Director Interview: The Sound of "In the Dark of the Valley"

We recently had the honor of working with Director Nicholas Mihm on his latest feature documentary, In the Dark of the Valley. This story follows a group of mothers who are dealing with their children and community’s exposure to cancer-causing hazardous waste, which was possibly due to the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, the site of one of the largest nuclear accidents in United States history; and their fight against decades of government cover-up.

We asked Nicholas to share a few words with us about his powerful new film, and what it was like working with Enhanced Media to help tell this compelling narrative through sound.

How did you find out about this story and what was your motivation to make a documentary about it? 

This story fell into our laps in February of 2018. My producing partners (Brandon Smith & Derek Smith) and I were working on a lot of branded projects at the time and had started to naturally gravitate towards projects that had a little more substance behind them - projects that had a larger purpose to them as opposed to strictly brand recognition or marketing. We had seen a job listing asking for a film crew to create a short video about moms in the San Fernando Valley demanding a cleanup of this contaminated government site outside of LA. We jumped on the opportunity and it really has changed our lives. This is where we first met Melissa and her daughter Grace - as well as Denise Duffield from PSR LA. And the stories they told us had us completely floored. We quickly came to the realization that stories like this don’t come around very often - you really have to be at the right place at the right time - and I think that those smaller projects we did before gave us the tools and experience we needed to get started (at the very least). We were still extremely inexperienced at the time, but we took a leap of faith and decided to make the feature. 

What was the biggest challenge in producing this film?

I think the biggest challenge in producing this film was learning how to manage all of the big challenges we faced while producing the film…if that makes sense. We were (and still are) very green when it came down to many aspects of creating a feature length film, and we didn’t have a lot of resources at our disposal. Though we received a ton of guidance from more seasoned filmmakers, we were on our own for most of the time  -  and that forced us to constantly be learning on the fly. 

Creating a feature doc is just a completely different animal because you can’t just go out and shoot whatever and whenever you feel like. It’s so much more than just capturing pretty b-roll and voice over interviews. You need to be constantly thinking about the bigger picture. We were constantly asking ourselves “how do you see this particular shoot day fitting in with certain themes? How is this going to come into play several months down the line? How do you see this moment contributing to this particular character arc?” It seems pretty obvious now, but I think it’s easy to fall into that trap of “well this event is happening, let’s go film it and see what happens”.  So it was really challenging to stay disciplined and stay out in front of the story - especially with a subject matter that was constantly evolving in real time over the course of 3 years.

What were some scenarios early in your creative process that got you thinking about how to approach the sound for this project?

We made a commitment to ourselves pretty early on that we wanted to incorporate animation in the film. This was a completely new and exciting process for me as a director and editor. And because animation takes SO LONG, these were the first scenes that we had to tackle and it forced me to think about sound really early on in post production. When we were piecing together these sequences, it was the voiceover interviews and an early (and very rough) sound design that really dictated the direction the animation would take. Not only did the early sound design determine what we saw in the animation in terms of motion, but certain elements also influenced the tone, the color palette, and general design of the scene, and those combinations really influenced the tone of the rest of the movie. So sound played a huge role and our team of talented animators (led by Elyse Kelly) were able to work off those early versions and create some truly amazing imagery. Then once it was in the hands of Quinn and the team at Enhanced Media, the thought that was put into the final sound design really elevated each sequence to a level that I never could have imagined. We took a huge risk with the animation just because of the limited amount of resources we had. But I'm really proud of how it all came out. 

How do you feel the sound mix helps strengthen the message and emotion of this film?

