UAB graduate Brandon Mason visited campus this week to complete and approve the sound mixes by UAB students for his new movie, “Stakes.”
Mason, who also has a Master of Fine Arts degree from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Calif., contacted UAB University Professor Henry Panion III, Ph.D., and the UAB Music Technology program about mixing his award-winning film short in surround sound.
He wanted UAB Music Technology students to work on his film after reading about the recent installation of the Avid System 5 Fusion console in the UAB Recording Studio. Panion thought this would be a great project for students enrolled in the Multimedia Production course this semester. The students’ role was to analyze the film, identify opportunities to add new sound effects and enhance existing dialogue, music and Foley, the reproduction of everyday sound effects, as well as remix everything in 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound.
“What better way for students to gain real-world experiences than to have the opportunity to work on a ‘real’ film,” Panion said. “Though Brandon is a graduate of the UAB Communication Studies program, I was introduced to him by Ruben Studdard when working on one of Ruben’s records and music videos that Brandon directed. He subsequently directed several music videos produced for Audiostate 55 Entertainment, my record label.”
Mason says the film won the Audience Choice Award at Birmingham’s Sidewalk Film Festival and got an official selection from the Hollyshorts Film Festival in Hollywood and the San Francisco Black Film Festival. Now the latest edition of the film will be featured in the prestigious San Diego Black Film Festival.
“I love UAB and my hometown of Birmingham,” Mason said. “To be able to come back to the city and mix my film in 7.1 surround sound on a System 5 Fusion is crazy. The facilities at UAB rival all the studios I have visited in California. You would never believe all this is right on the Southside at UAB’s campus. To give students at UAB a chance to work on a film that will be played in a theater with national attention is beyond gratifying.”