Brandon Martinez sat down and spoke with #Powerjournalist Markos Papadatos at the 2026 ALZA Festival in New York City.
He served as a sound designer and sound mixer of the vertical drama “Shanghai Sherlock.”
The synopsis is: Recently returned to London from the far East, Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of murders while navigating tension and romance between his ambitious Chinese assistant and the ever-misguided Doctor Watson.
On being a part of the ALZA Festival, he remarked, “It feels like a whiplash. This is like my first time being in something like this. It’s an amazing experience so far. I’m enjoying it a lot.”
“The ALZA Festival is super great, it has amazing people, and this is something burgeoning happening here and I feel it is just so cool and great,” he noted.
“I am the sound editor and sound designer of the vertical,” he said about his job description for “Shanghai Sherlock.” “I help out in the post-side with the film. I help make the sound effects, the quality work, kind of just bring everything together, and make the film kind of come to life sound-wise.”
“We mix everything together so it’s kind of cohesive and it just kind of works together,” he said.
On working with director Daniel D. Newman and Alex Crockford, he said, “They were actually a really interesting combination to work with. Daniel has a real vision, he knows what he wants, and it has been really great just like working with him in tandem and just going back and forth with him to see where I kind of fit in there.”
On the lessons learned from the “Shanghai Sherlock” screenplay, he stated, “It taught me to try new things and to not overthink as well. A lot of the sort of design decisions especially with the turnaround time was I was doing things I don’t normally do, and it was just like a fun experience.”
For viewers, Martinez remarked about “Shanghai Sherlock,” “It is just a fun experience, it’s an interactive one and it was my first-ever vertical project. It was an amazing experience and a new one and I am excited to see where it goes.”
Composer Ea-Ling Seun also spoke with Markos Papadatos at the ALZA Festival.
Read More: Rave review of “Shanghai Sherlock.”
