CantSee - Grand Central's Sound Designer Tom Keats shares his experience working on Floyd - Wild Wild Winter

Following the success of Miniature,  a film for luggage company Floyd featuring a bodybuilding miniature model maker, CantSee’s Director and Producer duo Jasper Cable-Alexander and Ash Horne bring an ice skating cowboy to the Austrian Alps for Wild Wild Winter, Floyd’s first ever Christmas ad.

Grand Central’s Tom Keats, talks to us about creating the soundscape for the filmmakers' latest project.

Q: Tom, how did you feel when Jasper and Ash approached you to reprise the dream team?

A: Chuffed! The last project was super fun and did so well so I was looking forward to seeing what they could pull off this time. We achieved something special together on the first film so there was a confidence that we could do it again. Once I heard the idea I instantly signed up.

Q: How does the dynamic work with you, Jasper and Ash? 

A: It’s a real tag team. We were all offering up ideas and elevating the film with sound. 

It’s funny, the last project was entirely remote and I was sort of left to do my thing. This time around the project had a tight turnaround and the boys were very present in the sessions. The edit was completed by Becca at MSE and they were over at GC 5 minutes later to start the audio. We pulled out the biscuits and teapot and got to work.

Q: Tell me more about the quick turnaround of the project and what is key to still producing a creative, collaborative piece of work

A: I’m fairly sure the guys shot and delivered this within 2 weeks. Which is insane! They were running on pure vibes by the time it came around to audio (lol). 

About 3 hours after they arrived we had tracked up the full film and splurted out hundreds of ideas. This is a testament to the creative vision and style from Ash and Jasper. We all chipped in and built the damn thing! 

Once we had finished the main films we had loads of social content to create. Jasper sat in the back cutting and firing them over and I put the sound on as they landed in my downloads. To see each film come together like that felt impressive.

I’m not sure what the key is… maybe, like all functioning relationships, it’s trust? 

Q: I’ve been told that there was no sound from the shoot. What was your process for building the sound design from scratch for this project? 

A: We lent them a mic before they headed out to Austria so they could get any bits recorded. The mic was returned untouched. They just didn’t have the time. Part of me was concerned but there was no time for that. We just cracked on. If I got a “SIIIICK” from Jasper and a “Love that” from Ash behind me, I knew I was doing something right. 

With no sound from set there’s no guide of how it should sound so you have complete freedom to build the world. This creative freedom is what made the project so enjoyable. We got in a flow real quick and fired out the ideas. 

For the actual process - we had plenty of sounds in the bank and I knew at some point GC had recorded some ice skates on an ice block for another project. I sent Transfer on a wild goose chase to track down, dusting off an archived hard drive from 2015!

Q: The last film won Best Creative Team at the Young Arrows, how did the team influence how you worked?

A: The influence was really felt. It was the quality of everyone else’s contribution that brought out the best in each other. From the ice skating to the composition, everyone delivered, which pushed everyone else’s contribution further. Like a flow chart of excellence.