I could be way wrong. But I don’t think a lot of people think about the importance of sound mix and sound design in documentaries. But it’s so important! One example occurred on our very first official shoot day. Melissa had invited us to an event called the Ever After Ball which raises funds for cancer research - and the plan was that Melissa was going to shave her head in honor of her daughter, Grace, who was also attending. Live events like this are tough environments to film in because you are dealing with so many elements that are out of your control - crowd noise, people eating, unlicensed background music - it can be a nightmare if you don’t have a plan, and we didn’t have the resources for a sound mixer to join us on location. But we knew how meaningful this was going to be for Melissa & Grace, and for the film in general. So our mindset going in was to have this event represent the moment where we see Melissa fully submit herself to the cause. Not only was it great for the story, but it helped us in post several months later when we were able to work around the audio issues we knew we were going to face. Through an awesome, but seemingly simple sound design/mix by Quinn and his team, we were able to gradually drown out all the ambient event noise that was polluting the scene - with the exception of some muted applause and camera flashbulbs. And to me, it makes the scene feel like we are really getting an intimate glimpse into Melissa’s state of mind. The chaotic world around her melts away, and we are able to see and hear her at a very pivotal and vulnerable moment. Those elements mixed with an amazing score by Katy Jarzebowski really make this sequence one of my favorite scenes in the film.  

What specific moments did Enhance Media bring out during the mix process that made you see parts of the film in a different way?

There is a scene right after the Ever After Ball moment that I really love where Melissa is talking about the toll that cancer has taken on her daughter Grace and the resiliency she has shown through it all - despite losing a large part of her childhood. Initially I thought that the message, the music, and the visuals of Grace trick or treating on Halloween would be enough to create a powerful scene. But after discussing it with Quinn, we decided to bring out the ambient audio of the visuals. In addition to hearing the VO and score, we also hear ambient audio of neighborhood children laughing and running on the sidewalk to collect candy, and Grace gleefully interacting with people as they go from house to house. To me, pairing these little details in the audio with the VO and score are what really give this scene meaning on dual levels. Not only are we hearing examples of what Grace unfortunately missed out on during her cancer treatment, but we are also hearing and seeing how far she has come on her journey. Sometimes it’s the simplest of elements that make the biggest difference in your storytelling. 

Was there anything new that you learned about sound as part of the filmmaking process while working with Enhanced Media?

Trust the mix. There were times when filming when we thought the audio we captured was going to be unusable. It was usually good enough to where we knew that the audience would be able to understand at surface level what was happening in the scene. But at times, I would get discouraged when the audio would peak too much or there was so much going on in the scene that it just felt too chaotic - and I would want to throw the entire scene out (despite it being vital to the story). I knew we were amateurs, but I didn’t want the audience to know that. I always hate when people say “we will fix it in post”. But there were several instances where we would push on knowing that there was always a chance that Quinn and his team would be able to fix it later in post. We would much rather take a chance on a scene than give up on it too early. Thankfully, I am happy to report that Enhanced Media was able to clean up our mess on more than a few occasions and make our crappy audio sound clean and focused. 

What aspect did you like most about working with Enhanced Media beyond the sound mix?

From the beginning, it was always about storytelling first - as opposed to just “making it sound good”. Enhanced Media really took the time to understand the movie we were trying to make before even discussing the mix or sound design, and I think it truly elevated the final product. They understood that we were working with a wacky schedule and strict parameters, and they were more than accommodating. And I know I’m not immune to giving annoying feedback from time to time. All directors do it. But I never heard any complaints. They always tried out my ideas - and were honest with me if something wasn’t working.

I also really appreciated how easy and transparent the communication with Quinn was. There were never any false expectations or beating around the bush. Quinn always gave us realistic schedules and was able to work with our budgets. If we ever ran into a delay or a scheduling conflict (which was always our fault), he was always there with a quick solution. It really was an easy process. 

Where can we see the film today?

The film is in the midst of its festival run and has screened virtually at Cleveland International Film Festival and Cinequest Film Festival.  It will be screening in person at the Phoenix Film Festival, August 20 - 22, 2021.

For future screening dates, ticket information, and to learn more about the film, check out www.inthedarkofthevalley.com.

If you’d like to know more about how Enhanced Media can help tell your next story through sound, please contact us.