Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1518296
16 M PS E . O R G adamantly insisted on a peculiar rule: no crickets in any of the background sounds as there are no crickets in Florida. This perplexed Mark, who had lived in Florida for five years and was well aware of the existence of crickets in the region. Undeterred, Mark initially complied with the supervisor's request but when there was an episode set in the woods, Mark discreetly added a separate track of crickets to the background sounds, just in case they were needed in the mix. An angry call came from the mix stage, questioning Mark's inclusion of the crickets. Mark explained his rationale, pointing out that the characters were in the woods, where the sound of crickets were only natural. Mark was once again instructed to never include crickets. Mark's good-natured compliance continued for the rest of the season, with the spotting notes for each episode explicitly stating "NO CRICKETS" in a bold, underlined, giant font at the top of the page every week. Mark took this as a clear message and refrained from including crickets in the soundscapes. The final episode of the season after the story's climax, Dexter and his girlfriend sat down exhausted on a couch. The scene was quiet, with nothing but silence in the background. Suddenly, the girlfriend remarked, "Do you hear that?" To which Dexter replied, "Yeah, crickets." Amused by the irony of the situation, Mark sent his reel to the mixing stage for that episode, adhering to the spotting notes' directive of "NO CRICKETS." They didn't dare call Mark to request the inclusion of crickets, yet when you watch that scene, you certainly hear crickets. Next up, Mark found himself working with the team at Widget Post Production. One particularly daunting task was dealing with a scene in the DVD release of The Chronicles of Narnia involving a half-man, half-bat creature. In the original cut, this creature spoke a line and made a single flap of his giant wings before disappearing. However, in Mark's cut, this character flew away and was joined by a flock of similar creatures, requiring him to recreate the signature flap sound on a grand scale. The pressure was immense, as Mark needed to ensure that all the variations of this sound remained consistent with the original content. Another challenging assignment was a staircase scene where a girl ascended circular stairs. This sequence was shown from multiple points of view, with the sound happening throughout the room, it was meant to be confusing and pan around the theatre. The new cut saw this scene expanded significantly. Mark had to reconstruct the audio from scratch while meticulously maintaining the sound's continuity with the feature version. Despite these formidable challenges, Mark's expertise and dedication earned him recognition and praise from Widget's team. Brian Slack, the mixer on the project, commended Mark for his exceptional work. Frank Smathers, an amazing sound editor who years earlier had been brought into the digital realm by Mark at Soundelux, played a crucial role in the work on this film. Around the time Mark was working on The Poker House, he had recently acquired a tiny kitten and was cautious about leaving her with his larger cat, unsure of how they would get along. To ensure the kitten's safety, he began sneaking her into his office while Recording guns in Lucerne Valley for Manhunt. Mark recording for his library.