Joel Leang
After graduating from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Film & Video, director and editor Joel Leang set out on the near Sisyphean task to become a professional filmmaker. Supported by a day job and Sony Creative Software applications, he made it happen. His recently-released action film, "Bendeyar," is doing boffo box office in Turkey, with another 148 copies circulating at theaters throughout Europe. Joel took time out from the Turkish talk-show circuit to discuss the making of "Bendeyar" and his use of our products.
Sony Creative Software: Joel, how did you get started?
Joel Leang: I graduated from the Film & Video school at Columbia College, Chicago, in 2007. I've also worked in professional audio and video sales, as well as consultation, for over ten years. I'm now a freelance film director living in Istanbul, Turkey.
My film, "Bendeyar," was released in October 2011. It's playing here in Turkey, and screening at 148 different locations throughout England, Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Belgium, and Holland.
SCS: You've been using our stuff for a while. Which applications do you use the most, and for what?
Joel Leang: Currently, I rely on Vegas Pro 10, Sound Forge Pro 10, and DVD Architect. I used Vegas Pro for editing and rendering uncompressed video and Sony AVC (CUDA accelerated) MP4 renders for internet uploads. I also do surround sound mixing and design within Sony Vegas Pro. I work in Sound Forge Pro when recording voice overs and audio restoration to mastering.
I like to use Sound Forge Pro primarily for audio recording, trimming, or correction. It's simply the fastest zoom in/out & scroll editor in the market, primarily because it's workspace is a basic, clean timeline that concentrates on the resolution of the source. I do mixing in Pro Tools and Cubase, but whenever I'm dealing with a particularly important piece of audio, I feel more comfortable in Sound Forge Pro. Plus it's fast — I mentioned that already, didn't I? The way Sound Forge handles ASIO and different audio interfaces is a breeze up to moment you monitor a recording in real-time. Plus I can't recall a time when I had problems with latency or buffer overruns. Maybe I just make sure that my workstations are always optimized to high specs…or maybe it's because Sound Forge Pro just works so well.
Also, Sound Forge Pro, in my opinion, has that special ''transparent'' sound. I think the developers had designed the software for all types of work and not just for music. What I mean is that if you open some foreign piece of audio that's not particularly your original work, you can still hear Sound Forge Pro trying its best to represent it universally. I guess you have to have a good ear, room, or headphones to acknowledge that. It's kind of like when you hear an ultra-high end transparent mic preamp where you hear almost no noise. Sound Forge Pro really takes audio production that extra step — it becomes art.
I also use Vegas Pro a lot. I really like Sony's AVC MP4 render acceleration. I have a Zotac GTX 590 video card and Vegas Pro flies with its proprietary render! I'm glad that Vegas takes advantage or multiple cores and CUDA acceleration. These protocols seem to be an industry standard, and the reason being is because HD, 2K, and 4K resolution workflows are growing fast. I use Adobe Premiere Pro as well, but when I need to view a batch of high resolution videos via MXF I notice that Vegas Pro conforms audio faster than other competitor. This is important, and any industry head will tell you it's a bit annoying when you're waiting for a project to conform all the audio. Now that the film is finished and out, I'm looking forward to upgrading to Vegas Pro 11.
SCS: Speaking of the film, how did you end up working in Turkey?
Joel Leang: I worked as the Pro Audio Manager at Guitar Center in Manhattan for a while. While working there, I met a professional actress from Turkey that was really impressed with some of the exclusive fashion videos I had been shooting on side, and she mentioned my name to some designers in Ýnstanbul that wanted me to shoot some of their runway videos. As a working videographer, I knew this was an opportunity I had to grab to forward my career; also, it felt great to take on a new adventure like this, so I did it.
Last February I also started doing some consulting for numerous Turkish studios, and landed the occasional editing gig (Final Cut Pro seems to be the standard around here, so a lot of producers unfortunately seemed dumbfounded that you can edit and color correct on a PC platform. I like to work with Vegas Pro as my secret weapon because it's so fast and you always get good results, and that's been the standard for Sony for many years).
While working on multiple media jobs and enjoying my time on the Meditterean, I met a screenwriter who, in turn, introduced me to the main Producer of "Bendeyar." He felt that I knew my stuff, and hired me to film his feature. I think he liked that I am something of a software geek, and I'm always testing and revising the final product.
SCS: Any specific examples of where our software helped you out of a jam?
Joel Leang: Lots! A couple of examples come to mind…
I used to work for JP Morgan Chase's Streaming Media department. We used to handle high volumes of media reproduction and broadcasting. I once proposed archiving old audio tapes to a new digital library. There were thousands of important tapes, and as we all know old audio tapes always have noise, in some cases, very bad noise. So I would use Noise Reduction 2 to clean everything. We had analog EQ racks, but I preferred to work strictly in digital since you eliminate the chain of more noise. Plus, Sony's EQ bands sound great and are easy to work with. The result was a nice library of a new digital collection. I would also archive & up-res corporate video files and rebroadcast them over our intranet. So I would strip the audio from DV tapes and restore in Sound Forge Pro, then export and even color correct in Vegas Pro. I just figured that if you have the right tools then why not maximize the media to its highest potential. That's what these products are for. We had some of the best looking video in corporate America!
During production of my film "Bendeyar" I would view my dailies on my laptop with Vegas Pro. Sometimes if I was really curious of a take I would import the MXF files from CF cards and open them immediately in Vegas Pro to check exposure levels. This is the beauty of digital filmmaking and its conveniences. You can quickly analyze what you shot (on set), throw it in Vegas Pro and then render a quick color grade of your material and move on. If you don't like what you shot then reshoot!
For some voiceover dubbing that was necessary to recapture I used my laptop, Sound Forge Pro, an audio interface, and my boom mic, all by myself. This is true independent filmmaking without the need to rent studio space. With this workflow I was able to finish a film in three months!
Think of that — thanks to Vegas Pro's fast handling of MXF files and quick conforming audio I was able to make a theatrical feature film in just three months! Vegas Pro is so intuitive and user friendly that I recommend it to any independent filmmaker.
