Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521235
VICTORIA ROSE SAMPSON MSPE DEAR DIALOGUE DETECTIVE I have been in the sound community for a long time. When I was an apprentice sound editor, I noticed that people who put films together are dedicated and innovative problem solvers. I've always loved to solve problems—and so I became a professional Dialogue Detective! In my many, many years of editing, I have never encountered a project like Not Another Deaf Story, a multimedia feature film, directed by Hilari Scarl. Hilari received a prestigious Creative Capital Award to create an original multimedia theater production with an entire cast of Deaf actors. The project was developed in American Sign Language (ASL) with shot and how the signal-to-noise ratio is? Hilari had foreseen these challenges and more during the conception of this project, and she was mindful to look down the road to see how the production would trickle down to post-production. Bless her!! Because this particular project is so unique, I wanted to share the process. The theatrical stage play is a ghost story co-directed by Hilari Scarl and Monique "MoMo" Holt. The fictional story is about eight Deaf strangers who gather at a remote cabin under false pretenses and end up confronting a mysterious ghost. Voicing actors made the live theatrical experience accessible to audience members who don't know ASL. The eight voicing actors sat unlit on the apron of the stage, four on each side, where they provided the spoken-voice performance simultaneously with each of their Deaf actors signing on stage. Each character tells a scary story during the course of the evening that's enhanced by rear projections, score, and SFX. The backstory of the ghost is revealed as a short film that was projected during the play and is incorporated into the feature film. There were 200 Deaf actors who auditioned from around the world, and the final cast of eight Deaf actors were flown to Los Angeles to develop the play in ASL in only a few short weeks. The voicing actors were brought in during the final week with only a handful of days to match the timing, inflection, and performance of each of their Deaf actors. Only three of the eight voicing actors knew sign language, and even with printed scripts in hand throughout both rehearsals and performances for all the voicing actors, it was a challenge. Hilari is someone who knows what she's doing which is why I said yes to her when she asked me to be the sound designer/editor. She wanted the Deaf actors and then translated into English to make the play accessible to hearing audiences. You might notice while reading this article that the word Deaf referring to Deaf actors and Deaf space has an uppercase D. This is intentional. The uppercase D is used to describe people who identify as culturally Deaf and are actively engaged with the Deaf community and usually have a shared sign language. The play was filmed Hamilton- style at the Group Rep Theater in Los Angeles, resulting in a feature film that includes both the live stage performance and short pre-recorded films that were part of the theatrical experience. The film has been nominated for five awards, including Best Picture at the SignLight International Film Festival at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. As a Dialogue Detective, I have a list of questions for the director to determine if I want to take on a project or not. Was the sound recorded with separate lavs and/or booms? Did those mics get married to the picture and into your film edit session? Do you think there will be any ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) based on where you The voicing actors are off to the right; main actors on stage during the filming of Not Another Deaf Story. Not Another Sound Story!! 16 M PS E . O R G just