special feature
Collaboration in the digital age:
Berenice trailer music
12-5-03 / West Keansburg, NJ
"The funny thing is, we've never even met the musicians," begins Mushroom Cloud Productions Self Appointed President (SAP) Geoffrey Ciani. "We spoke to them on the phone once, but other then that we've contacted them entirely over the internet."
Statements like this should come as no surprise to anyone even vaguely familiar with computers. Like it or not, the internet is rapidly changing they way people can connect.
"What might come as a surprise is how soon and how fast," explains would-be technical consultant and founding member Christian Twiste. "Berenice is a perfect example of a film that could not have been made ten years ago on our budget. Hell, you can barely buy a burger and fries on our budget.
"But that's not the point. It's not only the digital camera and editing technology that's advanced either. It's everything—we even organized our first audition entirely online."
When it came time to add music to the trailer, Mushroom Cloud Productions and Dreamtracks relied on the web to work together.
"We are in New Jersey," states World Renowned Problem Solver (WRPS) Scott Hackett. "While Gama and Ariel are in Boston. Obviously, travelling back and forth wasn't an option."
The trailer was assembled from segments of the final film on Mushroom Cloud Production's work-station in central New Jersey before being uploaded to www.eatthmushroom.com.
"I came into work on a Tuesday morning," explains Christian, "uploaded the trailer and shot Gama an e-mail. Ten minutes later he'd written back that he had received the information, had the trailer on hand, and was ready to begin working.".
"On top of that, his partner Ariel was in Florida at the time, " Christian continues. "And he had the trailer too."
Using digital technology has allowed Mushroom Cloud Productions to significantly shorten development time as well. The original version of the trailer sent for music did not include color corrections, finalized audio, or high-quality compression for the internet.
"It worked beautifully for us," explains Geoff. "We were able to continue working on finishing the trailer while Gama and Ariel did the music. Then we just needed to put it all together. We probably saved at least 2-3 weeks from an older process—and that's just for a two minute trailer."
While current technology is rapidly improving how we connect, Mushroom Cloud Productions sees even better things on the horizon.
"Once bandwith increases," begins Christian, "it won't just be trailers travelling over the internet. In a few years, you'll be able to edit a film with a person on the other side of the world."
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