This week I started working on a long latent film score project. My friend Holly is working on a documentary film which looks at the house she grew up in, and follows the process of the design and construction of her own home. A few months ago she sent me an early preview clip with example music (Dave Brubeck). It feels great to finally get a start on composing for this project. She graciously agreed to allow me to post this excerpt with my first music sketch.
Before I saw this clip I had imagined the film was going to be part biopic about Alfred Browning Parker, the architect who designed Holly’s parent’s home, and part survey of modern architecture. I had in mind a heady modern score with angular phrases that matched the clean lines of modern architecture. Judging from the clip, the film is quite different from that. It’s more airy and quirky, with more of a focus on the personalities of the people who inhabit the spaces. The music Holly chose as a guide track was suitably fun and peppy. The challenge for me as a composer is deciding how closely I should follow that example. I’m certainly not going to top Dave Brubeck as a jazz composer, so I need to figure out what I can offer the film (aside from not having to deal with licensing issues!). What custom music can do is become part of the story — to subtly connect things, to accentuate emotion, to provide counterpoint, to drive things forward, etc. While a music editor can achieve some of these things with canned music, a composer has an advantage in doing so in a more cohesive way.
Emboldened by this pep talk to myself, I got to work. The first hurdle was technical. The last time I’d done a film score, I had the film on a VHS tape with SMPTE time code on the audio track, and had the computer sync to it. Now that technology has progressed, my composition software (Logic) can actually play the movie on the computer screen and sync the music with it. Much less hassle, at least in theory. In truth, my PowerBook has a little trouble keeping up with those multiple tasks. After some experimentation I was able to get it to work, but it’s straining. The new MacBook Pro is looking mighty tempting… Anyway, now I know how to use this feature of Logic.
The music itself took a while to come to me. I knew I wanted to stick with jazz and the general mood that was there, but beyond that I was drawing a blank for much of the week. The first concrete thought (is there such a thing?) I had was the sound of marimba. It’s always been one of my favorite instruments and I thought it would bring a beautiful, mellow character to the sound. I loaded up the marimba sound from GPO and started doodling as I watched the beginning of the clip. Frankly I wasn’t really that happy with what I’d come up with but I saved it and went to bed. The next day after trying to do something new for a while, I went back to that doodle and added some piano over it. “Hmm, it’s not as bad as I thought,” I thought. After adding some brushed drums and a simple bass line it was actually turning into something. At least I thought the mood matched pretty well.
Mr. Parker introduces himself at around 0:40 and there’s a nice title sequence that turns into a plaque with his name on it. This seemed to require a shift in mood. The tempo changes here and the marimba takes center stage for a while. As Ally said, it seems to be in reverence for this man’s work. It has a more serious character than what Holly had chosen, so I’m not sure it’s appropriate, but at this stage it’s all just brainstorming. When I come back to this, I may start over and try a completely different direction. One idea I had was to bring in some of that modern classical sensibility, something like the lighter moments of Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto.
Note: The dialog is muted because I had to remove the original example music. When I receive the clip without the music, I’ll repost.
I look forward to the repost with dialogue…looking forward to Holly’s comments and more from your collaboration. The music…like a slip cover protecting my grandma’s couch - fits like a glove. I’m excited to learn more about Holly’s new home and how Browning influenced her design. I can see that film scoring is a challenging process - so many elements to juggle…what are the most important elements?
Holly to Gunnar,
Excellent, this is really fun! Strange the video seems shorter without the dialogue. I very much want to get that video to you with dial, no Brubeck music, and I will in just a few days. I even have another longer version of the clip. I’ll send that with dial, no music too. Gunnar, as for the music here, NEAT-O! It reminds me of “Out of This World”. Do you think so too? I really like it. The only comment I have is you may emphasize the mood/tempo change even more. Now I want to get back to animating and editing. You’re an inspiration. Hey you can put music to the clip with Vaughan and me if you like, the one where he presents his first designs!!