Lots being said about our recently released Official Soundtrack Preview. In case you've missed the news, Paul Barton has finished the score and we've been giving you a little peek of what to expect on our FACEBOOK page. If you haven't seen the video yet, take a listen here and let us know what you think!
Things have been busy, resulting in some irregular posting schedules with this blog -- but I'm keeping at it. I am just on my way out the door to visit Mike and Devin on our first sound studio pre-mix screening of the film with the score in place. From there we'll move on to tweaking the dialogue, foley and atmosphere edits and preparing the film for its final mix session which will likely be spanned over two days.
Still I'd like to keep going with the theme of the previous blogs! The next few blogs following will likely be devoted to updating you on the final leg of our journey -- video, pictures etc... Expect it all!
Jada McCullough was Key Makeup Artist on William's Lullaby and hired based on her impressive portfolio. She brought with her a great sense of what the film and, most importantly, the characters needed. She also had an excellent vision for showing the transition in our protagonist over the course of the film as he continues on his downward spiral towards an inner hell. It's always jarring to me to look at some of these make-up tests, especially when I am so used to seeing the finished product on screen for two years. But take a look at some of the sickly and disturbing looks Jada and her Makeup Assistant, Csilla Lasso were able to conjure up with our two leads, Richard and Toby.
Toby Bisson on the set of William's Lullaby
Toby Bisson on the set of William's Lullaby
Richard Roy Sutton on the set of William's Lullaby
Richard Roy Sutton on the set of William's Lullaby
Richard Roy Sutton on the set of William's Lullaby
Thanks for reading/viewing! Catch you next week folks. Share this blog with your friends if you can. If it's your first time here, check out the archive on the right and catch up on what you've missed.
It seems appropriate that this week we take a focus and look at music in film, and specifically, film scoring. I had a great session with William's Lullaby composer, Paul Barton this weekend. He has laid out a score from beginning to end and it is now about fine-tuning what is there and adjusting some of the works, but he is definitely rounding home on what is a monumental achievement for a young musician -- a complete, feature length film score!
And it really is beautiful. I can't wait to share some of it with you. Paul has perfectly captured the tension, mystery, beauty and tragedy that is William's Lullaby. How do you express grief through music? How do you describe the innocence of a child and contrast that with the jaded reality of an adult through musical phrases? Paul's done it. I feel confident in saying that I think it's really going to blow a lot of people away and I hope this turns out to be a big opportunity for Paul in the future. He has certainly put forward the effort.
As I write this, however, I find it hard to describe the working relationship between a Director and a Composer. In all honesty, it is quite a difficult process to come up with the score for a film. It's very difficult and rather strange to describe music that simply does not exist yet, and to try and have working discussions with another collaborator based on that. A lot of it comes down to expressing feelings and emotions, but that can be dangerous too. You can be too on the nose with a score and that is something we tried very hard to avoid with William's Lullaby.
I love music in film. I think it can make or break a film. Music can save a film that is headed for disaster. It can elevate to a level beyond what it was originally capable of. It can also ruin a potentially good movie. Wrong cues, over-scoring, under-scoring. It's quite a delicate process. It's no wonder so many young filmmakers gravitate to copyright music for their film projects -- only to be discouraged when they find out they can't use it. The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" adds just that perfect amount of spark, cheeky sarcasm and intensity to a scene about slimy Wall Street business dealers. Although Glee seems to be a little trigger happy with their iPod now, that opening scene in the pilot set to Earth, Wind and Fire's"Shining Star" had just the right kind of attitude to introduce you to a new set of characters. Or how about the brilliant use of Crystal Blue Persuasion in the latest episode of BREAKING BAD?
Or this unbelievable use of The Rolling Stone's "Thru and Thru" in The Sopranos:
I think Scorsese is brilliant with his use of licensed music, from the very beginning with Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore:
To his incredible choices of music cues in Goodfellas. Note this scene where with one music cue, one perfectly paced push-in and the brilliance of De Niro's silent acting, we quickly realize everything going through this character's head:
But using pre-existing music is all well and good. And there will be a touch of that in Lullaby. Those songs evoke feelings of their own and using them in a scene is a great way of making your audience feel a certain way based on that song. There has to be a reason you paid thousands of dollars for it, right?
What about an original score? That's tricky. We're now talking about music people have not heard yet; music that audiences will not have a pre-exisiting connection with; music that should not over-state or under-state a scene. I found this brilliant round-table discussion with the 2012 Oscar nominated film composers. If you have the time to watch it, or are able to play it in the background while you do your laundry, cook or read this and other articles, I recommend it:
These are the big guys! The masters. They usually stand before an orchestra of 100-200 musicians, in front of a gigantic screen projecting the picture-locked film which they play along to. An example of an orchestral film scoring session can be seen here:
Paul doesn't have the luxury of an orchestra like that. Our scoring sessions, and his work-flow is similar to the scoring of the Oscar-nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild. It's quite incredible what technology can do now. Take a look:
Lots of surprises to come with the music of William's Lullaby. We are working hard to make it a very powerful and visceral experience for you, the viewer.
