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www.postmagazine.com 24 POST JUNE 2015 TELEVISION SOUNDS OFF benefit of effective planning," says Levy. AnEFX, located in Los Angeles (http:// anefx.com), employs a workflow that is very supportive of early picture cuts. Full sound design, Foley, noise reduction and balanced mixes for selected scenes are provided for director's and editor's cuts, allowing the AnEFX team to hone the sound before the picture is locked. When it's time for the final design and mix, they've already developed a solid plan for sound design and sound effects. "Our workflow is very frontloaded and so there was advanced sound design that went into Wayward Pines long before locked picture, but when you look months down the line at how efficient it makes the edi- torial process, it really pays off." The AnEFX team started with sketches and animatics of crucial VFX elements on Wayward Pines, experi- menting with organic animal sounds, actor vocalizations, mechanical sounds, even sounds recorded underwater, and sounds recorded with contact mics, to build creative options for the execu- tive team. AnEFX aims to pair the right sound designers and editors with the right project. "We gave each one of our talented sound designers a shot at the show and then submitted their work blind to the executive producers," explains Levy. Director Shyamalan's Wayward Pines presents an oblique re- ality, starting out in a world that's nearly normal and progressively becoming more askew. "Jeff Brunello is one of the lead designers on the show and he is re- ally great with ethereal and conceptual direction. He needed to create a sound- scape that was real yet a little off-kilter. It had to feel a bit uncomfortable, and disquieting," says Levy. Levy credits effective communication with the producers and picture editor, and AnEFX's frontloaded workflow, as his ways of staying on a TV schedule and still delivering feature-quality sound. "There was the highest feature pedigree on this show. We had an all-star team, from the executive producers to the composer to our sound team at AnEFX. So delivering that feature-quality sound that they expect on a TV time line was a big challenge," says Levy. With their frontloaded workflow, AnEFX is able to get approval on the direction of the more stylized elements well in advance of building the show. "By the time we sit down to do work with locked picture, we are well ahead of the game in sound de- sign, in expectation, and knowing where the problem dialogue is. By talking with the picture editors we learn what their concerns and problems are because they spend hours with the director in the edit bay. So it's really effective communica- tion," explains Levy. THE WHISPERS Premiering June 1 st on ABC at 10/9c, the Steven Spielberg-produced series The Whispers tells the story of a growing number of children in the Washington DC area whose 'imaginary friend' is be- coming a bad influence. With the Falling Skies final season slated to begin later this month, it's no surprise that Spiel- berg is behind this new supernatural/ sci-fi series. And if Falling Skies — nom- inated for several awards for VFX and sound — is any indication of what we can expect from a Spielberg sci-fi series, then The Whispers should be a rich- ly-designed show. Supervising sound editor Mike Marchain and his sound editorial team at Warner Bros. in Burbank, CA (www. wbsound.com), started work on The Whispers by developing a sound for the imaginary friend entity that was part paranormal and a smidge sci-fi. "Our post producer Ryan DeGard was instru- mental in helping us create this para- normal tone by way of using the show's name, The Whispers," explains Marchain. Sound designer Joshua Johnson layered treated vocal performances, supplied by different actors from the show, with sound design elements to create a template for how the imaginary friend entity will evolve during the course of the series. Re-recording mixer Tom Marks, who handled sound effects/Foley/back- grounds, says the intensity of that sound is based on the scene. But, Marks adds, "It couldn't be creepy in any way or too scary because it gets the children to believe and do what it says. That is how AnEFX (Levy at left) completed advanced sound design on Fox's summer series, Wayward Pines.