Victoria Kelly

Cover of "Under the Mountain"
Cover of Under the Mountain

Recently I watched Under The Mountain (dir. Jonathan King). Whilst watching it, I was thinking about my research topic, which has to do with orchestral music by NZ composers in NZ film.

As such, I’ve come across the work of Victoria Kelly, and have decided that it warrants further research. I’m currently listening to the Under The Mountain soundtrack, have discovered Victoria’s website, and her WordPress blog. I’m stoked to see that she composed for The Locals, Fracture, and my all time favourite (NZ) film, Out Of The Blue.

If you do listen to the soundtrack to Under The Mountain, there’s a piece called ‘Now You Run‘, which must have been very heavily influenced by the Jaws theme. Just saying.

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Advertising for Crew

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Hi all,

Two films that I am producing are currently advertising for crew, and one is advertising for cast. Please do feel free to share this information with any interested parties based in Wellington.

Continue reading “Advertising for Crew”

Research Project confirmed

Dear Patricia,
I’m happy to inform you that we have accepted your “Sound on Film” proposal for your FILM 489 Research Project.
All best for your Honours studies.
Russell
I have my superviser confirmed. Now to begin my research into the use of orchestral music by New Zealand Composers in New Zealand Cinema, as representative of a national identity (…or something like that).

One hundred pushups – sounds like a challenge

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From a link on a friend’s old WordPress page (Rose! Update your WordPress) I found a link to one hundred push ups. As push-ups are something I’m not so great at, this sounds like a fantastic idea. I’m going to go for it.

There are also two hundred sit-ups and two hundred squats. Let’s see how the push ups go first.

Sorting domains – took me long enough.

I’ve been meaning to get this sorted out for months. Possibly a year. Possibly longer. Today I can announce that I finally managed to move http://www.masc.co.nz to the MASC WordPress site. There is only one website for MASC now, and it can be maintained anywhere in the world. Huzzah!

Now I just need to make sure it’s full of content.

The Beops – The Gravy documentary

Speaking of John Psathas, the bf shared this on FB and I thought I’d share it with you.

It’s a documentary on a concept band called The Beops. A wonderful way to sell a band. Link to the clip on Vimeo here.

John Psathas documentary tonight

Hi all,

Tonight (Sunday 23 January), at 10.15pm, TV One is screening a documentary called Sound and Fury, taking the viewer on a journey into the life and music of contemporary New Zealand composer John Psathas and his work in 2010.

John Psathas

Continue reading “John Psathas documentary tonight”

FatCircus

My friend, Gregor, is doing a performance thing for his Masters, and is looking for participants.

He’s looking for theatrical collaborators to take part in workshops. The first workshop is next weekend.

FatCircus

Beginning of Saint Punch, a summer project which is associated with my Master of Arts research.
A callout to interested performers who are willing to participate bringing this written text into its performed existence- through Camera, Puppetry and Grand Guignol.

So anyone who is interested, please join the FatCircus group on FB, and ‘like’. You can contact Gregor if you’re available for the workshop tomorrow, or future workshops.

Downloading sound effects

You know when you’re doing sound design really quickly, and you just need a quick .wav of a sound (rather than recording it yourself, which you would do if you had the time)? That’s when websites with free downloads are useful. Usually the website creators and/or uploaders are happy for you to download, sometimes requesting that you credit them for it (especially if their sound file is used in a film). Yay for Creative Commons.

The danger of downloading free samples is that you could waste time trying to find the perfect sound. Browsing takes time, and can suck it up far too much.

Ideally, one should record the sound on-set – mainly so you can get the ambience of the room/location, and also so that you own the rights to the sound recording. Second most ideal is recording it yourself in foley – again so you own the rights to the sound recording. One also has to replicate or fake the same location ambience that was on set. Third most ideal is downloading a file.

So far, I’ve quickly grabbed a chain saw and a light switch, and may grab a cupboard door sound (time dependent) for [SIC]. Unfortunately I’ve only found chainsaw sounds of a chainsaw revving, not of it cutting through something. I’m wondering whether I have the time to buy a pumpkin or watermelon, rev up the chainsaw, and cut through it.

But, where to download from? Which pages are best?

I usually do a google search, (i.e. light switch sound effect free), and open the first few pages on different tabs. Then you can preview the sounds available, and pick which to download and from where. But maybe it would be best to make a few notes on some of the pages available, so I can just go there later…

Continue reading “Downloading sound effects”

Achieving my New Year’s Resolution by selling tents

My New Years Resolution for 2011 is to have less stuff in the house. Saturday 8th was spent setting up a spare tent that I have, and taking photos so I can sell it. Meanwhile I had hired a friend of mine to do yardwork for me, and my flatmate was helping out. So whilst I was laying out tent poles and trying to work out what went where, whilst my garden was getting weeded and trees were being pruned.

My mother had bought a conical pup tent for me in the late 90s for my Guiding camps. I didn’t really use it. There were always other tents. She put it in an emergency kit that she set up, and there it stayed. My sister bought a new tent, that is way easier to set up, and which I inherited when she moved to Australia. So I didn’t need the old tent. And I’ve set up my own emergency kit, so I decided to combine the two.

The plan: set up the tent. Take photos. Upload to TradeMe.

I found it was harder than I remembered. So I updated my Facebook as I went, and created an album, so my friends could make suggestions if I asked for help.

Here’s how my FB went on Saturday.

Continue reading “Achieving my New Year’s Resolution by selling tents”