Involvement:
- Music Composition
- Sound Supervision
Mela Hudson’s final film was unfortunately wrought with tragedy. It’s producer, Jimmy Gadd, who had worked with Ishikawa on previous projects, contacted David Lawrie to work on the Sound Design and Foley for the film, which had already been picture-locked, and had been soundtracked by production library music.
Unfortunately, during the post production of the film, Mela took her own life.
This was a shock to everyone involved, which goes without saying.
After speaking with her family, we decided to continue with the production, in a way of making this her swan song. By bringing together our collective expertise and networks, we were able to dedicate our free time to bring this film to life.
Jimmy’s connections in Hollywood and the wider film industry secured significant exposure for the film, as well as creating the “Mela Hudson Award” at the First Glance Film Festival.
Regardless of the situation behind the eventual release of the film, we are incredibly proud of the project. The gravity of the situation only amplifies this.
FOLEY/SOUND DESIGN
This film started out as an independent passion project. Whilst the production audio was admirable, there was a lot of scope for foley and sound design. Because the picture was already locked with abstract time-warps and imagery, a great deal of artistic license was granted to David. Mela was very happy with the direction, and it came together quickly.
MUSIC COMPOSITION
It was unclear as to whether Mela had secured the licenses for the placeholder music, and as so, we decided that it would be best if bespoke music were composed for the film. David took this challenge on, creating a score that differed sonically from the placeholder, whilst also fitting with the weighty subject and mood of the film.
SOUND SUPERVISION
Upon hearing of the tragic circumstances surround the film, WestWind offered two of its in-house engineers as mix engineers, and David Lawrie was promoted to Sound Supervisor. Over the course of a long day, in-house re-recording mix engineers Stephen Fitzmaurice and David S. Di Pietro worked with David to finalise both the surround and stereo mixes of the film.
Here at Ishikawa we are proud of every project on which we work, but this one has left an indelible mark. We hope Mela’s legacy lives on through this harrowing film.