Thousands of folks came out for the Portland Art Museum’s 2010 Family Day event.  The motif of the day was “Celebrating Film” and the event was put on in part by the NWFilmCenter who brought in all kinds of fun stuff for the day.  Making zeotropes and interacting with virtual butterflies were all part of the days festivities.

We got the fun bit, set up in the grand ballroom our Sounds of the Movies exhibit invited participants to create their own sound for an old cartoon under the guidance of various Filmusik veteran performers.  Cindy McGean showed everyone the ropes, how we make the sounds for movies and what to expect once we got started.  It’s a tricky business as everything happens so fast, the first run-through is chaotic with Cindy heaping everyone get their cues as they work with the film full speed for the first time.

Once everyone learned what their role was, everyone making sound effects got a short demo from David Ian on how the foley props work and the best way to get sound out of them.  Some are harder than others, but kids got a chance to try things out several times before we were “rolling”

This fairly short film called for a remarkable number sounds: whistles, bells, doors, ice, shoes, explosions, typewriters, water.  We needed a team of over 9 people for every take, it was perfect as many kids got to participate throughout the day.

Sam A. Mowry was leading the voice actors who dubbed the voices of on-screen characters.  Here he is giving some subtle guidance on their reading of a tyrannosaurus rex as it destroys a building.

The event was a terrific time, everyone had a blast and we put together some impressive soundtracks, congratulations to everyone who came and put their talents to work.  Special thanks to the NWFilmCenter staff and Anne West for putting together such a fun day of cinematic activities!

Here’s a montage from our Sounds of the Movies exhibit at the Portland Art Museum Family Day event put on by the Northwest Film Center.

We invited families to create a new soundtrack for a classic Superman animation. Over 100 aspiring actors and thousands of spectators worked throughout the day with our team of Filmusik pros to to the acting and noises for the film. Here’s a sample of some of the recordings made. Enjoy!!