Scoring the Film Part 2: Making the Music.

I have been using Skype to communicate with the composer for the film in Cyprus during all stages of production discussing the tone and style of music needed for the film. It is very important to find someone that is on the same page as you but also is creative and talented to bring something new to the table. Josh Woods is all of these things. At the very beginning of stages of making the film,  myself and Josh (who was living in England at the time) started informal meetings discussing the narrative of the film and what style of music would be best suited to it. We talked about different films such as ‘Submarine’ which was scored by the the award winning band, Arctic Monkey’s front man, Alex Turner. Turner takes a subtle approach when scoring the film, using minimal instruments creating an ‘unplugged/indie’ feel to the film. We were both inspired to create a similar vibe for The Girl in the Meadow’.

NEW YORK, NY – MAY 23: Musician Alex Turner attends the “Submarine” press conference at the Crosby Street Hotel on May 23, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

Josh is currently living in Cyprus and so communication has been a slight issue. We have a arranged numerous meetings on Skype, Facebook and other social networking sites. This works well when discussing different ideas but when sharing music if can be difficult to truly picture what it would sound like. This recording (below) is from a meeting in the very early stages of pre-production.

Later on we used different formats such as Soundcloud to send over tests and demos through a private link. I would listen to these and then talk over Skype with feedback. I feel this worked much better as I could clearly hear the piece and make a better judgement of my thoughts on it. Here is a test to one of the demos I am particularly fond of.

Josh is very passionate about the film and has already produced 14 demo tracks experimenting with different instruments and tempos to create the certain timbre we are after for the film.

Later on this year we aim to release a Soundtrack CD alongside DVD copies of the film. In the CD we aim to include the full soundtrack of the film as well as the tests and demos josh has worked on. The money made from these will go towards paying entry fees for film festivals as well as paying Josh for his hard work.

We are currently finalising the eight tracks that will feature in the film and will be finished within the next few days.

Scoring the film Part 1: Finding a style.

After watching the 1983 horror classic ‘Christine’ I noticed in the opening credits that John Carpenter composed the soundtrack as well as directed the film. The score was simplistic yet very effective in creating the overall chilling tone of the piece and hooked audiences to the screen.

This has inspired me to try to create my own music for The Girl in the Meadow. I want to try and replicate the delicate simplicity of Christine’s soundtrack but adapt it to the genre of my short, being a drama/sci-fi.  When thinking about the type of sound I want in the film I began thinking back to particular composers that I admire. The names that first came to mind were some of the more notable film score composers throughout history such as Randy Newman, Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer and John Williams. These people have devoted there whole lives to composing music and it would be insulting to think that I  could create similar work for my film…but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.

I began further research into different styles of music by looking at similar films to my own. A piece that stood out to me in particular was called ‘Norman’s Walk’ from the 2012 animation ‘Paranorman’.

This piece depicts the main characters isolation in the film and adds a sombre, yet uplifting tone to the scene which it it used in. We the audience are initially sympathetic towards the main character but as the piece continues we are given an insight to how he feels on the inside. I want to try and create music that works in harmony with the narrative of the story just like ‘Norman’s Walk’ does.

In response to this I experimented with the music software ‘Garageband’ to create this piece of music (below). This piece will not be used in the final film. It was just a test to see weather I could create something. It has proved that I can and this is very much a possibility to do in the post production stage of making ‘the Girl in the Meadow’.

A while after experimenting with ‘Garageband’ to create music for the film, I met up with a musician friend of mine, Josh Woods. I had told him about the project I’m making and he was very interested in helping me with the scoring of the film. He is currently studying in Cyprus at the moment and so we will keep in contact through online devices such as skype during the build up to the post production stage when the music needs to be produced. 

Another genre of music I would like to explore when considering the soundtrack of the film is Indie Folk. The calming acoustic style of music is a common convention in coming of age films. These pieces add a much deeper feel to a scene and can draw out strong emotions from an audience. Examples of this are Clayhill’s cover of The Smiths song ‘Please please please let me get what I want’ In this is England and ‘Stuck on the Puzzle’ by Alex Turner in Richard Ayoade’s Submarine (example can be seen below). This style would work very effectively and is something I would really like to include in my own work.

When the soundtrack is complete, I intend to create both a physical and digital copy that will be available to purchase alongside the book and DVD of the film through sites such as indiegogo. The money made from the soundtrack will go towards submission costs into film festivals as well as payment for the musician.