COLD CALLS by John Whalen featuring Blanchard Ryan (OpenWater) & Ben Bailey (CashCab)
- Thread starter Jack Daniel Stanley
- Start date
Mark Johnson
The Dude Abides
Didn't you know this script was based on a true story that occurred in Newark in the 80's? It was featured on the SNOPES site and got a fair amount of play on the East coast when it occurred. I googled it and even found a short clip of the cops leading the guy out of the house HERE.
Visual Explanation of Cold Calls ending:
Cold Calls - one of my tops
Cold Calls - one of my tops
I thought the end was totally in keeping with the playful, quirky spirit of the whole short.
Loved the almost offhanded content of the lame, funny sales calls. Excellent writing there. And acting. And camera work. One of the best.
Cold Calls - one of my tops
I thought the end was totally in keeping with the playful, quirky spirit of the whole short.
Loved the almost offhanded content of the lame, funny sales calls. Excellent writing there. And acting. And camera work. One of the best.
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
Jack... congrats on your film! Pretty awesome to have been the audience choice... IMO sometimes that means it would have been the most commercially successful film 
Seriously though... Cold Calls didn't totally click for me, but it obviously did for a lot of people, and you approached the film with the same artistic understanding and professionalism as you do each and every time... congrats bro... now let's see a feature!!
Seriously though... Cold Calls didn't totally click for me, but it obviously did for a lot of people, and you approached the film with the same artistic understanding and professionalism as you do each and every time... congrats bro... now let's see a feature!!
Darkline
Veteran
Hiya Jack.
As always a popular choice, congrats on the award to you and the team. I thought you did a great job bringing the script to life. I had no idea you were out of competition so to speak and it sounds like you may have pipped me to the post if you were not.
You never fail to deliver and it's really good for DVXuser to have someone as nice and knowledgable as you to spearhead the film-making community on this site. I wish you all the success, not just because you are talented because it could not happen to a nicer guy.
For me you are one of the few that I always look at for means to improve my film-making.
Thanks for taking the time to give me your thoughts on ours.
All the best Jack.
As always a popular choice
, congrats on the award to you and the team. I thought you did a great job bringing the script to life. I had no idea you were out of competition so to speak and it sounds like you may have pipped me to the post if you were not.You never fail to deliver and it's really good for DVXuser to have someone as nice and knowledgable as you to spearhead the film-making community on this site. I wish you all the success, not just because you are talented because it could not happen to a nicer guy.
For me you are one of the few that I always look at for means to improve my film-making.
Thanks for taking the time to give me your thoughts on ours.
All the best Jack.
ConspiracyPenguin
Nosey Penguin
Visual Explanation of Cold Calls ending:
:grin: That would have been funnier if it was a penguin.
Chris Messineo
Veteran
Congratulations Jack. It was a lot of fun to be a part of the team.
eustace
Well-known member
Hey sorry it took me so long to comment on this.
Congratulations! This was some fantastic filmmaking here. Acting, pacing, and cinematography were all standouts in this. Really good stuff.
I'm sure others have had this same comment (I haven't looked through the thread much yet), but I think my favorite moment was the dog running across the marble floor. It was perfect! and is a good example of all the great details and nuances that really made this thing shine.
Congrats!
Congratulations! This was some fantastic filmmaking here. Acting, pacing, and cinematography were all standouts in this. Really good stuff.
I'm sure others have had this same comment (I haven't looked through the thread much yet), but I think my favorite moment was the dog running across the marble floor. It was perfect! and is a good example of all the great details and nuances that really made this thing shine.
Congrats!
Ian Slessor
Well-known member
Haven't been here in a while.
Gotta say that was just...enjoyable.
Thanks for a good laugh.
ian
Gotta say that was just...enjoyable.
Thanks for a good laugh.
ian
Robbie Comeau
Como's back. back again
Hey Barry, JDS. Not sure who was more in control of the following:
How'd you achieve the sound on the detective? His voice was all grungy. Was that on set or in post?
