April 2, 2013

The DMV Truth wins at HMIFF!

The DMV TruthLast year Studio Unknown owner and Re-Recording Mixer, Kevin Hill took part in a doc about the mid-atlantic indie film scene called “The DMV Truth: Indie Film Artists”, direction by Corey Williams. The film features various regional and Baltimore based filmmakers, actors, composers and in our case, sound people. It not only dives into the creative passion we all share, but also the united pride over what great indie filmmaking talent exists in the DMV area.

Fast forward to Spring 2013 and “The DMV Truth” has won Best Documentary at the Hot Media International Film Festival in DC! We’re excited for Corey Williams on this achievement, in addition to the light that has been shined on the subjects of the doc. Erik Kristopher Meyers, a Baltimore based director we’ve had the pleasure of working with, was featured in the film and spoke about the hardships involved in making films on a tight budget. Everything from having a small and fluctuating crew, to the long hours that overtake non-working life. These are things that all filmmakers have to deal with at some point, and make the process all the more rewarding when the project is successfully completed.

That’s where our involvement in the filmmaking process is interesting, which is why Kevin was featured on behalf of the studio in the doc. In the cases where we’re brought onto a project early, we get to see the film evolve until the final sound mix – seeing all the changes in concept and technical along the way. In other cases we’re only brought in at the very end when all that’s left is sound, potentially color, and hopefully distribution. In the case of tight budget indie films this is usually a hard last stop on a long journey for filmmakers. At that point budget, energy and sometimes passion is low after months or years of conceiving, shooting and editing a film. Thankfully, one of the rewarding aspects of our work at the studio is seeing a new spark of excitement roll over filmmakers, when the sound is starting to breath new life into a film they’ve poured so much personal energy into.

Where our pride for the DMV’s film industry lives is in the knowledge that their are exceptionally talented filmmakers making work here that do it with conviction. As a passionate sound studio, Studio Unknown is happy to be a part of it.

< Announcements