MARCH 2016
We start work on Foley / SFX / Sound Design for this austere piece of NZ cinema.
Foely and BGs will be massive on this one.
First-year acting student Stanley mines his girlfriend's family scandal as material for the end-of-year show at drama school. The result is a moral minefield.
Director: Alison Maclean
Writers: Alison Maclean, Emily Perkins
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5820812/
FEBRUARY 2016
Blow holes, Crashes, Caves, Waves and Wash for an upcoming 100pc Water Foley & SFX Library.
FEBRUARY 2016
Capturing the perfect island slack tide and genuine coconut palm tree sway. #SPF666
For an upcoming 100pc Water Foley & SFX Library.
We spent considerable time and effort sound designing, foleying, editing and mixing 10 short films about New Zealands iconic K Road. watch them all for free right here !
http://www.krdstories.com/
One legendary street.
Ten unexpected stories.
Anything could happen.
BROKE
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY JAMES SOLOMON
A young man's mission for milk leads to an awkward confrontation with a local drifter.
A LOAD OF TROUBLE
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY GRANT LAHOOD
A lonely man, on his weekly visit to the laundromat, goes on a strange voyage of discovery to solve one of the great mysteries of life.
AROHA
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY NIKKI SI’ULEPA
A love story that’s not as simple as ‘boy meets girl’
FRITTERS
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY KARYN CHILDS
An overprotected boy escapes into the nightlife of K Road where a chance encounter gives him a taste of real freedom.
BOUND
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY JAMES SOLOMON
The streets can be dangerous at night, but sometimes not as dangerous as the bedroom…
THE EVENT
WRITTEN BY DOMINIC HOEY (TOURETTES)
DIRECTED BY EDDY FIFIELD
An exceptionally hungover Seff tries to piece together fragments of the night before as he is accosted on all sides by assorted locals accusing him of a mysterious lewd act.
PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER PLEASE
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY JANE SHERNING WARREN
When a conflicted young artist offends her pretentious boyfriend after he steals the limelight at their joint exhibition she is chased only to be saved by a protective drag queen with a pool cue.
$CRATCH
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY CLINT RARM
A slice-of-life comedy about two lovable hustlers with an entrepreneurial spirit trying to scratch a living on the fringes of K Road.
CLOSED
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY PETRA CIBILICH
In a K Road laundromat where creeps and regulars stray in and out, Anna fights a broken drier and the urge to talk sense into a wayward woman.
SUGAR HIT
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY ROSEANNE LIANG
As three friends debrief over tea after a mysterious incident, their sugar hit has a unintentionally mind-altering result.
DECEMBER 2015
Going deep into the NZ bush for the weekend with the microphones to help our foley sound even wilder for the feature we're shooting next week.
he gentle art of being a tree.
Shooting Foley for "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" today.
NOVEMBER 2015
Hung and talked foley and noise with composer Jonathan Snipes the other afternoon. The man behind the music & sound of Excess Flesh. Starry Eyes, The Nightmare and some of my favourite underground bands clipping. & Captain Ahab.
More info on JS and his work here:
http://jonat8han.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1751726/
JULY 2015
☠ Ash vs Evil Dead foley in full swing and utilising all the important artist tools. ☠
Man with the Golden Hands vs Man in a Golden Helmet.
Sequels have a bad rep. Reboots arguably get it worse.
Some are obvious attempts to squeeze a few dollars more out of an established brand, others add depth and development to the cinematic world that preceded it. AvED definitely falls into the latter, so this is very cool news about a little sequel season to a reboot.
Ash vs Evil Dead S01E01 premiere on Starz on the US 31st October. Get ready to have your brains spooked out !
APRIL 2015
Jonathan Bruce graduated with a Diploma in Audio Engineering from SAE Auckland in 2008. Nowadays, Jonathan is a successful audio post production professional specialising in recording, performing, editing and mixing foley. He has eight years of full time experience working on hundreds of episodes of US, UK & NZ television, scores of feature films, shorts and documentaries. Jonathan is also a founding member of the audio collective The Masters of Foley, an international community of audio post professionals dedicated to recording unique and distinctive sound libraries.
What inspired you to enter into the career you’ve chosen?
The ability to earn money and have a fulfilling career in making noise. I had been a noise musician and jungle producer for the better part of a decade before fully realising that there was a genuine and internationally recognized film industry blossoming in New Zealand. My skill set involved making noise and chopping up 180bpm+ breakbeats; both turned out to be highly transferable skills in a foley department. The ability to generate unique sound effects from real life objects while editing breaks easily transitioned to quickly editing the millions of footsteps on Power Rangers.
What are your fondest memories of your time at SAE?
It's kinda nerdy, but probably having educational breakthroughs that inspired creative work. For instance, our lecturer Mal teaching us about the differences in DVD-Audio vs CD-DA (Red Book) inspired me to create music for a format which allowed for 5.1 surround and greater theoretical dynamic range etc. Either that or the Digital Studio overnight shift with an industrial metal band (N.U.T.E) - that was pretty brutal!
How did studying at SAE help lead to where you are now?
One of the first things I noticed when I started contacting audio post studios after graduating SAE was that employers were actually pretty interested in my test score transcripts. It showed at a glance where my strengths were, and it showed them I had a solid fundamental understanding of the properties of sound, microphone placement, signal flow and basic acoustics. This is all mandatory knowledge in any career in sound.
What are some of the highlights of your career so far?
I'd like to say we make our own luck, however I feel like I got really lucky with timing at least. Straight out of SAE I landed in the foley depart of The Inside Track working on seasons of both Power Rangers and Legend of the Seeker. I went freelance in 2010 and was immediately picked up to be in the foley department on Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Vengeance & then War of the Damned. Moving to Los Angeles in 2013 was a massive opportunity for my career and I was able to branch out into SFX editing and ADR mixing, which meant I got to work one-on-one with acting talent like Daniel Radcliffe, John Hamm and Danielle Panabaker etc (if you're into that type of thing).
My most recent career highlight however, was getting the chance to work in the foley department with Oscar winners John Sanacore (Birdman / The Hurt Locker) and Jeff Wilhoit (Kill Bill / Game of Thrones). These guys are industry legends and even after being in foley for eight years I felt like a beginner learning the ropes again. Working on the NZ films Deathgasm and Turbo Kid, and Ash vs Evil Dead television series with the guys at The Foley Room in Auckland was genuinely great fun too.
What advice would you give to students aspiring to become successful in their field?
To get anywhere in the industry you need to be incredibly self-motivated, determined and able to face waves of rejection! Once you get your foot in the door though, I recommend sitting in on as many edit and mix sessions as possible, continually (and quietly) learning from everyone above and around you. Then don't stop doing that. And, of course, Be excellent to each other.
Click here to view Jonathan's profile on IMDb for a full work discography.
