Now streaming: Abigail Thorn’s The Prince, fully remastered, with a full behind-the-scenes video and a Q&A with Jessie Gender.
Leading up to the original release, we recognized that there were areas we’d like to give a bit more polish. This is a filmed live performance; not everything goes perfectly, and not every microphone stays where it’s supposed to. None of these issues were showstoppers, and in the spirit of theater, the show must go on.
However, we feel that The Prince is an important piece of art, and part of our responsibility as stewards is to ensure that it’s preserved in the best state possible, so immediately after release we set ourselves to the task of adding the polish we believe the play deserves.
In the original cut, some of the audio came out distorted or muffled. Probably from a mic coming untaped and rubbing against costume. Mike Wuerth and Graham Hearther, two of the producers on the Nebula Studios team (and both audio engineering masters in their own right), did an incredible job of cleaning up the tracks. The show was filmed over two nights, so Mike was able to use the audio from the second night to fix some microphone problems. Graham went through and precision-adjusted EQ to improve intelligibility in some areas. All of this with a careful eye on not encroaching on any of the actors’ performances.
The lighting design of the stage isn’t always easy to capture on camera. Ryan Alva, our resident colorist, pulled in the original raw footage and gave every shot a more intentional color-grade. Not to change anything, but to make the experience more immersive and theatrical.
We also made a few small edits to the timing of camera changes, since a camera lingering too long on an stage actor can unintentionally weaken the performance through missing context.
But wait, there’s more! Also included now are a half-hour making-of documentary, taking you behind the scenes of the entire process, and a 42-minute Q&A with Abi, hosted by Jessie Gender.
This isn’t a George Lucas overhaul. We think the end result is a cleaner, more immersive and enjoyable experience. When I told Abi we were doing it, she insisted that it wasn’t necessary — that the original release was already great. I appreciate her indulging us and letting us finish what we started. It was worth it.
