Interest Level
A few months ago, I had the privilege of meeting "The Angry Filmmaker" himself, attending this workshop, and hanging out with him talking shop for a few hours afterwards. Both in person and on these DVDs, Kelley's dynamic personality, war stories, examples from the films, and overall enthusiasm for great filmmaking keeps me riveted and gets me fired up about great sound all over again!
A scene from "Kicking Bird" is used to illustrate how you should direct extras to pretend to talk, but not randomly -- as if they are carrying on conversations.
Reusability
Having been presented with most of this material at the workshop a few months ago, I was actually surprised at how interesting I found it to watch it again on DVD. Repetition is one of my pet peeves, but honestly I remained "into it" for the entire runtime of watching both DVDs in succession. (And I will definitely be watching them again, too.) Kelley refers to specific scenes in films he's worked on, and many of those he can't get the rights to show in this set. I for one plan to rent each film, one at a time, study those scenes, then watch the film in its entirety to see how they play in context.
Value vs. Cost
I think this DVD set is an amazing value. And now, it's even better because, for a limited time, Kelley has decided to knock $10 off the original price of $42.95 for the DVD/workbook combo and $34.95 for the DVD alone, so the combo is is now $32.95 and the DVD is only $24.95. For scarcely more than the cost of renting the Hollywood films Kelley references, you get invaluable input on film sound from someone who has worked with the big boys and has chosen to walk away from that and do his own thing in micro-cinema filmmaking! This is a resource that will challenge existing perceptions on sound design and change the way you listen to films and the world around you.
A scene from "The Gas Café" is used to show how low level background noise like refrigerators, etc. can be covered up with sound design elements.
Overall Comment Kelley Baker has a way of taking something that very few filmmakers understand and making it seem not quite as daunting. He focuses on the why of what we're doing with sound in a film, and that's really the most important part of the decision-making process. If you have problems knowing how to pull these things off, then this will inspire you to learn a piece of audio software or, better yet, hire (or collaborate with) someone who knows their stuff. The point is that knowing ways sound is used and why will enable you to give more intelligent input to whoever is doing sound design and will therefore enable you to make better films!
Comprehension
10.0
Depth
of Information
8.5
Interest
Level
10.0
Reusability
10.0
Value
vs. Cost
10.0
Overall Score
9.7
John Howard has been perfecting sound as an audio engineer for over 10 years. When he's not reviewing gear and software for Microfilmmaker Magazine, he's in the studio recording vocalists and bands, as well as doing post for TV shows and films, through his audio post/recording company, Oakwood Sound Design.
