Vagabond creates contemporary noir soundscape for feature film 'Crime Fiction'

09/01/2006

Chicago-based independent filmmakers Will Slocombe and Graham Ballou enlisted sound design and audio post-production company Vagabond Audio to create the audio environment for their new feature "Crime Fiction." Vagabond Audio Sound Designer Drew Weir's collaboration with director Slocombe and producer Ballou mixes classic noir styles with modern touches to create a rich aural base for the dark comedy.

"Crime Fiction" tells the story of James Cooper, an unsuccessful writer desperately seeking his own success. Hilary, James' girlfriend who is also a writer, has already become the toast of the literary crowd while James toils as a textbook editor. When Hilary turns up dead, suddenly James has inspiration for his new novel.

"We definitely wanted a very stylized feel to the audio,” says Ballou. "We wanted a soundscape that alluded to the pulp detective films of the '40s and '50s, but also one that allowed the audience to experience 'Crime Fiction' as a contemporary piece of cinema. Drew did a great job of blending the present and past in this respect — of incorporating elements of noir while allowing 'Crime Fiction's' unique genre to shine through."

In one sequence which takes place off-screen, a woman is shoved through a wooden window frame and crashes to the ground three stories below. Weir's intense layers of sound create a realism that is believable and shocking. During another scene, in which James has locked himself in a room to begin writing the novelization of Hilary's murder, Weir adeptly weaves layers of realistic audio that increasingly becomes a stylized audio reflection of James' mindset. In a crucial sequence near the end of the film, Ballou and Slocombe called upon Weir's talents to create an explosive action sequence.

"We wanted to recreate a Hollywood-style action scene using only sound design," says Slocombe. "The shot was just a track across the faces of an audience watching a movie. But Vagabond created a spectacular feel for the whole scene by overlaying a whole host of gun shots, helicopter noises, thunder claps, and, most importantly, hard-boiled crime fiction dialogue."

In addition to sound design, Vagabond Audio recorded the score for "Crime Fiction" and used elements of the score to create more drama and tension throughout the film. David Bashwiner's original composition was performed by the University of Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Barbara Schubert, featuring Peter Kupfer, Eric Pancer, Katherine Szadiewicz and Michael Hobaugh.

"David had composed about five or six music cues for use throughout the film," says Weir. "When I heard the demo tracks for the first time, I thought, ‘Wow this is really powerful. It's really driving the film.’ I thought we should embrace the classical nature of the music so we did a simple stereo recording of a performance at the UC concert hall from the point of view of the audience. This gave the score a very natural feel that added to the overall mood, like a silent movie that used real musicians for accompaniment or what you experience in live theater."

Taking cues from the orchestral recording, Weir conceived of an opening sequence design that completely delighted the filmmakers.

"In the film's opening 30 seconds, we see the protagonist dragging a body around the back of his apartment trying to cover up a crime," says Ballou. "Drew saw this scene as the film's prelude or overture, of sorts. Consequently, he dropped in audio of orchestra members warming up — of violins tuning, horns blasting, etc. The sound builds very quickly, and then fades into applause. The effect is jarring; we see the protagonist's crime as the prelude to his subsequent fame and downfall."

"The soundscape was all Drew's idea, and I think it really makes the opening come alive," says Slocombe. "The whole scene, visually and narratively, was supposed to operate as a foreshadowing prelude. Vagabond's design completely enhanced that effect."

Slocombe and Ballou found Weir and Vagabond Audio Executive Producer Risé Sanders to be incredibly valuable partners in the creation of "Crime Fiction."

"It was a breeze to work with Vagabond," says Ballou. "I really feel that the project became very important to Drew and Risé, and it's great to have that kind of support from your post team. They delivered on time, worked excessively long hours when we needed to make a festival deadline, and were always available for consultation."

"I was in good hands," says Slocombe. "I could be creative and open and free, without fear of censorship, but I was also well aware that if something wasn't going to work, Drew would tell me so. Simply put, it was a very nurturing, very friendly environment."

"Working on ‘Crime Fiction’ was a great creative challenge,” says Weir. “It called for sound design to establish a mood that carries the film through quiet interior moments to chase scenes and murders — even telling the story when the action takes place just off screen. Collaborating with the filmmakers to get all this right even before all the editing and music was finished was a great experience and a wonderful opportunity to showcase in long format the type of work I often do for 30-second commercials."

“Crime Fiction” will appear on the international film festival circuit in 2007.