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www.postmagazine.com 4 POST JULY/AUG 2024 BITS & PIECES P3 POST ENTERS LONG-TERM DEAL WITH RIVERROCK FILMS BURBANK, CA — RiverRock Films has entered into a strategic partnership with P3 Post (p3post.com) that includes the production company setting up shop at P3's Burbank post studio for a total of 15 feature films. The announcement follows RiverRock Films' recent signing of a film-funding agreement with Black Deer Entertainment. RiverRock president Paul Bunch has worked with P3 Post's owner Rick Souza on a number of projects in the past and believes the collaboration will bring a wealth of experience and synergy to these upcoming projects. "My experience with P3 Post is all-encompassing, from field dailies and offline editorial to final finishing," Bunch recalls. "The talent at P3 Post is un- matched. I can always count on a seamless process." "It's been a rough couple of years with the pandemic and then the strike," adds Souza. "We acknowledge that we are fortunate to have endured through- out these difficult times. We've all been positive that a wave of work will be coming soon. We like that RiverRock is as committed to preserving post pro- duction here in California as we are. We constantly update our technology and security to meet the highest standards in the industry, so no matter where they decide to shoot, we can support their remote workflows." In related news, P3 Post recently welcomed editor and colorist Brett Smith to its team. The studio is also working with editor Sam Bauer on a new feature. Bauer is experienced in cutting full-length features and also hosts master class seminars. "His storytelling prowess will undoubtedly enhance the projects of our cli- ents," notes Souza. HOW CHATGPT ENHANCED BLUE SUN PALACE 'S SOUNDTRACK NEW YORK CITY — Blue Sun Palace, from writer/director Constance Tsang, made its debut at Cannes in France and tells the story of immigrant women working at a massage parlor in Queens, New York, where they cater to male clientele while also craving family connections long from home. Geoff Strasser, senior mixer and sound designer at Mr. Bronx (www.bronxau- dio.com) in NYC, worked on the independent film's soundtrack, noting that the feature makes use of many long, single-shot scenes that pay homage to the Slow Cinema genre. Set in Queens, the film's characters speak Mandarin, with viewers witnessing their most intimate and vulnerable moments. "The director, Constance Tsang, who I met at Sundance last year, tasked me to create a realistic backdrop for the cast's compelling performances and make sure their words were not only heard, but felt," Strasser explains. "I've lived in New York my whole life and have spent a fair amount of time in Flushing, eating in restaurants, shopping in the malls and singing in the sixth floor kara- oke rooms. But the film's story took me behind the closed doors that I've walked past millions of times." According to Strasser, much of the film's sonic ethos is about hearing those that the audience does not see — both literally and figuratively. "In the edit, Constance always wanted to know what the characters were doing off-screen," he recalls. "She wanted to be aware of whether roommates were watching TV or cleaning, or co-workers were chatting. We did just as much Foley for the off-screen characters as we did for the on-screen ones, if not more. We didn't have any loop group on this film, so I had to get creative to create media for the world — whether it was a Korean soap opera the girls were watching or a local news report in Mandarin." A lot of the stock sounds that Strasser might normally reach for are in English, and listeners would be able to tell by the pitches and cadences that they do not sound like a foreign dialect. "To create a realistic soap opera, I ended up having ChatGPT write a script between two women, broke the script into two sets of lines for each character, used Google Translate to turn it into Mandarin, and then fed each set of lines into different voice generators," he explains. "I added some generic muzak and then futzed it in the box. The result was an extremely realistic looped TV show that played in the background of a massage parlor while the women there had a conversation." Mr. Bronx's Geoff Strasser