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Today I got a request to create and perform some music for a wonderful documentary film about the South in the 1960s, and I conjured up all kinds of memories and images from my previous days of creating music for films such as “Crossroads,” as well as my work on other films and certain TV show episodes.
One of the greatest aspects of playing music in films is that it is often the “finishing touch” that gets put onto the film as a kind of creative finale to the process. This is great, because the movie can be watched, and then “played to.” There are certain challenges involved, such as length of time, and when you want certain emotional moments to be emphasized, but overall, it is still a relatively “wide open” and clean slate you have to work with.
There are also times when the director, producer, or even the film’s writer already have a particular piece of music in mind even before the film is shot, and then the scene is based on, and created around the actual piece of music. This was certainly true of many of the scenes I had to shoot and play to in “Crossroads”, as well as other films such as the wonderful “O Brother, Where Art thou.” That was a movie that the Coen Brothers already knew was going to contain certain key songs, and they were able to tailor the scenes, and even some of the screenplay writing to those very pieces of music. Invariably, this has an effect on the final outcome of the film itself, and how the music and the visuals relate to each other.
It’s a fascinating topic, and I’m really pumped up about this new development of someone wanting me to create the music for this new documentary film! Stay tuned ...