Well, ADR stands for Automatic Dialogue Replacement. The big studios have machines that will automatically do the dialogue replacement for you, taking out much of the work. I have no such machine.
When you don't have a machine, it's called looping dialogue.
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Weekend In LA, Day 1
I'm back from the L.A. trip. Here's the recap.
Jacky picked me up at the airport. My first trip to L.A., and the weather is as nice as expected.
After a stop at McDonald's for a fish sandwich, we headed over to Jacky's. I'd be crashing on her couch for the weekend, because this movie is out of money, and a hotel was out of the question.
We figured we'd dive right into the looping. I set up the equipment and we tried, but it was SO noisy in her apartment complex that we couldn't do it. We figured we'd try the following night.
Sat around catching up with Jacky, shooting the shit. Showed her some footage. Went to sleep.
Night 1 on the couch did not net me much sleep. Couches are not comfortable, and I don't normally sleep until 5am my time, which is 8am their time...
Day 2(Saturday)
Jacky and Mun wanted to go on a hike. I figured, what the hell? It was going to go very near the Hollywood sign, so...
The trail was VERY steep--not so bad if you're doing the leisurely-walk, but Jacky was walking briskly. I haven't done exercise in like 2 years, and have been eating around 1400 calories a day(and have lost 40 pounds in about 3 months).
So I was having a hard time keeping up. I'd say we walked about 2 miles, but much of it was at a 30 degree incline.
Afterward we ate some chicken and went back to Jacky's to try the looping. No go, too much noise.
Jacky had to work, so Mun and I went to a local pool hall/bar and shot pool. (Me so sorry, Mun! 6-2 baby!) Had vodka, but didn't help my night of sleep on the couch.
Day 3(Sunday)
Jacky and I went to Mel's Diner for lunch. They shot American Grafitti there. Okay food. She drove me around, showed me where Aaron Spelling lived, the Playboy mansion. A few other sights.
That night we again did the looping. Not sure if I'm going to be able to eliminate the noise or not. It was almost comical how every time I hit the record button that was the exact instant the birds would chirp, or someone would start hammering, or a party would start, or someone would turn on a stereo, or a dog would bark. Insanely frustrating.
Chad, the composer for FOC stopped by--I had never met him in person, so that was very cool. He even showed us some stuff about how the "Lost" score is created. Even showed us a brief clip to an upcoming episode(top secret!).
Not much sleep on night three either.
Day 4(Monday)
Plane was set to leave at 10:30pm, so Mun got us passes to go on the Paramount lot where he works on "My Boys", a TBS series. Cool place. We went inside and watched them running through some takes. Lot of crew. Lot of equipment. (insert wistful sigh here...)
There was a giant backdrop of a sky that was as large as the drive-in screen at Bengie's. Mun said it was for some new Samuel Jackson flick...
Later, I met up at The Coffee Bean with my buddy Oscar-nominated Josh. He used to be just Josh, but the Oscar changes people...
But seriously, he had some great stories. He moves in much bigger circles than we mortal folk. Perhaps some day...
An interesting anecdote is that the Coffee Bean we were at is across from the DGA(Director's Guild of America).
I was at the boarding gate for my plane and the plane arrived and let off some passengers, two of which were Rhea Perlman and Danny Devito. Not too exciting. Then, the red eye flight.
Anyway, am back home. Will be busy checking the audio over the next couple of days.
