Until Dawn - Fan Series

Until Dawn Fan Series is a 4 part feature length mini series created by a small group of film graduates from Walla Walla University. Closely following the events of the Playstation 4 game Until Dawn, the series follows a group of 6 teenagers on a yearly cabin retreat who come face to face with the sins of their past.

I came onto this project as the Sound Engineer long after all of the footage had been shot. While having never physically been on set with any of the cast members, I feel deeply connected to this project. Last winter quarter alone I sunk over 250 hours into it on top of going to college full time.

As it turns out, working on film audio is in some ways completely different than making music. Many of the basic fundamental concepts carry over, but there's a ton that goes into film that you would almost never have to think about with music. The biggest difference however is probably patience. The most audio tracks I've ever had in a song is in Everyone But You with a little over 200 (I'm not 100% sure however if that's the version that got officially released). While a lot of tracks to mix and make sound cohesive, that was only a 3+ minute long song. Until Dawn was almost an hour and a half long and had probably close to 1000 audio tracks that I had to repair, retime, mix, and master. It was an absolute nightmare, and I'm so incredibly blessed to have been a part of it.

Getting the opportunity alone to work on a feature is amazing, let alone one that has a plot I enjoy, people I love working on it, and a safe environment where I can learn and make mistakes. The final product isn't perfect, but I'm proud of what I could do. I know that I'm a much better audio engineer than when I started the project, and that gives me confidence that I can keep getting better. I want to get to the point where my work is the same quality as what's on TV, and Until Dawn has helped me believe that over time I'll get there.

The people who worked on the film are wonderful, and they achieved something bigger than any other unfunded film students I've ever met. They fought the long fight, and finished something they believed in. If you have the time and are a fan of the game, I urge you to check out what we did.