Previsualisation Audio Dub

Question

Ive recently been in talks with a director of a low budget feature film who is currently at previsualisation stage. He has asked me to come on board as not only sound designer, but location sound mixer as well which i'm over the moon about. However, he's asked me to provide a full audio dub for the previsualisation which - i quote - "Can then easily be transfered onto the finished film" as it wont be too far off the previs?!?!?!

Now, i have worked on another low budget feature film which didnt have previs but we did create some sizzle reels of the film at full audio quality to show to sponsers and try and raise money - which i get, but is it common practice to produce a FULL audio dub for a previs (which is esentially an animation) of the FULL film?!?! I feel like i'd be doing the same work 3x over...

He seems to know what hes talking about in terms of my requierments and is happy to assist but has no idea how audio post production works. This just seems a bit much to ask - especially low budget.

Anyone had to do this before?? Any help would be grand thanks,

Gillian

Answer 1

My experience isn't hugely extensive, but i've never heard of that (at least not for a live action - it is live action, yes?). Maybe you could put together some sketches of things that you can see as being sound motifs for the film eg. time lapses, atmos for a particular location, transitions and other key FX.

This seems to be the other end of the collaboration spectrum - too much! It's awesome that he's taking sound this seriously, but it seems a little over the top. Particularly because films (especially low budget) can change drastically during the shoot or picture edit.

I'd talk to him about narrowing down specific sound elements for you to create sketches of. This will be great for giving you some influence on the film in pre-prod, and maybe even help out the picture editor, but you should be free to adapt your final sound design to whatever the film ends up becoming. What he's suggested is way too much work, and for minimal payoff. It's also creatively dangerous, as you run the risk of the people involved becoming too used to your pre-vis sounds and choosing them over what you end up doing in post (which will probably be a lot better). It's that whole temp music attachment thing.

Good luck!