The RLT Buzz
August 2007 - Vol 2, Issue 8
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I know August is almost over, but I've got great news!!! We have finally got everything we needed from RJ! My Audio Designer, Sean Oakley, and I finished up the Audio Narration work with RJ last weekend in L.A. at my alma mater, Chapman University.

You can see one of the clips we had to ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement), also known as looping, on the screen in the background of the picture above of Sean (left), me (center) and RJ (right). But here's the best part - it was all free because I'm a Chapman University alumni!!! How cool is that! Of course I paid Sean for his work, which he seems to be very good at, but the studio was free and that's a huge blessing.

- James

The reason having use of the studio for free was such a huge blessing is obvious, but here's something you don't know. The week prior, RJ showed up at the Foley Stage with no voice. He was completely hoarse and sounded scratchy and awful. It was so bad we couldn't record or do any voice work at all. Had I not been using Chapman's studio I would have had to pay the studio's rental cost even though we couldn't record his voice. I still would have had to pay for the time I had booked. I would have been out over a thousand dollars, but fortunately, thanks to Chapman University, that wasn't an issue. So, because we couldn't record when we had hoped to, we waited another week for RJ's voice to return to normal. He came back last weekend and we got it all done, but that's why this newsletter is a little late.
Foley art, for those of you who don't know, is the art of adding sound effects to a film or television show. A stage used for Foley has all kinds of stuff that can be used for just about any sound you can think of. And things are used for sounds you may never have thought of, for instance, would you think of thumping a watermelon to get the sound of punching someone or breaking celery for a bone crunching blow? To learn more about Foley Artists and their the art of Foley click here.

Anyway, we recorded the narration in Chapman University's amazing Foley stage. This place had a dirt pit for me to recreate sounds of RJ walking on the trails. They had asphalt, cement, wooden floors, tile floor, every kind of substance you could walk on, a water tank to create water sounds and so much more.

Now we've finally got everything we need to make the Final Trailer and the Pilot Show. This is very exciting for us and hopefully for you too. Basically, now that we've got everything from RJ... the starting gun has fired and the only thing holding us back is how fast I can edit this thing together! So, what's next?
I'll be heading back to St. Louis this week after spending 4 months here in California. When I get back to St. Lou, it's time to crank out the Final Trailer as fast as possible and get it up on our website...hopefully still by the Sept. 10th deadline that we've promised you. It'll be very close, but if we don't make the deadline, rest assured it will follow very soon after.

After the Final Trailer its crunch time with the Pilot show. We hope to get picture lock by the end of Sept. (picture lock is a part of the editing process which approves the main edits before transitions, sound, animation, etc. are added in). Come October, I'll have to travel back out to California to do the Audio Design with Sean and the final Animation touch-ups with another friend, Kevin Greene. So that means that sometime within the month of October, the Pilot Show will be finished! Then we'll start traveling around the country pitching the show to different Cable Networks!
Take some comfort in the fact that the final trailer is coming very soon and it's going to give you the whole run down of everything that is, "Road Less Traveled!"

In the meantime: The August Video clip is a fairly mellow look back at some of "The Little Moments" on our trip. With all the action that's coming up in the trailer, I thought it would be a nice offset to share some sentimental moments between Steven and I in this clip.
Teaser #2
By now you know we have two trailers up on our website. We hope you enjoy them and will pass the links on to your friends and family to view.

You'll get to see a few of the friendly, curious folks we met along the way, get a flare for some of the challenges we faced, and get more of an overall feeling in general of what it was like to cross the Trans America Trail .

We gaurantee you'll dig these trailers and your friends will too.
To wrap this newsletter up, I'm extremely happy with how the story of the pilot show has come together. It combines the thrill of motorcycling on road and off road with some fun facts surrounding the rare and unique Moonbow and the hidden history of the Cumberland Falls! This won't just be a "dumb boy's" motorcycling video. We've taken in the natural wonders and the hidden history of the land we're riding on! It's a part of our wonderful country that not many of us get to see. It's really great and you'll just have to hold on to check it out!

Don't forget to check out the August video clip, the teaser trailers, and to encourage your friends and family to sign up for the RLT Buzz newsletter!

To learn more about Sam Correro and the Trans Am Trail Click here

Michael Murray continues to do a terrific job with the RLT website. Michael also recently redesigned the Trans America Trail website. If you or anyone you know has a need for web design, or if you just wanna check out some cool stuff, visit motorradmedia.com!

Ride On!
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