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Classy Chassis Car Show – Photo by Jay Lee (baldheretic)

Recently, I had a meeting with a composer friend who had recently set up a drum kit in his studio.  We wanted to make a casual night of experimenting with mic placement, to see what kind of sounds we could get with his set up.  For non-studio geeks this all sounds pretty academic and dry, so while I was explaining to another friend what I was up to that night, I realized I could use an analogy based on her interest in photography: “It’s like lighting a scene”, I said, “the drum kit is our subject, and we are experimenting with different mic positions, just as you would have different lighting setups in a photo shoot.”  It then struck me that you can actually draw pretty compelling analogies across the board between Film and Music.

Lighting = Microphones: moving microphones around changes the ’scene’ and how it’s perceived in a similar fashion to lighting in film.

Camera = Microphones + Mixing board/Recording device: the mic’s act as the lens of the camera, and the film stock/digital capture is like the recording device that captures the performance, be it analog tape or digital.

Set/Location = Studio/Reverb: the set is the environment which is captured, in which the performances live, and so it is with the recording studio.  Alternately, ’spaces’ can be created using reverbs after the performance is captured.

Actors = Musicians: Actors interpret the screenplay, musicians the musical score.  Actors use their bodies and voices to create the performance, musicians use their bodies and their instruments.  Similarly, Voice/Dialogue = Instruments/Music.

Script = Musical Score, and Screenwriter = Composer

Director = Composer/Conductor: the analog of the director’s job may get split on the scoring stage, where the conductor may not be the composer.  However, the conductor is working to realize the composer’s vision, and thus might be seen as an Assistant Director.

D.O.P. = Scoring Engineer: the D.O.P. controls how the scene will be captured and how it will look – the Scoring Engineer provides the same service using microphones, a mixing board, and recording medium.

CGI = Samples/Synthesis: both are simulations of reality, but are intended to elicit the same emotion from the audience as would an ‘organic’ source.

And here we come to an interesting point.

There is a problem with my last analog.

In order to understand this, we have to understand how a sample works.  Sampling is primarily used in the world of film/media scoring to re-produce the sounds of instruments which a production may not have the time or money to afford.  The most common are used in place of the symphonic orchestra, and lately to replace performances of rare/unusual or so-called ‘ethnic’ instruments – such as the Duduk, which has become very popular, but for which competent players are both hard to find and expensive to hire.  Instead, a sample library is created by a company, which hires a player and/or ensemble to be recorded playing individual notes through all dynamic ranges, with as many effects and nuances as possible.  These are then programmed for one or more commercially available ’samplers’ – devices (hardware or software) used to trigger these sounds using a keyboard or other MIDI device.  There are often layers to each note,  so if I load a brass section sample, and hit the key softly, it will trigger the sample of the section playing that note softely.  If I hit it harder, the corresponding louder, fuller, brassier sounding sample is triggered.  You can see the implications – with a professional rig and sample libraries I can create, for a much smaller cost, a score consisting of a full orchestra, 100 person choir, and a Taiko drum ensemble, which will sound very much like the real thing.  Almost.

So whazza problem?

Since we are looking at analogs, imagine this.  A filmmaker is creating a CGI set for her film, so she accesses her ’sample library’ of set pieces.  She looks at an apartment block, a rural scene (with an option ‘gently flowing river’ plug-in), and from a more exotic location package, the ‘Downtown Tokyo’ sample.  Drag and drop, bam – there’s her scene.   Then, it’s to the ‘Actors’ folder, where she finds ‘Hollywood Hunks’ and chooses number 6  of the set a 8.  This one is a brilliantly recorded sample of Brad Pitt, and has 168 facial expression layers and 97 ‘physical actions’, and a full range of syllables and consonants, allowing for the construction of any dialogue, in a range of emotional states (Brad-mad, Brad-sad, and Brad-glad).  She continues this way until she is ready to start ’sequencing’ her film, adding in her script with it’s dialogue and actions.

