Log: January 13, 2010 – it’s finally time. The last leg of the journey. The Burning Palms premiere is hours away and I’m up in the projection booth with the engineer checking the 6 track digital tape. Peering down from the booth at one of Arclight’s Hollywood theaters, the first images of Burning Palms appear on the screen. I’m with the director and we smile with awe and appreciation as there at last is the gleaming finished product. This state of the art theater is a great room for the upcoming screening, the images in brilliant detail and the sound translating beautifully from the mix room. And in another few hours, to a packed house, Chris Landon, expresses his appreciation to his dedicated actors and crew, the lights dim and we get to see how the film plays in a packed room. Burning Palms is quite a ride from light to dark moods and the audience loved its unique offerings. When the lights returned, the SRO only gave the director a rousing ovation and Burning Palms is now ready for the world to enjoy. -Chris Sheldon

It was for one of the Polish Brothers’ magical movies, Northfork. The film takes place in rural Montana. The weathered old homes captured on film during the production seemed to me important sonic characters in the film’s soundtrack. But how to make those sounds feel legit in post-production? Well, I took my field recording gear and drove up to Bodi, California, one of America’s most enduring ghost towns. I was granted access to some of the older houses and recorded all the footsteps that are heard whenever the characters are moving about. It was a unique sonic experience and rarely done in Hollywood. I am very proud of the way those authentic sounds feel within the layering of that moody masterpiece.

– Chris Sheldon

As production dialogue and ADR Supervisor for Jackie Chan and Jet Li’s Forbidden Kingdom, I traveled all over the world’s largest continent pursuing actors for their ADR lines so we could complete the film. My asssignment took me to film facilities in exotic locales such as Shanghai, Hong Kong and Kobe and Osaka, Japan. At most of these studios, the American system of 3 rhythmic beeps used to cue the actors had not been introduced. The talent would simply look at the screen and react to the moving picture. When I spent a little time with the engineers and actors, and got all of them comfortable with hearing the sound of 3 rhythmic beeps to cue the actor’s dialogue, the system was embraced and I carried my beeps all over the far corners of the world until The Forbidden Kingdom was complete. I have to say, it was one great journey and I cherished the experience to share movie making with a wholly different culture than Hollywood – Chris Sheldon

It was when the wave of Friday 13th and Nightmare On Elm Street pictures were all the rage. I was Supervising one of the Jason flicks. I can recall designing the sound material for a strikingly visceral scene. The moments of shock required a full compliment of bone chilling FX, so I went to the laboratory and concocted a sonic feast for the depraved and debauched. We mixed them loud to the delight of the Director. And all seemed well. But then the studio screened the pictures for the MPAA. I remember getting copious notes back from the board demanding that we lower, reduce and on one reel eliminate some of the grisly sounds that made the moments so acutely scary. With a little give and take we got around our sonic X rating, and we finally got the ratings board to sign off on some hallmark audio horror. – Chris Sheldon