The next Tin Hat Productions film, Battle Over Britain, is coming soon. I’ve been working with Tin Hat since 2012 – love seeing all the familiar and fresh faces at the company. I play Intelligence Officer in this production.
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Subtitles
This Vox video explains why you sometimes squint your ears at the screen in utter confusion. Yes, your ears. And there’s more to it than mumbly actors.
Ahem…fix it in post?
I found myself at Grand Central Recording Studios in London this week doing some ADR for an upcoming television show. Automated or Additional Dialogue Replacement is needed when the dialogue recorded during the shoot isn’t ‘clean’ – there might be distracting background noise, a corrupt audio file, a dodgy accent, etc. So, into the recording studio we go with the audio Wizards to make those ropey lines sound good and shiny.
It’s an art form in itself to match a vocal performance at a time and place far removed from the day it was shot. Back then I was on a set, in costume, opposite other characters. Now I’m behind the glass of a silent booth, headphones on in front of a mic, watching my performance on a screen. And I’m watching very closely – the rhythm and tempo, the level of intensity, every pause and hesitation, each subtle movement of lips and breath – trying to match that performance perfectly and as naturally as possible.
It’s tricky. I can’t say I love it. I’m not the only one:
This was by no means my first foray into ADR – I remember repeatedly roaring “Nutty!” at the very same GCRS facility years ago. I’ve done numerous sessions on other films – I’ll be back in the studio with Tin Hat Productions in a couple of weeks for their next feature film, Battle Over Britain. So, despite the technical hoop-jumping involved, ADR is an important part of film-making and worth learning to love. It’s also astounding what can be achieved – around 80% of the dialogue we did in Lancaster Skies was fixed in post production. It can also be pretty darn funny – Bad Lip Reading is a YouTube channel based entirely on this process. Warning: Star Wars will not be the same after viewing the following video:
A Welsh Dragon to breathe fire into your day
I’ve always been struck by the level of gravitas and charge Anthony Hopkins brings to his roles. He has an amazing ability to embody the acute vulnerability of the human condition in all its limitation and then, through some kind of iron willpower, to take full possession of the forces of Nature and show us what is possible. In the clip above, one sees this in the man himself – I too, wish to someday be an ‘old fool’ like Hopkins.
Some of my favourite Anthony Hopkins characters:
Jeffrey Mundell 