Award-winning music and sound design architects for film and television, Daniel Caleb and James Matthes of Cape Town-based Pressure Cooker Studios, have been nominated for a 2014 SAFTA Award for Best Sound Design on feature film Sleeper’s Wake, which has received nominations in five other categories, including Best Feature Film.
Directed by Barry Berk, Sleeper’s Wake is a thriller based on the best-selling novel by Alistair Morgan. The movie is produced by Anant Singh and Ken Kaplan for Bioskope Pictures and Videovision, which is the biggest film production company in South Africa, also responsible for the box office hit Long Walk to Freedom.
Says Caleb, co-founder and composer of Pressure Cooker Studios: “The script was a huge influence for us from the start – resulting in the bulk of the music being written before any filming commenced for the feature. Barry, who has a great musical ear, also had a huge part to play.
“When we received the edit, he had already placed a lot of our music in the film and came to us with a firm idea of what he wanted. He sat with us for weeks going through scenes, talking about sound design and music ideas he had, so we’d like to give him a lot of credit as he had a huge hand in the final product.’
As Berk wanted to see what Caleb and Matthes’s initial response from reading the script would be, the director did not want to give a specific brief to Pressure Cooker Studios.
“What he kept on saying was that he wanted a sound capturing a combination of a tortured soul and an innocent sweetness that create a conflict of tension and irony. He loved the idea of the sound design putting us inside a baboon’s throat,’ explains Caleb.
According to him, the end result is a sound design driven score that “will both scare the living daylights out of you and give you goose bumps at the same time’.
“We were hoping for a nomination as we put so much emotional energy and time into the score. However, you never know and it always comes as a surprise. We wish all the other nominees the best of luck,’ concludes Caleb.
The 8th Annual South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs) will take place on 5 and 6 April 2014.
Visit www.sleeperswakemovie.com and pressurecookerstudios.co.za for more information.
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