On to music

First my apologies for not posting very regularly. It seems the closer I am to finishing the film the longer it takes to get anything done.
The pickups were shot on the 30th, but JC and I haven't been down to iLab to take a look yet. We are planning to go tomorrow. Essentially I finished the shoot and was off to Norway to visit some friends in a cabin high-up in the mountains. An necessary break and worth it.
But it wasn't all play. I spent a few days in Oslo and met up with Joakim who did music for a short film of mine several years ago. I intend to work with him again and I met up with him to brief him on the first steps.
So how did I come to this, deciding to include music in the film? I have said many times in this blog that I wanted to avoid include music to cover for the inadequacies of the film. I think now that I was being too hard. First all films will contain some parts where the director feels it fails and mine will be no exception. Second, music cannot be seen as another element, not as a cover for failure, but as another layer.
Of course I added musical elements long ago. Remember the non-music I wrote about that Roland provided me? The difference now is that those were sounds. There was no melody. The difference now is that I am thinking of melody and the way I saw myself to this point was hearing some music I thought could work.
I heard this music by composer Melissa Hui on a BBC documentary. It is called And Blue Sparks Burn.
You can hear a sample of the piece on Amazon. No. 8.
Of course I cannot use this particular music. I would need permission and some sort of rights deal, complicated and expensive - but hearing it in the edit (a temp track) helps me think how music could be used and in turn allows me to write a brief for Joakim.
What do I hear in this music? First the first violin thread. It is singular, like a voice, seeming to suggest our Claire. It it has an emotional quality, a song, but it is not sentimental or hackneyed. And the piano is never complete, always suggest more. At least that's my starting point.
Finally, it is not my intention to have a soundtrack, music running through each scene. Rather we will hear a piece as part of a montage sequence. With the music I will now need to decide if these sequences stand by themselves or require more cutting. The music will help with the final process of the rough edits.
So more work. JC and I still need to shoot a few more pieces, I need to incorporate the pickups into the next edit, and then include the temp-track music. And then more reaction.