Baltimore

Fonic has been working closely with long time collaborators, film makers, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor on their new feature film Baltimore. The film is based on real events that took place on the 26 April 1974 when English heiress, Rose Dugdale and three comrades carried out an audacious armed art raid on Russborough House, Wicklow, during which 19 masterpieces were stolen in an effort to support the IRA’s armed struggle. The film plays out over the course of the days following the raid, when Rose is in hiding in a remote cottage with the works of art.

This is the first feature film Fonic has mixed in Dolby Atmos. Barnaby Templer sound supervisor on the film and director at Fonic worked with Christine and Joe during the development and writing stage of the project to provide an audio perspective of what could be achieved aurally with the storytelling as well as the capabilities offered by Dolby Atmos.

Baltimore used the full extent of what the studio is able to offer a large feature production. As well as Barnaby supporting with sound supervision, we delivered sound editing and design, ADR and voice over work and foley using the studio’s dedicated foley studio.  Once all the elements were gathered together it was ready for a premixing.

We created an early mix based on the palette Barnaby had worked on during the initial writing stages and consequently the mix required minimal tweaking. We then played about with the position of elements in the 3D space to create drama, tension, pace and emotion and experimented with the balance of the music composed by Stephen McKeon, when and where necessary.

Once Christine and Joe were happy with the balance of the mix at Fonic, we took the session to Point1Post’s large format mix stage for the final mix session. Point1Post is a leader in the latest offerings from Dolby Atmos, which was a significant advantage when it came to mastering the film.

Since Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor started working on feature films, Fonic has worked with them on audio post. Starting with the award – wining HELEN, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2008 before being screened at over 50 film festivals worldwide, and then released in several countries. The film was nominated for an Evening Standard Film award and a Guardian First Film award. Fonic continued working with them on their second feature film, MISTER JOHN, which also premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2013 and was released in the UK and Ireland by Artificial Eye. In September 2013, documentary FURTHER BEYOND and the follow up documentary, THE FUTURE TENSE (2022) were also handled by Fonic. Finally, their drama thriller, ROSE PLAYS JULIE, which was nominated for Best Film at London Film Festival and Best Irish Film at the Dublin Film Critics Choice Awards.

Fonic endeavors to build and maintain relationships with creatives and clients, like we have with Christine and Joe, as it provides  a positive experience in the creative process. It builds trust, and as Baltimore demonstrates, ensures the highest level of creative audio storytelling.

Even though Fonic is a post-production facility we like being involved early on during pre-production has great benefits creatively, especially as new technology and capabilities become available and the post-production sound process becomes more and more advanced and complex.