(Blake Howard warming up on drums)
Today was a fun, odd, and inspiring day at the Junkshop (the FemBots' studio). Rock Plaza Central drummer Blake Howard sat down with us an did a live recording of a 93 minute improvised drum score to the entire film.
As an editor, one of the biggest influences on my creative approach was Michael Ondaatje's book The Conversations. The book is essentially a series of transcribed conversations between Michael and brilliant film & sound editor, Walter Murch (Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation). I was captivated not only by Murch's ideas about editing, but also by the stimulating tangential conversation he and Michael got up to.
At one point, Murch related how on Apocalypse Now they had a team of kodo drummers perform improvised sets while watching the film. When I saw Rock Plaza Central play Lee's Palace I can honestly say it was the first time I've seen a band and simply been blown away by the drummer. He was so organic and passionate...I instantly thought of the Murch reference to Apocalypse and thought "This is the guy to do a live score to my film".
I gave Blake a copy of the film on DVD to view in advance so he could get a basic feel for the film then invited him into the studio to score the film live, simply responding organically to the scenes before him. He had complete freedom to drown out the dialogue or be subtle and quiet. The results were pretty astounding.
As an editor, one of the biggest influences on my creative approach was Michael Ondaatje's book The Conversations. The book is essentially a series of transcribed conversations between Michael and brilliant film & sound editor, Walter Murch (Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation). I was captivated not only by Murch's ideas about editing, but also by the stimulating tangential conversation he and Michael got up to.
At one point, Murch related how on Apocalypse Now they had a team of kodo drummers perform improvised sets while watching the film. When I saw Rock Plaza Central play Lee's Palace I can honestly say it was the first time I've seen a band and simply been blown away by the drummer. He was so organic and passionate...I instantly thought of the Murch reference to Apocalypse and thought "This is the guy to do a live score to my film".
I gave Blake a copy of the film on DVD to view in advance so he could get a basic feel for the film then invited him into the studio to score the film live, simply responding organically to the scenes before him. He had complete freedom to drown out the dialogue or be subtle and quiet. The results were pretty astounding.
(Blake playing along to a DVD of the film, Dave mixing in the background)
The sounds he was able to wrench from that measly set of drums was utterly impressive. He used everything from sticks to his hands to what looked like a pair of giant cocoa beans.
Although several sections will be completely unusable where they were placed (because the dialogue is, of course, important) what we have captured is an organic percussive response to the film. Even if it is taken out of sync or out of context, at its essence it follows the natural rhythms of the film. So a section could become a the basis for a song or simply an element of score to be manipulated and placed elsewhere. Or it could work perfectly as is. Either way, we've captured something unique, organic, and beautiful...and I'm excited and inspired to start experimenting with how to add it to the film.
1 comment:
I went to high school with Blake and can attest that he is, and always has been, a brilliant percussionist. Amazing idea to use him for your film. Weirdly enough, my first film was scored with several tracks that Blake played on (with Guh, Slow Loris, and Brian Cram), and The Conversations was MY editing bible as well. Hmmm... Anyway, congratulations on getting your film into TIFF! (I'm friendly with Aaron, which is how I first heard about it.) I look forward to seeing it.
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