JJ Margolis
Sound Design for Theater, Film, and Video Games
Human Error
Play By Eric Pfeffinger
Directed by Jane Page
Human Error was a play produced in the film medium due to COVID-19. A five (5) person comedy about the relationships between people from opposing sides of the political spectrum when their worlds collide due to a bumbling doctor at a fertility clinic.
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For this project, I served as the Sound Designer and Composer, and I was assisted by Aerik Harbert. Due to the nature of Post Production and the crossroads of a theatrical production team branching into the world of post production, one of the most significant hurdles was managing an unfamiliar production process and a workload very different from what we were used to in Live Theater.
The play was filmed over the course of a month with each performer isolated in their own recording rooms on campus. They were connected to one another via Zoom, audible through Bluetooth headphones and visible using iPad teleprompters. This enabled them to respond to one another in as close to real time as possible without occupying the same space. The footage was later edited by the video production team from Cinevative, headed by Mark Ciglar, before being delivered to Audio for post-production and final mix.
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Dialogue was recorded using Rode VideoMic's and I did dialogue cleanup and repair in Izotope RX8 before editing and mixing in ProTools. I used Logic to compose the music for transitions and the hospital climax. Some Foley components were used, including a field recording of an age-appropriate VW Bug.