If every film was made this way, we would eventually be looking at the same ’samples’ of everything.  There would be no nuance, no dynamics, no edge, no life.  It would be a pre-packaged, slickly packaged and homogeneous mass – the same Pitt-sample with the same Tokyo-background sample saying it’s dialogue with the same pre-determined range of inflections.   Sure, many films use the standard stock footage of the New York fly-over to establish location, but we are talking about what amounts to an entire film made only of stock footage and stock acting.

No filmmaker I know of would accept this, and yet, more and more, music made of  ’samples’ is accepted as fulfilling its important role as an emotional alchemical substance in film and media.

The Challenge

There are, of course,  reasons why this situation exists, primarily having to do with time and money.  But is this good enough?  I think that we all need to begin to think more creatively about how we work, and what we produce.  We need to begin imagining situations where it is both financially and within the constraints of time, possible to make supporting musical products which fulfill and exceed their requirements, and which have a real, tangible, unique, and effective signature.  Everyone is copying everyone elses copy of something – we need to do better.  Not every film needs a gigantic orchestral score that it may not be able to afford – can the same emotional goals be achieved using a different method?  I strongly believe they can – and it will be to everyone’s advantage.  There are ways of working quickly and cost-effectively to deliver music which will add tremendous value to the production – a unique proposition to the filmmaker who receives a score that works, and sounds unlike any other.

Red Pill or Blue Pill? by Gary Martin

Back in April, I did a guest post on StudioManifesto.ca called Voodoo Your Creative Flow, which dealt with using rituals to help maximize your creative effectiveness.  Wired magazine recently published a very interesting article that talks about the mysterious Placebo Effect, and it got me thinking about how this might be applied in a similar fashion.

The Placebo Effect is an absolutely fascinating phenomenon, and interesting on it’s own even outside any possible applications to creative work.  It was originally discovered after a WWII nurse injected a wounded soldier with saline instead of morphine, basically out of desperation in the face of shortages.  She reported to the anesthetist she was assisting that despite the fact that he did not receive an actual does of morphine, the soldier nonetheless experienced all the effects had one been administered (his pain was relieved, and the effects of shock were offset).  Since then, standard practice requires all pharmaceuticals must undergo rigorous testing in order to show that they considerably surpass the placebo in effectiveness, before they can put them on the market.  Another point of interest:  I have heard (though I have no specific citation of this) that a person taking Valium must know that they are taking Valium for it to be effective – if they are unaware that it is being administered, it has no effect. Recent studies show that the placebo is becoming more and more effective, and it’s becoming more and more difficult for new pharmaceuticals to beat them.   Crazy, huh?

At any rate, the Placebo Effect is another pretty amazing indicator of the power and potential of the human mind, and I think as creative people, this warrants some consideration.  I don’t have any specific suggestions on how you might apply this – a sugar pill that makes you awesome? – and I would love to see some dialogue and discussions.  If it’s possible that simply believing in the efficacy of something can yield measurable physical results, I think we are currently vastly underestimating how much creative problem solving is actually possible.

Check out the full article here, and then come back here and post your thoughts!

"Mobius" by Kevin D. Clarke

In a previous post, I described my process in creating the music for Jason Leaver’s video installation, Mobius, which premiered at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche on Oct. 3rd.  The experience of being a part of this project was fascinating on a number of levels that I felt were worthy of sharing.

Public Space

Before Nuit Blanche proper, Jason was invited to preview his work in a public setting, namely Eaton’s Center mall in downtown Toronto.  In this environment, it was very interesting seeing people’s reaction to the work.

Context has such a powerful effect on how people view and respond to a piece.  By taking it out of the gallery setting, I wondered: Do you get a much more natural and immediate reaction, without the anxiety or preconceptions of how art ’should’ be viewed?

