Almost two years ago Bjorn and I started doing a lot of hiking throughout the Cascades, scouting various areas that would eventually become the locations for all the shoots. After a long summer of all day filming, late night prop building, more hiking than I care to do anytime soon, and the countless hours that Jody, Bjorn, and all the actors put into post production, we’re done. Well, close enough to call it done. We have a final version of the film with all the sound effects, music, and titles and credits. I sat down on New Year’s Eve and watched the film all the way through and can tell you that I’m quite pleased with how things turned out. Pretty nice to see something that you put so much effort into come out as well as it did. I want to give everyone involved in the process of this film a huge thanks, without you we couldn’t have made this film.

So now that we’re done with all the post production stuff, what’s next? The first order of business is arranging for a private screening of the film, which Bjorn is in the process of setting up. Once he gets all the details ironed out, he’ll let everyone know, probably by email and here on the blog. While Bjorn is working on the details for the screening, Jody is working on getting things in order for submission to a handful of film festivals. The festival at the top of our list is the Seattle International Film Festival, since it’s in our backyard and our movie was shot around here. We’d love to get into Sundance, Tribeca, Vancouver or even the Oslo Film Festival, but it’s all a work in progress.

We’re in the final stages of the post-production, pretty much the only thing left to do is add in the credits to the film. Sound effects, foley, and voice overs are all finished and the music isn’t too far behind in its final mix. So while it may seem like nothing’s happening, it really is. We’ve even started researching venues for the premiere.

Our existing list of credits is just about complete, if you helped out at all during the filming please double check it to ensure that you’re on it. Unfortunately, some of you that were listed on an earlier credit list may have been taken off the latest list. We really do want to give credit where it’s due, we just need appearance releases from everyone in order to put them on the credit reel. We’re pretty flexible and would like to make sure that everyone gets credited for all the hard work performed. If there is something that you would like specific credit for (e.g. building props, wrangling deer, stunts), please let us know. And yes, it has to be something that you actually did.

Not on the list? Download the appearance release form, fill it out, sign it, and mail it to the address below. We absolutely must have all releases by Dec. 1, 2006. The editor will be putting the final touches on the film shortly after that and we want to make sure that everyone makes it into the credits.

Warrior’s End
c/o Bjorn Anderson
2714 70th Ave SE
Mercer Island, WA 98040

Bjorn looks on as John Symonds records his lines in the studio.

As I write to you today I am pleased to say that I am currently looking at John Symonds at the microphone as he works on his voiceover lines. We’ve had a good week and a half so far in the studio, and things are going really well. Everyone has taken to the ADR process quickly and we’re pretty impressed with the talent. We’ve also seen some heroic efforts and dedication to the project put forth which we really appreciate (Phil, 4am, you know what I’m talking about).

The team we’ve worked with here at Bad Animals have been very cool and enthusiastic, and they work some major wizardry. I can’t wait to hear the foley/sound design mix. That’s all for now, keep checking the blog and you’ll know what we know.

John Symonds in the recording booth.

Bjorn sitting at the control panel, happy that ADR is finally happening.

One of the last pieces of the puzzle needed to make this movie happen is finally falling into place. Since we relied very heavily on the mics built in to the cameras, we didn’t come away with much dialogue that could actually be used in the final film. We picked up all the highway noise, airplanes, the gears turning the tape inside the camera, and couldn’t always capture the voices we needed since we weren’t always close to the actors. As a result of this, we’re going to have to head into the studio for a process known as ADR, which will give us the quality sound we need on the film.

Over the last few weeks, Bjorn has been in contact with the guys over at Bad Animals, trying to get things worked out for when we can start recording. Unless things change (as they’ve been known to do, especially when we’ve been dealing with sound), we’re heading in later this week and should hopefully finish everything up by the end of September. If eveyone brings their “A” game to the recording sessions, we may even be done earlier.

So while it’s not as exciting as some of the shoots we’ve done, the sound will definitely be a huge part of the film when it’s all said and done. I saw the first 10 minutes of the film with the score a couple weekends ago and was amazed. I didn’t realize how much the sound and music add to a film until that point. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the ADR process goes well and we end up with some great sound to go with the great visuals. We’ll keep you posted as we go, we want this film done just as much as you guys do, if not more.