Sons & Daughters of Thunder fanpage for all of the updates!
To pre-order your Sons & Daughters of Thunder DVD and SAVE, click HERE! And, remember to make a note: the DVDs will ship in July 2019!
Comments