Jason had used yellow tape to secure cables to the floor – these had the unintended appearance of police tape cordoning off a no-go zone.  Many people approached the exhibit with genuine curiosity, but were reluctant to cross this invisible ‘threshold’.  This was exactly the opposite of what Jason wanted, but luckily he was just the man to handle it.  Jason fears approaching no one, and with big arm gestures and engaging banter would quickly usher these shy observes into the center of his piece, pointing out elements of interest and suggesting different ways to get the most out of the experience.  His enthusiasm and willingness to explain without a hint of condescension was catching and inspiring.  Jason is about as unpretentious as they come, and simply oozes pure joy about his work and people’s reactions.   His love is a love of the work, not of what the work will get him.  It’s not about him, it’s about the viewer’s experience.  He is a brilliant ambassador to the world of art – when I saw how engaged and joyous the viewers were  in their experience, I thought – this is it!

Interpretations come in many forms!

It was also very interesting to view the work in the context of a mall from an aesthetic and technical perspective.  Already a surreal piece, it became even stranger when seen next to a Sears and trendy clothing shops.  The bustle of the mall, the noise, and people’s surprise and wonder at this unexpected object all added to and changed it’s meaning.  My own interpretation of the piece is that it works as a commentary on the modern cubicle dweller, the feeling that you are trapped by the forces of convention and commerce to perform the same actions perpetually, day after day.  As a location then, a mall and it’s association with the cycle of work/spend/work/spend, is kind of perfect.  When I asked Jason about the most unusual comment he received, he told me about a woman who was very offended and more or less yelled at him about “playing at being God”, and how could he keep this poor man trapped in this terrible loop?  The suggestion that he could stop the cycle at any moment using a remote control was met by more righteous anger, as if it  were being suggesting that, like Jesus, he was able to perform miracles.  Blasphemy!  Congratulations, Jason: you’re now ‘officially’ an Artist.

Ephemera

For my part, it was very interesting to be part of something where the work existed only for the short time it was installed and running.  Sure, my music files still exist and can be played on any manner of system, but the ‘real’ work – Mobius – in it’s intended final form, exists specifically in it’s four screen projected state, with the sound played back by four independent speakers associated with each of the screens in the quadrant.  The experience of standing in the quadrant, and how the music and visuals affect one another cannot be recreated in any other manner.  So this was it – I would experience it for those short moments, and then it would fade to memory.   The surprise of how the visuals and sound interacted was also a treat – there were elements I left to chance, and stuff that I had no way of properly previewing.  In an age of the instant gratification of orchestral mock-ups and digital photos it was a delicious tease, and I did linger and savour it for much longer because I knew after this it would be gone, probably forever.  This must be what composers must have felt like in the years before recordings – their orchestral works would be heard during rehearsal and performance, and not again until another concert could be mounted.

A full moon and Nuit Blanche!

What a vibe, what an energy!  It was incredible to see so many people out wandering the streets and taking in the sights and sounds.  It was a youthful, vibrant, excited, and positive feeling.  After taking in a number of exhibits (which included people being suspended in folded pentagram cradles, a giant pool of vodka, and a midway of sorts with rides supposedly operated by ex-bankers), my wife, my friends Aaron and Goran and I finally found our way to Mobius at around midnight, which was situated in a gallery in Cabbagetown on the Eastern edge of Zone A.  The small, single room space was stuffed to bursting with people, and a very satisfied Jason sat off to one side listening to the many conversations of observers as they discovered and interpreted the piece.  The reception it was getting was fantastic – people ‘got it’ and got into it.  I think the fact that there was a mystery unraveling before their eyes was a particularly attractive.  I enjoyed the somewhat claustrophobic but intimate setting, and having the piece projected on fabric added a kind of mysterious ephemeral quality.  I was surprised to find that I felt the sound at the previous installation was better; not in terms of quality, but in terms of consistency.  The music and the film are each the same for each of the four screens, but at an offset.  When the music played on 4 identical speaker systems, this sense of the material being the same but playing with and against itself was more clear.  But this was a small technicality and certainly did not detract from the piece on whole.  A great moment was when a group of film students enthusiastically told Jason of how inspiring the experience was – they were genuinely excited.  When Jason asked one about her background, she stammered a little, and Will (the actor in the film) came up behind Jason and teased:  “He’s just a man”.  Industry accolades are great, but there is a special thrill when a student of your craft is excited by your work.

