Featured Video

This featured scene demonstrates the original sound design by Ross Hendler. The sequence highlights the film’s mechanical, surreal environment and the role of sound in defining its dystopian atmosphere. This work is featured as part of the RAW Productions sound design portfolio.

Bartholomew’s Song, a short film set in a strict dystopian future society, was named a finalist for the 2006 Student Academy Awards. Sound design by Ross Hendler played a central role in shaping the film’s mechanical and immersive world, reinforcing its surreal dystopian atmosphere through detailed and expressive audio environments.

The Student Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, recognize outstanding emerging filmmakers from around the world.

This recognition highlights Ross Hendler’s work as sound designer on an award-recognized independent film project.

Bartholomew’s Song was written and directed by Lowell Frank and Destin Daniel Cretton. Destin Daniel Cretton later went on to direct major films including Short Term 12, Just Mercy, and Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Sound Design Impact — Sound Design by Ross Hendler

The film’s sound design plays a central role in establishing its mechanical, surreal, and oppressive atmosphere. Through the use of authoritative off-screen voices, contrasting musical elements, and carefully constructed mechanical sound environments, the audio reinforces the film’s themes of control, isolation, and individuality.

Independent film analysis has noted that sound design is used extensively throughout the film to emphasize its psychological and emotional themes, helping define the world and the protagonist’s experience.

Project links:

• IMDb listing for Bartholomew’s Song
• Student Academy Awards finalists announcement (Academy / DigitalHit)
• Independent film analysis of Bartholomew’s Song (Brandon Kiziloz)

Full film: