When do you say I'm done?

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sludge_roach

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I thought I would get everybody's take on most likely a common problem in post for low budget productions. A project is given to you and you are told it needs to be cleaned up in post, basically I need you to polish this turd. You get the track and the first thing you say is you need to re shoot the entire thing... clearly this isn't possible. ADR is out of the question. The script is so dead and dry that there isn't much you can add to liven it up.

So you go at it and clean it up as much as you can, noise removal, foley, sfx, tones, mixing... everything you can to make this thing sound good.

When do you get to the point where you have to say there is nothing I can do to make this any better, though it still is crap.

Do you say leave my name out of the credits?

Do you think that the film maker will look down on you for not being able to magically make his **** turn to gold, or does he understand in fact that it is ****?

Lastly how do you make sure you will get hired again even though you couldn't live up to impossible expectations?
 
sludge_roach said:
... basically I need you to polish this turd. You get the track and the first thing you say is you need to re shoot the entire thing... clearly this isn't possible. ADR is out of the question. The script is so dead and dry that there isn't much you can add to liven it up.
Click to expand...

That's when I say I'm done.
 
you getting paid or is it a freebie?

Paid = Put up with it and do the best you can

Feebie = Walk away and save yourself the stress
 
It was just a general question. But I have had this situation come up a couple times and I always put up with it and do the best I can. Just wondered if anyone else has had this situation and/or what do you do.
 
Yep!
Life's too short....
But back in the "Where's the next meal" days, as long as the client had money and wanted more, I had time.
 
This is actually a really good question, and a situation I've found myself in several times.

When I was approached to do sound design/editorial on any short or indy feature I would ask to see a rough cut of the picture (because they won't have picture lock by the time they approach you...usually). From there I could get an idea of what I would be in for. That's the point where I would say "yay" or "nay" on the project. If the project is paid, and I could tell there would need to be ADR, or god forbid, re-shoots needed, I would inform them before I would accept the job, and ask if they are willing to pay for that. If they say no, then I would decline the project. However, even going through that, I had one slip by my critical eye on the first viewing, and it was about halfway through that I realized there was not much I could do beyond what I was already doing to fix the problems, and I would make it clear to the director/picture editor/producer/camera op that the project was at a certain point where it's only going to get "so good", and there is nothing else that can be done if ADR and re-shoots are out of the question. I offered to finish the project as-is, or, they could take it to someone else if they wanted to. Either way, I didn't want my name in the credits, or in IMDB. I ended up finishing the project, and I don't think it's ever seen the light of day since then.

But getting to at least see a rough cut before you say yes is pretty important. I've had some people tell me "no" to that request, and then I just wouldn't take the project, even if it paid.
 
Nobody reads the sound credits anyway ;~(

You have to set limits. If they are paying an hourly they will generally do that for you. The director/ producer will probably not understand why you don't make it just like the Hollywood blockbuster... don't you have that plugin?

Now if only there was a performance enhancing plugin for scripts and actors...


BTW it's Foley not foley.
 
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Noiz is correct. Foley (and I am often guilty of using the lower case) is an actual name of the person who started the art of doing Foley. You can read a little bit about him here, and the article does capitalize "Foley" when they use it in terms of a "Foley artist". Many people, including myself, did not know this for a while.
 
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Alright, folks. I've cleaned up in here... once again. Off-topic isn't always a terrible thing, but when it turns nasty it's time to shut it down.

Perhaps the Forum Guidelines don't get enough attention around here, so I'll summarize: keep the attitude out of here. it isn't helpful, it isn't productive, and it clogs the forums with insults and arrogance. Plus, it's more work for the mods to go through and scrub all the graffiti off the walls. So, this thread is now closed. Please think before you post.
 
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