Is it possible to make instruments sound natural through audio editing like this?

[Brian Drysdale]

The main problem may be that you're unlikely to get a great, distinctive musical soundtrack for your film by working that way.

[Paul R Johnson]

Ryan - being honest, you just want the credits to say everything done by Ryan Wray. The idea of giving ownership of any component to somebody else is something that clearly pains you because you don't trust any of these people, and you feel your opinion out-trumps theirs every time.

I don't think you mean to, but you seem to have an overwhelming need to micro-manage, yet you cannot see it at all. You genuinely believe that your opinions are the most sound, but need to have us and others tell you you are right. Often we cannot do this. We know you're wrong. You dismiss our comments continually, or ask us if we mean ...... when usually, no we don't.

Perhaps you should try to do these things yourself, and learn - all you do is moan about people doing things you don't like. It is ALWAYS their fault when it goes wrong, and when it goes right, it was, of course, your input. Your excuses are sometimes like you get from a child - totally unreasonable and often quite funny! You seem to give sound to somebody who cannot hear bad edits, you have a composer who is a bit gutless and doesn't tell you that you're wrong, just says "OK Ryan". Your recce of the location didn't reveal the noise problem and you didn't;t put anything in place to sort it, just carried on, hoping to fix it in post - which clearly didn't happen.

You really must learn to be assertive and pro-active. If you have poor actors they need sorting first because they are vital. Then you need to look to your team, and cull anyone who is below par. Your script needs honing and the locations secured. You have shown that you are very bad with plan B decisions, and often get forced into them because your Plan A was faulty.

[Greg Miller]

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

If you have poor actors they need sorting first because they are vital.

I very nearly said that the only benefit to the bad music and sound was that it distracted from the bad acting on everyone's part. ;-) In all fairness I should add that the "best friend" is the best of the lot. Unlike everyone else, her delivery sounds natural and she is fairly believable.

[Greg Miller]

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

You really must learn to be assertive and pro-active.

I'll bet you a quarter (or shilling or whatever you use over there) that Ryan will say he sees that as a license to micro-manage even more!

[Ryan Elder]

No I don't want the credits to say everything done by me. The only thing that's going to be done by me is the directing and editing, and some of the producing I think and then everything else like the music and sound mixing goes to those people in credits.

well when it comes to being more assertive and proactive I feel I need to be more persuasive too. Like for example if a location or canceled their location on you for the day, how do you be more persuasive and persuade them to change their mind?

[Brian Drysdale]

That's where people skills come in. Since we don't know the background and the causes of the locations dropping out, we can't say. However, it's unusual for locations etc to drop out on a regular basis.

[Ryan Elder]

Maybe I could use a production manager, because I hear they are good at schmoozing people when it comes to locations, or someone of that sort.

[Paul R Johnson]

Production Managers are not location scouts, and as locations require contracts, they probably wont be on the team at that point. They’re good for keeping the parties amicable once you are there, but you are not good a delegation, so like the composer and mixer, they work with trust and power. They are your most senior representative on site in your producer capacity. They frequently out rank directors, telling them they can or cannot do thinks. When you, as director say, one more, they will be the one whispering in your ear, saying no.

[Brian Drysdale]

Use whatever works for you, on your budget level they will probably be multi tasking, since you probably won't have a large enough crew for specialists like location managers. As Paul says, there's power dynamics going on and the director isn't always the most powerful person around, so there's a balancing act going on.

[Paul R Johnson]

I'm not very good with tact and diplomacy - but one of my jobs as I mentioned, is telling the Director he cannot do something, but via a whisper or a gentle eye contact and head shake, so s/he can retain their authority over the team. You get the producer talking to you in one ear wanting 'extras' and the producers in the other telling you to stop them getting any! One producer said to me "you will have our backing, whatever you decide to do" - it would be me to fire the person with their face on the huge posters, or not them. Faced with this, they can become in private, very humble, then they let everyone know THEY have given the production one more chance to get sorted. That's actually a part of my job I enjoy. Firing people is the worst thing you can do to them - at any level in the heirachy.

[Brian Drysdale]

I once had to fire the producer on a project in development (it was my production company, so I'd hired them). A nice enough person, but I began to realize that they didn't understand the story, its main character or probably the genre.

It's a lot worse firing someone than not hiring them for certain types of projects.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, another filmmaker told me that they would use a production manager when it came to dealing with location owners, not on the scout, but afterwards and just keeping the locations secured. But if that's not their job that I can maybe use someone else to do it.

As for the location, it was said before when I wanted to paint the locations and could not, to just live with the imperfections of the location and make due, so wouldn't that go for audio imperfections with the location as well, or should I try to find better locations for audio and visuals?

[Brian Drysdale]

Always look for for the best locations, go through the full list of options. Then make the decision, many film locations are empty buildings awaiting redevelopment, they may look comfortable but in reality they're cold and damp.

[Paul R Johnson]

Ryan - you have odd priorities. You happily accept, and not worry about poor sound, yet spend time agonising about the colour of the walls. Have you considered the possibility that maybe you need to reprioritise things? People might well be looking a the acting and the sound rather than the tint of a wall?

[Ryan Elder]

I didn't happy accept poor sound, I just went with what I could and was trying not to be perfect, and just tried to face the reality of it. I didn't mean to imply that I accept it happily. As for empty buildings I have looked for those before, but they are hard to find as every building where I live seems to be in use. I can keep looking.