The Wilderness is a New York-based facility known for its commercial, music video and film title work. Co-founders Gabe Imlay and Juliet Rios have directed a range of campaigns heavy on animation, motion graphics and live-action. But Imlay is also a composer, which may explain why SoundCloud, a social network where composers and the audibly obsessed can post their works in progress, recently came calling for a short film that delivered an even richer message with its soundtrack. The Wildnerness tapped Imogen Heap, Moby, Roadiolab’s Jad Abumrad and other eloquent practitioners of manipulated sound to create the short film “What Is Sound?,” a meditation on the way both music and everyday sounds can make us dance, laugh, cry, shake with fear or get us thinking. It debuted in October at Wired London 2011.

Each of the film’s subjects creates, manipulates or analyzes sound in a different way. Rios and Imlay consciously chose to interview their chosen experts outside, where ambient noise would add yet another dimension to the conversations. Rios is also a fine artist, and her touch is evident in the subtle, line-drawn animations-created by Lucas Borras-that add a soft counterpoint to the short’s narrative.

Credits:
Juliet Rios – Director/Creative Director – The Wilderness
Gabe Imlay – Director/Director of Photography/Creative Director – The Wilderness
Kate Treacy – Executive Producer
Felix Cabrera – Producer
Poppy Gordon – Line Producer
Matt Schlicter – Associate Producer
Phil Tidy – Line Producer (London)
Aldo Gonzalez – Camera Assistant
Alex Delany – Editor/Colorist
Kevin Bewersdorf – Sound Design/Music
Rob McIver, Sonic Union – Audio Post
Rebecca Smialek, Sonic Union – Audio Post Producer
Audio Post Producer: Rebecca Smialek, Sonic Union
Rob McIver, Sonic Union – Sound Mixer
David Alvarado – Sound Recordist
Keagan Fuller – Sound Recordist
Michael Cheever – Sound Recordist
Diego Sanchez – Sound Recordist (London)
Lucas Borras – Designer/Animator
Kim Weiner – Production Assistant
JP Cayetano – Production Assistant
Michael Kossew – Production Assistant (London)
Michael Carr – Production Assistant (London)

Starring:
Martyn Ware
Soundscape Composer, Musician and Founder of The Illustrious Company

Imogen Heap
Musician, Composer, Pioneer of Crowdsourced Performance

Moby
Musician, Producer and Composer

Tim Exile
Electronic Producer and Performer, Pioneer of Crowd Jamming

Jad Abumrad
Radio Host and Producer, 2011 MacArthur Fellow

Salvatore Principato
Vocalist, Percussionist and Sound Collaborator

Bruce Odland
Sonic Thinker, Composer and Sound Artist

Ben Rubin
Multi-media Artist, Sound Researcher and Founder of EAR Studio

Dr John Levack Drever
Head of Sound Research at Goldsmiths University

Julian Treasure
Author of Sound Business, Chairman of The Sound Agency

For more information: http://www.thewildernessinc.com/; http://soundcloud.com