In the end, I feel very lucky to have been part of this project.  Firstly, because it was a successful work and deeply satisfying for me, but also because I got to see it in a number of contexts and iterations, which was terrifically interesting.  I also got to go from being a fan of Nuit Blanche to an active participant, and got to enjoy the feeling that I had helped in making someone’s night just a little more magical.  It was a memorable evening that even the rain and a lingering cold couldn’t dampen, and I am already counting the days until next year.

The Mysterious Mobius

I was recently asked to produce a music/sound score to an installation exhibited as part of Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche 2009 in Toronto.  Billed as  ‘a free all-night contemporary art thing’, it transforms the city for a 12 hour period, as over 500 artists use public, gallery and ‘unexpected’ places to exhibit their work.  If you’ve ever been, you know it’s a blast and absolute magic – and for me, getting to be a part of creating that magic was very exciting.

Jason Leaver’s “Mobius” is a mysterious piece – a video installation with four independent screens facing one another in a quadrant, each playing the same film footage at an offset of %25, and looping perpetually.  The film itself follows a loose narrative, with no real beginning or end – a man is caught in a series of actions and events which lead him inexorably back to where he “started” – a sort of time/space shift where he begins his “loop” again.  The real brilliance in the piece is how the film interacts with “itself”, via the screens and the offset.  The character of the man is at times aware of and interacts with himself at different points in the loop – we are never sure if he is aware that it is himself.  These points sync with one another in each screen;  while one uses the phone, the other answers, while one calls out, the other can see and hear a shadowy figure across the way, calling out.  Once the installation is running, it is a compelling concept – the character seems to ‘reach out’ out of the time-space of film, across the space of the exhibiting area and the viewer, to communicate with himself in another time.

My first challenge was to decide what the music was going to address:  the character and his motivations, or the conceptual, formal aspects of the film?  In the end I didn’t want to make too much of a statement on the piece itself, and rather treat it in a strictly formal way – enhancing the mood of the piece and offering moments of focus that aligned with the action while interacting with the other screens/events.  I began by sketching out the action on paper, plotting out the events, and producing a “quad” time-line to see  interactions and relationships.  I liked the idea that to a certain extent, the final result would be left to chance, and so I began experimenting with sounds and processing.  I responded to the feeling that I got from the footage: the grim, urban colors, the emptiness, sense of foreboding and confusion, and the eerie surrealist quality of the ’story’.  To address the idea of temporal loops  (real or imagined/metaphoric), I played with reversing some material, and gave the whole a reverb drenched, desolate quality.  Heavily processed violas and oceanic guitars seem to moan and cry from afar, while the sound of an ancient ceiling fan I a sampled and shifted down 3 octaves, rumbles ominously but nearly imperceptibly below.  Strange and alien motifs ring out in murky space, drawing the observers attention around the quadrant to correlating events.  Once I laid up the first draft , I realized that even a small amount of material will sound tremendously busy and overwhelming when stacked 4 high, and so I had to revisit the material and cut out a large number of elements.  Eventually, I found the balance that resulted in an extremely sparse track on it’s own, but worked when played in the quadrant.

Check out Mobius at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2009, Zone A Independent Project, Oct. 3rd in Toronto!

Photo by Paul likes pics

I wanted to share some of my thoughts on mentors and internships, as my own experiences have been very powerful and rewarding.  Looking back, I was surprised by how little I knew about the value and process of mentoring and having a mentor.

