Contact: Bob Heiber bobheiber@chace.com Chace Productions Phone: (818)
842-8346 Fax: (818)
842-8353 Contact: Erik Jansen e_jansen@chanandassoc.com CHAN &
ASSOCIATES, INC Phone: (714)
447-4993 Fax: (714) 578-0284
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chace
Creates 5.1 in the 6th Dimension of Forbidden
Zone for New DVD Release
From
Fantoma Films
Long out of print cult favorite features Danny Elfman score
in 5.1 Chace Digital Stereo®.
Burbank, CA,
Aug. 20, 2004 – Giant frogs,
topless beauties, and Fantasy Island’s Hervè
Villechaize combined to make director Richard Elfman’s Forbidden Zone (1980) a quirky, classic midnight movie. Danny
Elfman, Richard’s younger brother, composed his first theatrical score for the
film and gave a hint of what would ultimately be a highly successful career.
Out of print for nearly twenty years, Forbidden
Zone has been long awaited by fans and will finally be released as a
comprehensive DVD by San Francisco-based Fantoma Films. In addition to a new
5.1 soundtrack, director commentary, and a documentary, the disc contains a
re-mastered 5.1 music-only mix of the entire film’s eclectic score. Fantoma
executives, Derrick Scocchera and Ian Hendrie selected Chace Audio to handle
the sound restoration, 5.1 creation and re-mastering.
With
Hervè Villechaize in the
lead role as the diminutive and lust-filled King Fausto of the Sixth Dimension,
Forbidden Zone weaves a fantastic
tale of zany debauchery. A secret door in the basement of the suburban Hercules
house leads to the sixth dimension via a giant intestine. One afternoon, a
young and beautiful Frenchy Hercules (Marie-Pascale Elfman) skips school,
sneaks through the portal, and finds herself transported to Fausto’s bizarre
world. Frenchy is taken prisoner by the King, who has plans to add her to his
harem. The plot thickens when her brother, Flash, and her grandfather attempt
to rescue Frenchy from the dastardly clutches of the sex crazed ruler. Filmed
in black and white, Forbidden Zone
featured some provocative and hilarious animation sequences reminiscent of
Monty Python and Max Fleischer.
A
comprehensive search for the original audio elements by Richard Elfman’s
business partner, Jack F. Murphy, produced 35mm 4-track dialogue and effects
stems, and a discrete 35mm music and effects (M&E) track. The mono pre-dub
tracks, with their 4-channel separations, enhanced the opportunities for the
5.1 creation and sound design. The quarter inch 2-track stereo master for the
CD soundtrack was also retrieved for the mix. Chace restoration coordinator
Ronald Bonk took stock of the wide collection of material, and after a lengthy
evaluation process, the best elements were selected.
Since
some of the music recordings were originally transferred from vintage 78rpm
records, Richard Elfman encouraged the facility utilize its array of technology
to improve the sound for this release. The quarter inch stereo CD score, which
was wild, was conformed in ProTools by Chris Reynolds, who then finessed the
sync with ProTools’ Pitch n’ Time plug-in. In some instances, the CD score was
a different arrangement than the feature. When this occurred the producers and
director re-edited the CD music to better match the film score or chose to use
the original mono score from the 35mm M&E mag.
From
the project’s inception, Richard Elfman was intrigued with the opportunity to
infuse Forbidden Zone’s soundtrack
with a directional 5.1 multi-channel stereo mix. “The audio for Forbidden Zone was a particular
challenge because the film’s music is a dense pastiche of more than a dozen
differing styles that were created around or lip synched to various older and
often uneven pre-recorded pieces from the likes of Cab Calloway and Josephine
Baker. It’s akin to a live action cartoon in many respects, but we had very
little money the first time around so the opportunity to invigorate the
soundtrack with a new mix after all these years was very appealing. Danny had
created nearly sixty minutes of music that complements these songs or exists as
original compositions. I think viewers will be amazed to hear the level of his
talents, even at that young age.”
