You have to be so careful in Paris – danger lurks round every corner.

Big desk, lots of buttons.  I asked how many tracks of sound we have; it tops out at around 150 tracks.  Give or take.

Pic with the screen has been blurred, (just so this doesn’t start circulating as a still from SH). Obviously we don’t mix to a blurry picture

Lots of interesting things on the horizon right now. Can’t tell you exactly what but I’d say (hopefully) that 2012 is shaping up to be a year full of explosions and gunfire. Also, I think I might do some TV for the first time (at least as a director) which I’m excited about.

As I write this, I’m in a sound mixing stage in Paris working on the final mix for Silent Hill. Before me is a huge screen and massive mixing desk and a half dozen computers linked up with all the sounds for the movie. The team is made up of six people, all dealing with different parts of the soundscape – dialogue, music, sound effects, foley and two mixers who are controlling how it all comes together. I sit and listen and offer comments and suggestions and as is so often the case with my job it is really just a lot of supervising and telling other people what I want and not a lot of actually doing stuff myself. I’m much happier with hands on. Having said that, the team with me here are all superb at what they do and many of them worked on the first film, so I offer zero expertise on any practical level. But I know what I want the movie to sound like, so I’m pretty specific about how it all should end up. I should really learn how to use this ProTools software as I love playing around with sound design. It was one of the great pleasures of making my early short films – creating the sounds and basic foley for the crappy stuff I was shooting. It’s amazing how great sound design can completely save a shitty moment and even utterly rewrite it in some cases. And boy, did I need it on my first shorts.

Anyway, I’ve got three weeks of this final mix and I’ll try to post some progress reports along the way.

I enjoy writing the blog but always had a nagging sense of guilt about not doing it enough. I wanted to really build it up, write essay and start discussions but apathy and being too busy are deadly bedfellows.  But I felt the blog became sidetracked;  I never wanted this blog to become a Silent Hill news forum, I just wanted it to be about stuff that I was doing and thinking. Of course, many, many people who come here are only here because of Silent Hill and I respect that but it still doesn’t mean I’m going to feel an obligation to post things I don’t want to.  Silent Hill has been a massive and exciting part of my life this year but that journey is coming to an end soon and I’m going to move onto other things.  All that’s left is the mix, the final delivery of a few straggling VFX and a couple more days of grading and then I’ll be handing my movie over to the powers that be and it’s up to them to decide what happens to it.  I’ve said enough about release dates and trailers and promo stuff here to last me a long while, so there’s nothing new to add there.  I’ll share what I’m doing when I can.  It’ll just have to be enough, I’m afraid.

Over Xmas, I’ve spent every day – apart from Xmas day itself – writing a new script (actually, I was displacing instead of writing but they’re almost the same thing) but also, listening to and giving notes on the SH score as it was coming in.  Jeff  and Akira have been working all through  the holidays to get stuff together for when our final mix begins in a week or so’s time.  It sounds terrific so far.  All new stuff but with lots of cool themes and ideas from Akira’s previous work.  We’re up against a deadline here and it needed to be approved so it can go an be orchestrated and prepared.  No rest for the wicked.  I was also toying with some footage, trying to cut a short tease trailer that I liked but never did quite finish it.  Partly that’s because of…

…Skyrim.  I’ve spent waaay too much time in my new gaming chair and hunting dragons.  Blame Bethesda, I say.

Very excited by Prometheus trailer.  ’Alien’ was the reason I became obsessed with movies so seeing this vision return after over a generation is  pretty intense.  Will the film be any good?  Ridley Scott is my hero as a film visionary but boy, is he patchy these days.  If the script is weak, so is the film.   But my faith is strong and I did go through every damn frame of the trailer to glean what I could.  Space Jockey back story!!? I’ve waited 30 years to find that one out; though I’ve written the movie dozens of times in my head anyway.  Wonder what they’ll come up with?

But above all, it was just really damn nice to be at home for the first time in many months. I hope you all had a chance to take some down time.  Tomorrow (at least in the UK) brings in 2012.  As we all know, it’s going to be the end of the world soon (damn those Mayans and their inability to correctly make a calendar; run out of numbers? well, that must mean it’s the end of the world!), so I’m planning to do as much as a I can.  If you’re interested, I’ll keep posting to this blog and share a little with you.

Thanks for visiting.  If you’re partying tonight (whenever your tonight is) have a great time and I wish you the very best for 2012.

MJB.

