As You Like It
by William Shakespeare
Adapted and Directed by Tia James
by William Shakespeare
Adapted and Directed by Tia James
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PlayMakers Repertory Company A Recorded Theatrical Performance January 8th - January 21st, 2022 Music: Emily Musolino Movement Director: Tracy Bersley Scenic Design: McKay Coble Scenic & Costume Design: Jan Chambers Lighting Design: Latrice Lovett Sound Design/Location Recording/Mix/Post-Production/Mastering: Brandon Reed Video Editor: Amadio Perez Director of Photography: Christopher Gerson Cast:
Touchstone: Sergio Mauritz Ang, Olivier/Silvius: Anthony August, Duke Frederick/Corin: Jeffrey Blair Cornell, William: Zach Eanes, Duke Senior: Samuel Ray Gates, LeBeau: Julia Gibson, Celia: Tori Jewell, Orlando: Khalil Gibran LeSaldo, Musician: Emily Musolino, Amiens: Yolanda Rabun, Adam: Gwendolyn Schwinke, Rosalind: AhDream Smith, Charles: Benjamin Tarlton, Phoebe: Omolade Wey, Jacques: Kathryn Hunter-Williams |
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In the spring of 2019, I was the sound designer and composer for what would of been the opening production of PlayMakers Repertory Company's upcoming season. In the beginning of the year we were in the first initial design meetings for the show, when what would become the COVID-19 pandemic took place. Like every other theatre across the globe we shut down. The play would go to live in various forms such as monologues in class, and zoom meetings. However, in 2021, as theatres began to discuss how to produce theatre in a pandemic, we sought to once again produce the play. We decided that it was still too soon to stage it in front of a live audience, therefore we decided to film the play as a movie similar to a pro-shot done for productions like Hamilton or Diana. I returned not only as the sound designer, but also as the location recorder, mixer, post-production audio, and mastering for internet and theatrical release.
The process of recording this production was vastly different than producing a regular theatrical show. The set design was created to transform into the Forest of Arden only once and never go back. The play bounces back and forth between the forest and the interior of castles. Therefore, we decided to film all scenes in interior settings first since we would only get one shot at filming the entrance into Arden. For the first part of the process, I merely acted as a location audio recorder, where I tracked all vocals during every scene. At the time, PlayMakers lacked any digital mixer that could record multi-tracks, therefore I ended up recording every scene as a two track stereo mix. If I missed a line, we had to reshoot the scene. I worked with the costume and wardrobe departments to figure out microphone placement with costumes. I served as my own A2 in addition to recording the mix, which ended up being a smoother process than anticipated given that we did multiple takes for each scene. Since I lacked any support, I didn't have anyone to boom mic the show, so I elected to close mic all the actors with wireless transmitters and lav microphones. The total time it took to track the entire show was about a month (all of August 2020).
After the filming process, I took over the role of sound designer as well as mixer, mastering, and any post-production audio and dialogue cleanup. Once the director and editor chose their shots and got a semblance of a first cut of scenes, they would send me the raw audio and low quality video file. I would then mix these drafts and send them to the director for feedback. If the video was adjusted in anyway, I was sent a new draft and would have to adjust my mix accordingly. Until there was a final cut for each scene. I did some audio cleanup using IzoTope RX to help remove background noise such as air conditioning, and room noise. I mixed and layered in the sound design using Logic Pro X, the design consisted mostly of ambience soundscapes and a few spot sound effects, while all the music was handled by our composer Emily Musolino. Before the recording phase, I assisted our composer by gather her as well as our vocalists into a booth in the theatre and we recorded the singing into Emily's tracks, which I would later mix. Then during the filming process, the tracks were lip-synced to help add believability to the scenes. Once we had a final cut of the film, I then mastered it for both internet distribution as well as for a movie theatre mix. The below examples are the internet mastered tracks.
The process of recording this production was vastly different than producing a regular theatrical show. The set design was created to transform into the Forest of Arden only once and never go back. The play bounces back and forth between the forest and the interior of castles. Therefore, we decided to film all scenes in interior settings first since we would only get one shot at filming the entrance into Arden. For the first part of the process, I merely acted as a location audio recorder, where I tracked all vocals during every scene. At the time, PlayMakers lacked any digital mixer that could record multi-tracks, therefore I ended up recording every scene as a two track stereo mix. If I missed a line, we had to reshoot the scene. I worked with the costume and wardrobe departments to figure out microphone placement with costumes. I served as my own A2 in addition to recording the mix, which ended up being a smoother process than anticipated given that we did multiple takes for each scene. Since I lacked any support, I didn't have anyone to boom mic the show, so I elected to close mic all the actors with wireless transmitters and lav microphones. The total time it took to track the entire show was about a month (all of August 2020).
After the filming process, I took over the role of sound designer as well as mixer, mastering, and any post-production audio and dialogue cleanup. Once the director and editor chose their shots and got a semblance of a first cut of scenes, they would send me the raw audio and low quality video file. I would then mix these drafts and send them to the director for feedback. If the video was adjusted in anyway, I was sent a new draft and would have to adjust my mix accordingly. Until there was a final cut for each scene. I did some audio cleanup using IzoTope RX to help remove background noise such as air conditioning, and room noise. I mixed and layered in the sound design using Logic Pro X, the design consisted mostly of ambience soundscapes and a few spot sound effects, while all the music was handled by our composer Emily Musolino. Before the recording phase, I assisted our composer by gather her as well as our vocalists into a booth in the theatre and we recorded the singing into Emily's tracks, which I would later mix. Then during the filming process, the tracks were lip-synced to help add believability to the scenes. Once we had a final cut of the film, I then mastered it for both internet distribution as well as for a movie theatre mix. The below examples are the internet mastered tracks.
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