Independent filmmakers could learn a lesson in maximizing resources from the Association of Music Producers’ (AMP) West Coast chapter, which commissioned three short films and ended up with a dozen. The means towards getting 12 for the price of three: Original music.
For each of the three shorts, multiple composers from AMP-member music and sound houses created their own distinctively different scores, based on their creative interpretations of the visual content. Each score dramatically altered the feel of each film, translating into five unique versions of one short, four of another, and three for the third. Thus three films turned into 12, underscoring the power of original music as realized through the talents of 12 composers.
Commissioned by AMP-West for its Muse2Music film festival–which took place last month (5/31) at Casa de la Suerta in the Southern California town of Eaglerock–the three shorts were:
• Secret Life of Time, a blend of time-lapse imagery and stop-frame animation directed by visual artist/animator Joel Fox.
• Commuters, a striking view of travelers on Los Angeles freeways, directed and shot by noted cinematographer Tom Richmond.
• And Accumulating Process which focuses on the creative process of multimedia graphic artist Augustine Kofie. The short meshes elements of silk screening, collage and painting for an upcoming gallery exhibit. The film was assembled by editor Lee Cowan.
Curator and producer of the films was composer Andy Snavley of Bendy Music, Los Angeles. Snavley, a past AMP West president, reached out to L.A.-based visual artists Fox, Kofie and Richmond to create the visually rich, silent shorts. Snavley also directed Accumulating Process, edited Commuters and served as one of the composers who scored Secret Life of Time.
Snavley said he was drawn to the Muse2Music concept which in essence is a celebration of original music in collaboration with moving imagery. “I felt a strong connection to the project as soon as I heard about it,” he recalled. “I wanted to be a part of it. Becoming curator and bringing in three gifted artists, watching them work and seeing how gifted composers can bring even more to this work was a remarkable experience. I give so much credit to Liz Myers who’s a strong champion of AMP and of Muse2Music as an event showcasing who AMP composers are and what we do.”
Myers, a past national AMP president (and currently serving on both the AMP national and West boards), is creative director/composer at Trivers/Myers Music in El Segundo, Calif. She said of Muse2Music, “We wanted an event where composers could go full tilt. In terms of the short film each was assigned, it was random, drawn out of a hat by the twelve composers.”
A public celebration The shorts–with each of their musical variations–were all screened the evening of May 31, with attendees not only from the industry but also the public at large. The groundbreaking film festival, showcasing a dozen different pieces of storytelling, was well received. Under the technical direction of Chris Horvath of Jamnation, AMP brought into the event venue a 20-foot screen and a sound system worthy of presenting the scores.
The Muse2Music composers were Myers, Snavley, Alex Gibson of Trivers/Myers, Donny Dykowsky of Ski Team, New York, Jack Shenker of bicoastal Elias Arts, Johannes Hammers of Hammers Project, Jonathan Still of Limelight Sound, Seattle, Jose Eboli of EboliMusic, Josh Good of Comma Music, Santa Monica and Chicago, Justin Hori, also of Comma, Nathan Kil of So Loud, New York, and Randy Lee of Limebeat, New York.
Kil, Hori, Lee and Shenker created their individual scores to Commuters. Still, Hammers, Gibson, Good and Eboli each scored Accumulating Process. Myers, Snavley and Dykowsky individually scored Secret Life of Time.
Myers’ said of her assignment, Secret Life of Time, “For me it was all about the rhythm of the edit. There’s a little element that reappears throughout the film and I found my score being rhythmically driven by the visuals. Joel Fox’s time lapse work is amazing. This four-minute film has all these little vignettes of life, of nature versus man. At times it’s scary beautiful. And you try to create a score that does justice to all these elements, the themes, the short’s creative muse.”
An ideal platform Myers described the Muse2Music film festival concept as being “a perfect choice for AMP-West. We’re in the home of moviemaking, Hollywood, and film is our community’s bread and butter. Plus Andy went for L.A.-based artists whose work had an Angeleno feel. Tom’s film about commuters gives a perspective on what it’s like being in L.A., of being commuters on the 405 [freeway]. Each commuter has his or her own personality. The film breaks through the third wall. Meanwhile, Joel’s work in time lapse is also brilliant. And Augustine is an amazing street artist, graphic artist and compositor. Accumulating Process shows his process as an artist.”
Kofie attended the Muse2Music event, getting both an eye and an earful from the screenings. The multimedia artist said that he was amazed by “what each composer brought to the table. Each played off the quick edit of my piece and brought an organic harmony, each with their own inspiration.”
“These three films,” observed Myers, “all lend themselves to different interpretations by the AMP composers–each score helps shape the film, with each musical interpretation making the same film feel quite different. The different scores have the audience connecting in different ways with the same film. It shows the power of original music–the power to totally change how a film impacts us. Each score brings out and enhances different aspects of the visuals, bringing out different colors, saturations, textures, rhythms, all making for different storytelling experiences. There’s nothing like original music created specifically for a project–how the muse of film sparks inspiration in terms of music and sound, and how the music and sound can take the muse of film in entirely different directions.”
AMP-West president P.J. Hanke, composer/creative director/owner of L.A. music house Sovereign, affirmed, “What this event shows is how only original music composed specifically for a film can evoke such profound emotion and story. You simply can’t pull something off the shelf.”
