Fly, Boy, Fly!

Every skill learned must engage that 'first time' requirement.

You know: the first step; the first word; the first bicycle ride; etc.

The Actor entered into a first this week, as he was called in to do "ADR" - Automated Dialouge Recording, also known as looping. This process puts the thespian in a soundbooth to re-record snippets of script that might have been unintelligible in the final cuts, or otherwise compromised.

We arrived at our location, and found ourselves whisked upstairs to the recording area. Upon entering I realized, much to my chagrin, that I had not brought my camera. [WHAT? ME?? Without my camera??? Egads!]

I quickly recovered, though, when I remembered my handy-dandy cell phone!

This is what we were greeted with: a bevy of mixing boards, computers and monitors.

On the main screen, we saw Mia Frampton, the leading lady of FlyBoy. Her image was crisp, and clean, and strikingly beautiful.

Next, The Actor was placed inside the sound room, and instructed to don the headset.

Then, for the next thirty minutes or so, he would reinact his lines in sync with the images of scenes being replayed on the monitor.

As I sat behind the mixers, his voice would boom across the carpet, as if we were sitting in a cinema, watching and hearing a movie in real time. The software registered his voice in typical 'echo' waves, or quickly drawn vertical and horizontal lines on the virtual paper of the software face.

Over and over he'd speak, with the director coaching him this way, and that, until they had a sufficiently emotionally-infused statement to replace the old.

Several times I was able to see the opening scene played in it's entirety, of about 45 seconds. I was amazed at The Actor's 'babyfaced' features. Had he really grown that much in a year's time?

My appetite is whet to see the finished product, which will be wrapped within a matter of weeks.

Of course, none of our experiences are complete without a look at how L'il Man encountered the activity. His interest was piqued over the myriad of buttons . . .

Perhaps we've a Big Time Hollywood Producer on our hands??