Forbidden Zone grew from Richard Elfman’s earlier endeavors in live
theater. Steeped in the traditions of avant garde French theater and German
expressionism, Elfman created a stage troupe called The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo in the early 70s. He saw
this as a way to pay homage to and blend classic material from the likes of
Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Josephine Baker with new, surreal and
fantastic plots combined with the rock-driven music of his brother. In the
early 80s, the group shortened its name to Oingo
Boingo and transformed into a more traditional and very successful rock
band. But Forbidden Zone captures a
wild celluloid and sonic testament to the eccentric stage productions the
Elfman brothers created and features the first film score written by young
Danny. Unfortunately, until Fantoma Films resurrected the title, it remained
unavailable to interested fans who clamored for its release for two decades.
Elfman
continues, “To complement the onscreen visual action, I wanted the new DVD to
possess a mix that pushed things to the limit and was as exaggerated and as
extreme as possible. The technology and engineering expertise offered at Chace
Audio made this possible and also allowed me to finally present Forbidden Zone in a format that budget,
technology and time did not allow for back in the early 80s.”
Chace
stereo engineer David Hunter spent more than 30 hours programming the 5.1
stereo sound design cues using the proprietary Chace Digital Stereo®
processor. This unique technology transforms mono and stereo source material
into truly directional 5.1 multi-channel stereo, with stereo surrounds.
“The
soundtrack to Forbidden Zone was
unique and outlandish – like something from a cartoon,” Hunter recalls. “There
was nothing conservative about the music or effects, and that helped set an
overall tone for the new mutli-channel mix. But unlike many of the titles Chace
has done previously, where I usually work from mixed dialog, music and effects
stems, or composite and M&E tracks, in this case we were presented with
individual, unmixed discrete elements. The pre-dub 4-track dialog and effects
proved a great advantage, and combined with Richard Elfman’s direction, gave me
great latitude to design the 5.1 sound field. If I wanted to feature something
only in the surround channels or have something fly from the back to the front,
I could do it with extreme precision. The whole process was like designing for
a new feature film. I enjoyed it immensely.”
But
the music score also presented some challenges.
“The
score material was another story,” Hunter explains. “Some material was mono,
from 35mm, some were from 78rpm records, and still other material was from the
2-track stereo CD master. Greg Faust (the mixer) and I worked very hard to
create the best stereo image and achieve a consistent overall sound. Fans will
really like the 5.1 track. Fantoma had us incorporate key sound effects that
were part of the music cues in the feature mix. It’s not just the CD track
blown up to 5.1.”
Once
the elements were prepared, mixing engineer Greg Faust set to work in Mix One,
Chace’s Sony DMX-R100 and ProTools-equipped, THX®-certified pm3 mix
suite. “Even though there was separation in the elements in the original stems,
many of the effects and dialog were very harsh or unbalanced. Some of the
levels were almost inaudible and sometimes one segment of dialog or effects
would feature reverb and the next wouldn’t. The music scores also varied in
quality so it was quite a challenge to make them all live together in the 5.1
music-only track. My job was to smooth these problems out and create a dynamic
final mix.”
“I
saw Forbidden Zone when I was twelve
years old and never forgot it,” recalls Ian Hendrie, president of Fantoma
Films. “But the film was never widely distributed so the advent of DVD and 5.1
provides an ideal format for fans to enjoy the creativity of the Elfman
brothers. I’m happy that Fantoma Films is able to offer this title after so
many years. The musical score stands out as one of the key facets of the mix
and the team at Chace was able to make it shine like never before. I am very
pleased with the final version and look forward to fans of art film, Oingo
Boingo, and Danny Elfman enjoying this unique and provocative release.”
About Chace
Productions
Chace
Productions is a full-service audio post production facility. In addition to
the restoration and re-mastering of film soundtracks, it also provides audio
compression, NoNoise® audio repair, music and effects construction
and sync conversion transfer services.
Contact
Chace Productions at: 201 S. Victory Blvd., Burbank, CA 91502-2349; Phone:
(818) 842-8346; Fax: (818) 842-8353; Website: www.chace.com
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