Being Hear
Emmy-Award winning nature sound recordist and acoustic ecologist, Gordon Hempton, works to protect the few remaining quiet places on Earth from noise pollution. Being Hear highlights his quest to preserve silence and the importance of listening to the world around us.
Interview with Director/Producer Palmer Morse & Matthew Mikkelsen
Watch Being Hear here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
This film was made to bring attention to the environmental concerns and affect surrounding noise pollution in our daily lives. Ultimately our hope was to create a piece that communicated the importance of seeking silent places for both health and mental benefits, and how the ability to find silence in its natural state without human noise interruption is quickly disappearing. Through this goal, we wanted to call attention to the fact that noise pollution has a potentially harmful environmental impact on not only humans but greater ecosystems as well.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Being Hear is extremely unconventional in its approach and has been described as a film that puts sound first, which is something we strived to do from the very beginning. Utilizing Gordon Hempton's Emmy Award winning nature sounds throughout, the film is not only an experience for your eyes, but most importantly for your ears. Through these beautiful sounds, we can begin to understand why it is important to protect and preserve quiet spaces, because it gives us the ability to listen to nature at its most natural.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Noise pollution is something that is pervasive in everyone's lives, whether you live in a city or in a rural area. Everyone can appreciate peace and quiet, and this film calls attention to the fact that we are quickly running out of spaces to experience natural silence in its truest form. Gordon has a very personal relationship with silence and natural spaces, as he's devoted his life to recording the sound of nature. His personal sentiments expressed in the film ultimately highlight the need to protect our environment, which is something we think everyone should get behind.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Being a documentary, there wasn't a formal script that was written in order to fulfill a story arch. Our style of filmmaking hinges upon spending time with our characters and the story will be self evident over time. With this film, we knew that Gordon would ultimately narrate and define the story arch himself, so we catered a few guiding questions for him to answer. A two hour long interview ensued, thereafter we both sat down and lifted sound bytes that would flow well together to achieve the overall goal of the film.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We're extremely grateful to say that the feedback has been nothing but positive. We've been able to screen in over ten high-profile film festivals, taking home two awards, and being selected for a world tour. The idea of "natural silence" is a pretty complicated subject, as is making a film about sound. Regardless, it's been amazing to see individuals really grasping the concepts that are evoked in the film and relating them to their own lives.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Some feedback has been surprising for sure. We had one woman wrote to us weeks after a screening just to say how much she appreciated the film and wanted to share with us some of her favorite sounds in her life. To us, that really was the epitome of the film's goal and was so amazing to receive.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We hope that more people will be interested in watching the film, but more importantly we hope that people will begin to truly listen to their surroundings.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
At the moment we are finishing a very successful film festival run. We're currently pursuing options to stream the film online via a distributor or platform.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We’d like for people to become more aware of their acoustic environments, especially when in natural places. When you start to seek silence, finding it is a truly amazing experience.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
When is the last time you think you’ve experienced natural silence?
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
At the moment we live on opposite coasts of the United States but still work closely everyday. Palmer is currently the Video Producer at the Oakland Museum of California, working across the institution to create multimedia content that represents its mission and key values. Matt works at a production company in Ithaca but also runs his own audio studio, Hayloft Audio, and does freelance sound recording and design.
Ultimately we both still work hard at producing documentaries. Promoting, screening, and distributing Being Hear has really become a full time job along with everything else that we do daily. We’re happy to see some new projects rolling our way, at the moment we can’t disclose too much information but we can say we’ll be starting a new film stemming off from Being Hear very soon. You can keep up to date on our websites and Facebook page for more information.
Interview: June 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Being Hear
Emmy-Award winning nature sound recordist and acoustic ecologist, Gordon Hempton, works to protect the few remaining quiet places on Earth from noise pollution. Being Hear highlights his quest to preserve silence and the importance of listening to the world around us.
Length: 9 minutes 44 seconds
Director: Palmer Morse & Matthew Mikkelsen
Producer: Palmer Morse & Matthew Mikkelsen
About the director and producer:
Palmer Morse - Palmer Morse is a Director and Cinematographer residing in Oakland, CA who focuses on documentary and commercial productions with environmental, social, and cultural value. Often collaborating with other media makers and good-doers, he has created several award-winning films that have screened to diverse audiences both domestically in the U.S. and internationally across the globe garnering thought-provoking discussion and action.
Matthew Mikkelsen - Matt Mikkelsen is a sound recordist, audio engineer, and documentary filmmaker living in Ithaca, New York. He has worked as an engineer, sound designer, and producer on two award winning documentaries, but has devoted most of his professional career to observing, recording, researching and preserving natural soundscapes.
Key cast: Gordon Hempton
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Buyers, distributors, journalists
Social media handles:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/beinghear
Instagram: @palmermorse / @matthewmikkelsen
Other: www.beinghear.com
Funders: Indiegogo contributors
Made in association with: N/A, independently produced
Where can I see it in the next month? Currently available to purchase online: www.beinghear.com/purchase. More festival and private screenings to be announced soon.
Watch film here:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/video/shorts/he-hears-music-in-the-quietest-place-on-earthcan-you/