Would you mind just going over sound for Cold Calls? Was any of it ADR? Mostly boom or Lav mic?
Thanks, I'm just curious cause the sound I'm getting with the Oktava sounds nothing like Cold Calls.
I still plan on getting the sound DVD/book.
I'm just learning, and I'm very curious and determined in film so I'd love some answers if you guys have some time!
Thanks,
Robbie
How'd you achieve the sound on the detective? His voice was all grungy. Was that on set or in post?
Would you mind just going over sound for Cold Calls? Was any of it ADR? Mostly boom or Lav mic?
Thanks, I'm just curious cause the sound I'm getting with the Oktava sounds nothing like Cold Calls.
I still plan on getting the sound DVD/book.
I'm just learning, and I'm very curious and determined in film so I'd love some answers if you guys have some time!
Thanks,
Robbie
Barry_Green
Moderator
No ADR. All recorded live during the shoot.
Primarily we used an Oktava MK012 mic on an overhead boom. Sometimes, for framing reasons or boom shadow reasons, that simply wasn't possible. In those circumstances I went with a Countryman B6 lavaliere. Examples of the lavaliere include the scene where she talks about the cheese of the month club (the lav was run down her arm and taped to the phone right by her mouth) and the guy in the closet (lavaliere was taped directly onto his prop headset).
Other than that, it was all boom, all the time, always from overhead, always as close as I could possibly get it.
Primarily we used an Oktava MK012 mic on an overhead boom. Sometimes, for framing reasons or boom shadow reasons, that simply wasn't possible. In those circumstances I went with a Countryman B6 lavaliere. Examples of the lavaliere include the scene where she talks about the cheese of the month club (the lav was run down her arm and taped to the phone right by her mouth) and the guy in the closet (lavaliere was taped directly onto his prop headset).
Other than that, it was all boom, all the time, always from overhead, always as close as I could possibly get it.
Robbie Comeau
Como's back. back again
Interesting.
Now, how did you achieve the voice of the characters in post? (It seemed the detective had a deeper voice)
Robbie
Now, how did you achieve the voice of the characters in post? (It seemed the detective had a deeper voice)
Robbie
Robbie it's mostly two things, as Barry said getting the mic close, and also having an actor with that kind of voice. I mean if he and Ben were sitting their talking you'd think he had a deeper voice. Also I asked him to play that fact up. To be as deep and grumbly as he could.
But back to close mic'ing. In this scene it was easy to close mic the actors throughout so it's not one of those scenes that Barry refers to where we had to hide a lavaliere somewhere. There's one line of dialogue in the movie that really sticks out to me as bad sound compared to the rest of it because we were using a hidden lav and it wasn't very close to the actor, but that was not in this scene. As I said, it was ideal in terms of getting the mic close. Most of the sound is from the closeups.
Though the general nature of the sound was primarily due to the talent and the close placement of the mic. Almost all of my dialogue gets a small to sometimes fairly substantial boost in the 3 to 4k range. This is where the consonants are. You have to be careful because overdoing it here can create a shrill unpleasant effect. But with a guy like DJ with lots of rumble it is a great help to add crispness and clarity. That's why you boost this range - for crispness and clarity. A less sophisticated way to mix is just to turn things up and down that you want hear more of. A fancier and more effective way is to try to get things out of the way of each other with EQ. So knowing that consonants live in the 3 - 4k range, you can boost them a bit, or you can cut back your underscoring a bit in that range, or you can do both.
With DJ I'm pretty sure I gave him a boost in the 100-400 range too. That's where you get warmth, bass, and a certain timber of resonance. You have to be careful here too though or things get muddy quick. Especialy if you have a nice score like Herman gave us with a rich supportive low end.
