The Film Project

Very exciting news!!!
I've been wanting to try my hand at writing some music for film for a long time now.
One day, whilst standing in my kitchen making popcorn with my friend, my phone rang and it was my good friend from Johannesburg. He is an interior designer with no previous film making experience who decided he wanted to make a film based on the story of The Happy Prince (Oscar Wilde).
He asked me if I'd like to write the music for his film to which I nearly choked on a piece of popcorn - what an amazing opportunity! Not only do I get to try my hand at writing music for film, but I also get to work with my very good friend! It's a win win situation.

I started by reading through the original Oscar Wilde story, which is very sad and moving. It's about a Prince who, when he died, was made into a statue and put on a tall pillar in the centre of the city square. There is a swallow migrating to Egypt who lands on the statue for the night and discovers the the Prince is sad because of all the suffering he has witnessed from his position in the centre of the city. He asks the Swallow to distribute the jewels from his sword, eyes and the gold leaves covering him amongst the poor / needy in the city below. He and the Swallow develop a strong bond and the Swallow, despite the encraochment of winter, decides to stay with the Prince where he eventually dies due to the cold.

As I said...it's a pretty sad story.

Next I set to identify the main themes in the story: The Prince and The Swallow.
I wanted to create a specific mood for each of these characters. I went in search of inspiration from existing works to use as a creative guide for my own compositions.

For the Swallow theme I was inspired by the soundtrack of Amelie - specifically the waltz. I felt that it has just the right elements of innocence and a carefree lilt, which depicts the Swallow's mood when we firt meet him flying through the reeds at a stream.

For the Prince theme I was inspired by Rachmaninoff's C minor prelude. The bell-like motif with the weighty extended chords gives it a feeling of grandeur akin to great cathedrals and equally grand statues. It is well-grounded just like the Prince is on his pillar.

Finally there is a lullaby which the Swallow will sing to the Prince after telling him stories of his previous migrations to Egypt. For this I drew my inspiration from the movie The Gladiator, specifically the song by Enya. I feel that the slight Arabic / North African mood of this piece perfectly suits the images the Swallows stories conjure up in the mind of the Prince of the pyramids and the Nile.

So...with the inspirations for each theme chosen, I have started with composing the Swallow Theme first. Just last month I made the first recording of this piece and sent it to my friend for his feedback. Fortunately he LOVED it - it certainly helps that we are on the same wave-length!

Next I will be focusing on the Prince Theme. I am slightly nervous about the challenging aspects of trying to recreate the mood so perfectly and skillfully set-up by the great Rachmaninoff, but where sheer talent as a keyboardist is lacking, there is the advancements of technology to substitute ;) So far I have come up with two possibilities yet I'm not yet convinced as to whether or not either of these are the "it" tune - so there is more grafting to be done, but hopefully I am close.

And that's where I currently stand with the composition of the music for this film project. Very exciting and incredibly daunting. Unfortunately I can't post any of the recordings / themes online at this stage - you'll have to wait for the finished product.

We have set November 22 as our deadline for this project. It may turn out to be a bit too ambitious to meet, but since it is the day of both our (my friend and my) birthdays, it seems significant, so hold thumbs that we make it.

Either way, I'll be keeping you up to date as I go....