Wayne
St. John Casting was established
in 1988, five
years after Wayne St. John Talent was established. His
casting department specialized primarily in ADR and Looping.
Everyone
always asks, "What is ADR or Looping". In short its
background human chatter recorded in the post production of a
film.
Here's
the explanation in detail: Looping or 'whala' which basically
means at times 'indistinguishable group background voice sounds'.
ADR stands
for Automated Dialogue Replacement.
Automated: refers
to: Multi track recording. Dialogue
means: the actors voice. Replacement
refers to: removing the existing
actors voice and having the same actor or someone else redo his
or her lines.
So ADR
refers to a lead actor re-recording some or all of his dialogue,
again it is done in post production phase of the film. The method
is done by using a multi track recording studio with good vocal
mikes, but it's main feature, a monitor or a large projection
screen to study the background actors in a scene that's to be
dubbed. Usually a rough cut of the film is used to work with as
the voices of background actors attempts to make it all sound
real within any given scene.
In mostly
all films people or the background actors are usually miming.
To give you one example out of many: Looping a scene with 12 people
in it, could be done by three people and they would add 3 overdubs
times 4 equals 12 and so on... So in a scene with two principal
actors that have 12 people in the background chatting away, in
reality the on screen actors are contracted for
soc, or silent on camera, mainly so extraneous sounds don't
end up spilling on the lead actors microphones, and in the end
making it possible to have complete control editing the lead voices.
Looping
refers to a group of actors studying a short scene that
is repeated visually on a monitor or movie screen that the actors
(loopers) practice to before they try to get that perfect take.
And if the take isn't perfect, they keep on looping the scene
until they get it right! Thus the coined phrase 'looping'. The
actor may have to go over
and over the scene many times
before perfecting the match of their voice to the film.
You will
see more often, loop group or ADR group at the end credits. Looping
done right can make a big difference in making the scene believable.
So virtually all films are looped after the sound designer gets
a rough cut of the film and maps his way through what needs to
be covered during post production. Sometimes a principal
actor may come in the studio for ADR and retake some of their
lines, studying themselves for the perfect take, by getting everything
perfectly in sync.
Some of
the most fun I've had looping was on the Rolling Stones 'Steel
Wheels Tour' an Imax film which has
a screen 12 stories high! The Stones are right in your
face. It was an historical first Imax featuring live performances
in several countries of it's kind' and I hired seven voices plus
myself that came from eight different speakers in the incredible
wash of surround sound in the studio which is virtually the same
in the unique Imax Theater.
We added
our voices to replace all the audience right up close to the stage.
We also sang over top of the eleven thousand plus crowd that sang
several songs along with the Stones, except we were overdubed
8 times 8 voices on microphones stealing the show as our voices
dominated the scenes through the film! It was fun and exhilarating
at the same time!
I heard
it took fifteen 17 hour days straight to mix the ninety minute
film that had hardly any dialogue from Mick Jagger himself.
Wayne St. John
A list of all the films
Wayne was involved in.
In
1988, during the 'Nightwatch'
series filmed in Toronto,
Wayne also worked as lipsync-continuity
specialist for a few musical
performances by Billy Newton Davis that were incorporated in a
few episodes.
In
1988, Wayne worked in a variety of
positions on the Tri
Star film featuring Patti LaBell
in the movie 'Sing'.
Wayne worked as: Creative music writer,
Vocal Coach for the Stars, Choir
casting - 20 principals, and
casting 100 extras .
In
1991 Wayne CO-wrote the film score
for the NFB filmed called:
'Silent Conversations', the film score was
by Guy Zerafa.
...Top
TV Series by Wayne St. John Casting
Three
Pictures productions and MGM Pictures - Series: 'Nightwatch'
- 26 shows looped.
1991 - Atlantis Films - series shot
in New Zealand called:
'Gold' - 26 shows looped.
1991-1992 -' Ray
Bradbury Theater Presents' - Atlantis Films
- 12 shows looped.
1993 -'African
Skies' - Atlantis Films starring Robert Mitchum
and Catherine Bach. - 26 shows looped.
May 1993, looping began on a twelve
part 12 series called, 'Destiny
Ridge'-
Argent Productions.
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Movies
Made for TV
'Sister Ruth'
required 18 loopers. Sound designer Bruce Nyznik.
'True Confections' an Independent
film - 6 loopers required.
Sound design by Bruce Nyznik/Soundscore.
...Top
Wayne
plus five loopers worked on the
'Bruce Curtis Story' CBC - Two hour
made for tv film. Bruce Nyznik/of Soundscore
won a Gemini Award for 'Best
Sound Design' by an ADR/Loop group. The
loop group got to sing and Michael Dunston in particular sang
his ass off!
'Camilla'
US/Canadian feature film production
starring Jessica Tandy
(Her last performance) and also featured
Bridget Fonda, Dec. 1991.
...Top
Feature
Film
'Bethune'
- Starring Donald Sutherland.
38 loopers - Spanish, Chinese
and English
speaking parts. For Film Line International - Montreal.
...Top
IMAX
FILM
'The
Rolling Stones Steel Wheel Tour'
Wayne and 7 other loopers worked 16 hours ove two days.
The loopers got to sing along with the Stones. Bruce
Nyznik of Soundscore worked with Wayne's group.
Special Thanks to Bruce Nyznik
for all the great work! Wayne St. John
Wayne
St. John (ADR/Loop Groups)