I was very fortunate to take part in the Guild of Canadian Film Composers Apprentice/Mentor Program, and to have been matched with a mentor (the singular Donald Quan) who challenged me in all the right ways.  I spent most of my six week internship in a state of constant terror – I was repeatedly thrown into the deep end of the pool and expected to swim, but had a chance to ‘crash and burn’ in relatively safe environment.  The amount that I learned and the things I experienced in that time could not have been gained any other way, and certainly nowhere as quickly.  It was learning and doing on the edge!  I learned some hard lessons very fast, and discovered holes in my game.  I also learned my strengths, and found out how far I could push myself and the depth of my endurance and perseverance.

My experiences showed me that some of the most important elements in building a career in a creative field are time spent interning, and establishing and building relationships with mentors.  These are certainly very important in industries which require a tremendous amount of time and luck to ‘break in’, and where a single introduction can mean the difference between having a career or not.  If you look at the careers of most accomplished creative people, the odds are very high that they had a mentor (in many cases, more than one) who played a big role in that success.

So -  what are mentors and mentees, what is their relationship, and what is the function of an internship?

A mentor is typically described as a person with considerable experience in a field, who acts as a guide, counselor, and trusted friend.  In many ways, a mentor can also be a coach.  To what degree a mentor is any one or combination of these things depends largely on their personality and style, and what they think they should be providing.  The internship process is very intimate, and the experience can vary quite a bit from situation to situation.  A mentor may give advice, counsel on career direction and big decisions, and help during challenging times.  During the internship they can provide opportunities to see behind the scenes and even to get one’s hands wet doing work at their level.  They can open doors by introducing a mentee to people in their network, and (if one is very lucky!) provide work.

An intern or protege’s role can be as varied as the mentor’s, and again depends on the mentor and what their expectations are.  During an internship, a mentee is there to be a human sponge, soaking up as much information and getting as much experience as possible, while at the same time doing whatever asked of them by their mentor.  How much one gets out of the deal is largely up to the mentee – one has to be willing to trust their mentor and accept what they are shown, and find value in every bit of advice and every task given, no matter how seemingly mundane.  What a mentee provides a mentor might be as simple as assistance in some area (read – grunt work!), anything from clerical to organization to actual creative work.  Further, for anyone that has worked in any capacity as a coach or teacher, you already know there is great reward in helping someone and fostering a career, especially if they are eager and passionate, open, and willing to learn and try new things.

Here are what I believe are some important traits of a successful mentor/mentee relationship:

Trust and openness

One must trust one’s mentor, and believe in them.  One also has to be open to what they have to say and show you.  Some of it may shock you, some of it may seem “irrelevant”, and may even run counter to what you thought was true about the industry.  Be open to a different point of view – you can evaluate your experiences afterward, but if you don’t allow yourself to be open, you won’t learn.  Don’t go into it thinking you ‘know better’.

A passionate desire to get involved in anything

Jump in!  Don’t hesitate!  Say yes!  This is a time to learn and try things out.  You are still in a place where you can make mistakes without terrible consequence.  Don’t say no to things because you don’t think they aren’t valuable or you’ve “done it before” (you might just learn something new!) and definitely don’t let fear guide you.  If you feel overwhelmed, scared, and just a little out of your depth, you’re doing it right!

Active seeking

Show you are looking to learn, looking to improve.  Don’t sit and wait for stuff to happen – get involved and create opportunities.  Think of ways to give back even as you are being given so much.

Awareness

Make leaps of thinking and faith, see how things connect, and be on the lookout for any opportunity.  Don’t let your brain sit idly while someone leads you by the hand.  Things that may escape the notice of someone not aware and processing their experiences may turn into wonderful things down the road.

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If you have the chance to experience an internship or you have met someone who is willing to be a mentor, I think you’ll get much more out of your time if endeavor to be the best protege possible, and develop and show the above mentioned traits.  It will also show your level of committment and that you respect and value the opportunity.

Do you have any happy or horror stories to share about mentors, mentoring, and internships?