Looking for a good laugh this spring?
We know just the thing to get your comedy taste buds tingling. New mini series The Players drops soon, a project that we had the pleasure of providing sound design and final mix for.
Directed by Jack Donnelly (Atlantis, Misfits) and featuring standout cameos from Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter, Justic League, The OA) and Joel Mellinger (United We Fall, The Bill), The Players follows two struggling performers, Dario and Jasper, as they travel across the UK encountering an array of peculiar individuals on their way. From being threatened with a crossbow wielding child, to an extreme case of jock rash. These lads just can’t catch a break.
Production sound (also sometimes referred to as location audio) can be notoriously challenging to deal with. From wind noise and background traffic to the sound of clothes rustling against a lavalier microphone; you need to be prepared to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in when it comes time to not only cleaning the dialogue for intelligibility but also being creative with the storytelling in the mix.
Our first port of call involved preparing the dialogue, aligning phase between the boom and packs and then removing unwanted background noise, lav rustle and plosives etc. Once the dialogue mics were in a good operating window, we began to have some fun with adding colour and warmth to the actors’ speech.
Convolution reverbs and delays were also used to place Dario and Jasper in various acoustic spaces such as a toilet cubicle (glamorous, we know!), a forest and a theatre, adding depth and realism to each scene.
Once the dialogue was in order, the foley, spot sound effects and ambience pass can begin, which really brings the scenes to life, carefully layering everything from subtle room tone to a custom designed sound of one of the characters making love to a rubber doll (yes… you read that correctly – and no, we didn’t use a blow up doll).
Needless to say, many laughs and chuckles were heard echoing through the building as we progressed through the series. One catchphrase from the show in particular has become a staple amongst The Futz Butler Team, but I’ll leave you to figure that one out on your own.
The Players is scheduled for release this spring. Watch this space!
