The Chicago company
“put all hands on deck”
to handle music and sound
for Kendall Goldberg’s
feature starring the
Napoleon Dynamite
sensation
NoiseFloor provided full post production sound services and music supervision for director Kendall Goldberg’s first feature film, When Jeff Tried to Save the World.
Jeff is the story of an old-school bowling alley manager who must pull himself out of the gutter to confront the owner’s plans to sell the alley. Fueled by the star power of Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) and Jim O’Heir (Parks and Recreation), the film is already generating positive reviews and passionate anticipation online.
WHEN JEFF TRIED TO SAVE THE WORLD | OFFICIAL TRAILER
To complete sound and music for When Jeff Tried to Save the World, NoiseFloor put all hands on deck as literally every staff member contributed to the job.
The Chicago-based company recorded roughly 40 cues of ADR for Jon Heder, who plays the main character Jeff, as well as scores of other actors from Chicago and beyond. The team also created foley, handled sound design, mixed audio for both theater and streaming platforms, and recorded loop group to fill the crowds in bowling alley scenes.
A NoiseFloor post sound team traveled to the same bowling alley where the film was shot to record a motherload of authentic sounds. On location at Lan Oak Lanes in Lansing Illinois, they captured bowling machines, props, ambiences, and maneuvers.
The resulting compilation arguably represented the best resources available for building the scenes.
NoiseFloor describes it as a sound recordist’s dream of a birthday party come true, but instead of enjoying cake and noisemakers, the team recorded machines turning on and off in different lanes, set up their gear behind the pin setters, and of course, got plenty of bowling.
Since Jeff’s main character frequently talks through a PA, the team also took an impulse response of the PA system to replicate that effect.
“Knowing we had this amazing library of effects really helped the dialogue editors clean everything up and speed the editing process up as well,” says Cory Coken, Owner of NoiseFloor and Post Sound Supervisor for When Jeff Tried to Save the World.
“Kendall was very open to letting our designer brains go wild and do our thing,” he continues. “This allowed us to have a ball during heavy sound design moments and play with sound motifs that join Jeff’s reality and his imagination throughout the film.”
NoiseFloor’s Stosh Tuszynski, Re-Recording Mixer of the film, says, “It was a fun, yet challenging mix to strike a balance in the busy bowling alley scenes between the crowds, rolling balls, a band playing, all while making the dialogue shine.”
NoiseFloor’s Devin Delaney was the Music Supervisor for the film. He worked with local artists who fit the director’s music genre and style preferences to supply many of the source tracks (songs playing through the PA system at the bowling alley, through speaker in Jeff’s apartment, etc.)
“It was a pleasure hunting down and clearing some truly great tracks from these up and coming indie artists,” he says. “We ended up placing Lowin from Austin, TX, as well as a fantastic group of Chicago based artists including Appleby, Cole Deganova and the Oakmen.”
Delaney also adds, “full disclosure: I am a member of the Oakmen, but I still think we are objectively pretty great.”
The Oakmen and Delaney also wrote and produced an original song called, Just a Start, for a particularly tricky scene in the film. The effort prompted Delaney to note that, “It’s always amazing to see how much the Chicago music community is ready and eager to collaborate with fellow midwestern filmmakers.”
When Jeff Tried to Save the World premieres December 5 and December 6 at Music Box Theatre. It will be available on VOD platforms beginning December 7.
SELECT CREDITS
Kendall Goldberg — director
Rachel Borgo, Kendall Goldberg — writers
Sound Department
Justin R. Anderson — boom operator
Cory Coken — foley artist / post production sound supervisor
Bryen Hensley — foley recordist
A.J. Olstad — dialogue editor
Victoria Salazar — sound effects editor
Stosh Tuszynski — re-recording mixer
Jamie Vanadia — sound editor
Katie G. Waters — sound post producer
Joseph Campbell — production sound mixer
Music Department
Devin Delaney — music supervisor
Send your music and sound updates to Reel Chicago Editor Dan Patton, dan@reelchicago.com.