So the cool super tough guy blockbuster ultra present sound of DJ's voice is part
1) just the way he sounds
2) the fact that we captured with fully with close mic placement which gave us a lot to work with
3) a very small boos it post in the low end to his already bassy voice
4) a probably decent sized (3-6db) boost in the 3 - 4k range which accentuates the consonants for clarity and also has the added benefit in this instance of contributing to the grunge effect you're commenting on because it accentuates the "glottal fry" or spit and vibrations bouncing around in the back of the throat (kind of like packing bubble popping sounds)
And hold on ... I've got something for you ... no it's not a shiny quarter
But back to close mic'ing. In this scene it was easy to close mic the actors throughout so it's not one of those scenes that Barry refers to where we had to hide a lavaliere somewhere. There's one line of dialogue in the movie that really sticks out to me as bad sound compared to the rest of it because we were using a hidden lav and it wasn't very close to the actor, but that was not in this scene. As I said, it was ideal in terms of getting the mic close. Most of the sound is from the closeups.
Though the general nature of the sound was primarily due to the talent and the close placement of the mic. Almost all of my dialogue gets a small to sometimes fairly substantial boost in the 3 to 4k range. This is where the consonants are. You have to be careful because overdoing it here can create a shrill unpleasant effect. But with a guy like DJ with lots of rumble it is a great help to add crispness and clarity. That's why you boost this range - for crispness and clarity. A less sophisticated way to mix is just to turn things up and down that you want hear more of. A fancier and more effective way is to try to get things out of the way of each other with EQ. So knowing that consonants live in the 3 - 4k range, you can boost them a bit, or you can cut back your underscoring a bit in that range, or you can do both.
With DJ I'm pretty sure I gave him a boost in the 100-400 range too. That's where you get warmth, bass, and a certain timber of resonance. You have to be careful here too though or things get muddy quick. Especialy if you have a nice score like Herman gave us with a rich supportive low end.
So the cool super tough guy blockbuster ultra present sound of DJ's voice is part
1) just the way he sounds
2) the fact that we captured with fully with close mic placement which gave us a lot to work with
3) a very small boos it post in the low end to his already bassy voice
4) a probably decent sized (3-6db) boost in the 3 - 4k range which accentuates the consonants for clarity and also has the added benefit in this instance of contributing to the grunge effect you're commenting on because it accentuates the "glottal fry" or spit and vibrations bouncing around in the back of the throat (kind of like packing bubble popping sounds)
And hold on ... I've got something for you ... no it's not a shiny quarter
Robbie Comeau
Como's back. back again
Thanks Jack, helped a lot!
What tool did you use to "boost" his audio, cause I don't think you're talking a bout his levels. You said something about his range. You just use the EQ for this?
Also, what's my treat
Robbie
What tool did you use to "boost" his audio, cause I don't think you're talking a bout his levels. You said something about his range. You just use the EQ for this?
Also, what's my treat
Robbie
NEW CUT temporarily available featuring extended Detective Scene.
NEW CUT temporarily available featuring extended Detective Scene.
I meant I boosted certain frequencies in his audio using FCP's three band equalizer.
Robbie. Here's two things for you:
1) You can refer to this.
http://www.digitalprosound.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/mixing_excerpt1.htm
If you ever lose the link, Google "Magic Frequencies" it's been there for years.
2) MORE OF DJ TALKING :grin:
Here's the extended cut of COLD CALLS featuring a new opening, some general tightening, and the extended more surreal scene between DJ (the Detective) and Blanchard:
COLD CALLS EXTENDED CUT
_
NEW CUT temporarily available featuring extended Detective Scene.
I meant I boosted certain frequencies in his audio using FCP's three band equalizer.
Robbie. Here's two things for you:
1) You can refer to this.
http://www.digitalprosound.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/mixing_excerpt1.htm
If you ever lose the link, Google "Magic Frequencies" it's been there for years.
2) MORE OF DJ TALKING :grin:
Here's the extended cut of COLD CALLS featuring a new opening, some general tightening, and the extended more surreal scene between DJ (the Detective) and Blanchard:
COLD CALLS EXTENDED CUT
_
Robbie Comeau
Como's back. back again
Wow, thanks!
Lookin' good.
Robbie
Lookin' good.
Robbie