Overdose: Collaboration is Key

"Overdose," the latest piece I released on my SoundCloud, is actually several years old having been used in a friend's short film, Second Chance. This was his first film and won a Silver Remi Award in the Experimental Short category at the 2007 World Fest Film Festival. As my friend knew me from high school, knew I was a musician, and that I was attending film school, he wanted me to create music for the whole film.

This particular piece was fittingly named as its used during the overdose scene in the film. To give you an idea of the visuals, one of the characters (we'll call him "Aaron") is snorting cocaine and starts having a seizure. During this incident, he accidentally speed dials Brian, Aaron's best friend who hadn't spoken to him in a long time after unsuccessfully trying to get Josh into rehab. Knowing something is seriously wrong though Aaron is unable to communicate, Brian jumps in his car and races across town to try and save his friend. The scene transitions between Brian and Aaron, the cuts becoming faster until Brian kicks the door down to get to Aaron.  While the rest of the film is in color, this moment is Black & White, and it's important to note that the entire film has no dialog or sound effects: the music is the narrator.

I mention this because I wanted to discuss the process of collaboration between a director and composer. Before coming to me, my friend had an idea of the soundtrack he wanted: a sound similar to Creed and Perfect Circle. Which is fine, but once I viewed the footage and spoke to him about tone and  themes, I had an entirely different idea. Thinking about the story, the use of drugs, and how the film was shot, it immediately brought to mind one of my favorite composers: Cliff Martinez. You'll have heard his music in such films as Traffic, Solaris, Narc, Drive, Contagion, The Limey, and The Lincoln Lawyer-- to name a few.

With my friend's film, the soundtrack from Narc popped into my head right away.  These two videos are pieces from that movie:

"Big Catherine, Little Catherine"

by Cliff Martinez for Narc

"Girl in the Closet"

by Cliff Martinez for Narc

Cliff's use of ambient tones (i.e. the open sounds in "Girl in the Closet") and textures (i.e. the really low notes at the beginning and end of "Catherine" that sound more like a sound effect than music) inspired "Overdose" by giving me a focus on how to best compliment the emotion on screen. What makes Cliff so unique is his ability to compliment the action by hiding his music deep in the background so that it resonates through the performances. His music doesn't force emotion; in fact, I read in the YouTube comments how soothing people find the score to Narc, an incredibly dramatic and intense film. It's diverse, haunting, quiet, peaceful, and contemplative. And that's what I wanted for my friend's film. Once I played the pieces for him and showed him how the music was used in the film, he realized that was the sound he needed for Second Chance.

Not all directors are going to be as easy to work with and some will know EXACTLY what they want. As a composer, it's my job to discern how to work with individuals, share my ideas, and be able to follow directions while maintaining my creative individuality. After listening to "Overdose," feel free to leave me some feedback in the comments section.