The absence of anything like that is what makes the story good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama#Film.2C_TV_or_theatrical_adaptations

Really disliked the voiceover on the “remix.”

With movies like Moon and Cargo being made at super low budgets, why can’t SyFy fund some truly visionary independent Science Fiction directors or writers once or twice a year instead of movies like Mega Piranha?

This is Phil Mahoney, the sound designer of the piece (the new version, not the original). Thanks to Craig and BoingBoing for posting this, and to everyone for the kind words.

I studied Sound Design at Vancouver Film School from October 2008 to October 2009. It’s an intense one-year program that teaches you everything you need to know about sound. It was a huge investment in time and money, but I had a great time. I worked hard and got a lot out of it. From day one, the instructors tell you to start looking for a final project. It’s pretty simple: Scour the internet and any other sources you can think of for a 3-4 minute video that you can do the sound for. As in *all* of the sound. You have the chance to breathe life into blank canvas of previously existing video, and tell the story through sound. You do this in the final two months of the program. I looked around and found a few videos that I liked. The only snag is that VFS requires you to get written permission to use the video. I didn’t get my first or second choice. In both cases it was pretty disappointing. But then I found Rendezvous With Rama and Aaron Ross was very generous and forthcoming. He gave me permission, signed the required form and I had the freedom to have a go at it.

It was an absolute blast recording, editing and mixing all the sound for the film. I also wrote the music – I am primarily a composer and have been scoring for twenty years.

The truth is, I had never heard of Rendezvous With Rama when I found this film. I knew of Arthur C. Clarke, of course, but 2001 and its sequels were all I was really aware of. When I realized the short film was based on a book, I decided I should probably read it, at least to the point where the film ends. I also tracked down both video games and played them a bit. Armed with all of this knowledge, I was ready to tackle the film.

It was difficult in some ways though. Aaron intended his piece as a trailer for a film that didn’t exist. I didn’t want my final to be a trailer. By moving the title card from the very end of the film to where it is now, I transformed his trailer into a short film. However – as my instructors informed me, it was still difficult for this piece to stand on its own, especially for people who have never read the book. It ends with everyone wanting to know what happens next. I needed to write a script that would help the story along and complete it as much as I could. I spent a lot of time carefully writing the script. I had to do my best to have a cohesive story, but I also wanted to be faithful to the novel. I kept the names of the characters (in my original credits, which can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtol9B-baoc ), but I also changed little things for the sake of the project – keep in mind that this was primarily for school, so I had to cater to my instructors and to the average viewer to some degree. For example, the second door in the film is actually the third in the book – but if I had called it the third, it wouldn’t have made sense. So, I have to apologize if anyone was offended by any of the script changes I made. The changes were by necessity for my purposes, and based on the circumstances, I think the script turned out quite well and I’m proud of it. There’s a good balance of being faithful to the book, and making it a (nearly) complete story for people who haven’t read it.

I got 91% on my Sound Design final and my instructors at VFS, including award-winning department head Robert Grieve(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0341044), deemed my project good enough to feature on the official VFS Youtube and Vimeo channels. It went viral earlier this week when RJ Evans of Kuriositas.com found it. It has now had more than 41,000 views in the past few days.

Just another thing about the sound: This is not a “remixed” version. None of the original sound is in there. It’s all my creation. In fact, I didn’t even listen to the original sound until I completed my project.

Thanks to everyone for the comments – especially the ones that say that Hollywood should hire me. I agree. :) I am actively looking for sound design and composing work. If anyone wants to watch any of my other projects, here is my Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/Philsy1971 . If you like what you hear, please get in touch!

Phil Mahoney
Vancouver
phil@philmahoney.com

http://vimeo.com/2042295

Why hasn’t Rama been made into a movie yet? It would be so much more awesome than the usual “science fiction” crap we are force-fed.

And I too felt -robbed- after reading Rama II.