EDIT – Thanks so much to those of you who have posted kind words in response to this news.   Kinda makes me wonder if it’s worth carrying on but maybe with a new approach…

Of course Silent Hill is horror – pure, dark, intense visceral, psychological and character driven horror.  That’s what the games are, that’s what I’m trying to deliver with this movie.  No ifs, no buts.  If it succeeds or not, that’s for the audience to decide but jeez, how could you even THINK it was an action movie?  What is this, Resident Evil?  I know everyone wants a poster, a trailer and release date and I’m here to tell you, I want those things too.  I’ve explained that this entirely for the producers and distributors to decide.  Don’t ask me.  I have no control.  All I’m doing now is grading the movie, supervising the visual effects, helping design the sound, working with the composers and trying to make it all as good as it can be.  Everything else is marketing.  I’m a film maker.

Clear?

Silent Hill post production is ticking along nicely.  The dialogue pre-mix began this past week, the digital grade also started up but this first week has simply  been about balancing the right eye and left eye of the stereo image to make sure they match.  I’m hearing the very first musical ideas and still watching FX shots come in daily.  I’m very much in a supervisory capacity at the moment as everyone else is doing their job and all I can do is ask for revisions or changes as they go.

As there’s no release weekend on the cards just yet no one is rushing.  I know that the producers are actively discussing when would be a good date and they spend a lot of time looking at calendars and seeing what other movies are released when.  It’s a bit of an art trying to find the right timing by all accounts.  The wrong weekend or going up against a movie (or even big game release) that takes away a potential audience or will cost a huge amount to compete against can kill the movie.  History is littered with films that died because of bad release dates.  Obviously I want them to find the best date but neither do I want them to wait forever.  I’m really just an observer in these matters because I’m not a producer and don’t have the millions of dollars on the line that they do.  A decision seems to imminent but even when there is one, I’m not going to be able to tell you guys.  It’s all very secretive, for some reason.   It’s the same with Solomon Kane – I have news which is very exciting but can’t say a thing yet.

The sound design team haven’t yet completed a full pass at the film but each day I can see so many layers of new sounds being added. I know that when it comes to the final mix there’s going to be lots to play with.  Same goes for music.  Early days on this one so I’m only hearing the very basic ideas that have yet to be fully developed.  This last week has been involved with ADR or looping as it’s sometimes called (depends where you’re from).  It’s basically bringing actors back into the sound studio to re-record dialogue that isn’t useable for one reason of another.  I’ve had Rhada, Malcolm, Deborah, Kit, Adelaide and Sean these past few weeks.  Sometimes it’s a good opportunity to change the nuance of a performance or even to add entirely new lines.  Some actors really like doing this but many hate the process and I can understand why.  It’s very hard to re-create that moment of a performance in the sterile world of a sound booth. Still, if you’re a modern film actor, it’s an essential skill and it has to be done well.  This coming week I’m doing ‘crowd’ sessions and ‘monster’ sessions  - and you can figure out what they’re going to be yourselves.

Lots of comments and questions about release dates and trailers.   Once again, I’ll just repeat here – it is NOTHING to do with me.  I’m not a producer on this movie.  My job is to deliver a finished film to the producers and they’ll decide when they want to release it and what form the promotion will take.  I know the trailer is in process and I’ve seen a few different cuts so far but nothing that seems to capture the film properly.    I asked one of the producers about when they wanted a trailer to surface and the reply was very simple – they don’t have a full strategy in place yet.  Remember that the trailer isn’t going to be just for the Silent Hill fans  - you guys are already going to go and see the movie. The trailer and marketing have to get all the people who have no idea what Silent Hill is to go and see the film.   This is what the producers and distributors are thinking about now.  I get to listen in and have an opinion but really, I’m not sure how much it counts.

Good news for my talented young friend Kit Harington who has been cast as King Arthur in the huge Warner Brothers pic, Arthur and Lancelot.  Kit told me he had been waiting to hear about this for a few weeks and I’m truly delighted for him.  He’s a terrific young actor and a great guy.  With yet another Arthur movie heading our way it puts another nail in the coffin of my long-held desires – I’d always wanted to make a true dark ages Arthur story filled with blood and magic, based around the Welsh stories from the ‘Mabinogion’ but I can’t see that ever happening.  Not sure what the tone of this new one is going to be but anything that gives Kit greater opportunities is fine by me.

And last but really not least; there is SOLOMON KANE in America news coming….  I can’t jump the gun because I have no details but I am assured that there is finally a future for Kane in the New World.  And I have every reason to believe it is valid and true.  As soon as I can share, believe me, I will.

EDIT-  What’s weird is that people seem to think this has been kept a secret for these past months.  It really hasn’t.  It’s just information that never made it out into the public forums.  I’m surprised someone hasn’t figured it out already.  Hell, people were sneaking onto the set. Taking pictures. Even stealing props.  I assumed someone would have got a call sheet and seen his name.  It never happened.  I figured I’d share it now because there’s just been a little uptick in people asking this question.

Anyway, just thought you’d like to know. I’ll share some details of our progress as it all develops.