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Hello, my name is Philippe Rey, I am a composer for film music and video games,
and I composed and produced the music for the film 'Devils, Angels & Dating', directed by Michael Cawood.
Michael is a big fan of film music. So he first sent me a very long list of composers he liked.
People like Alan Menken who made the music for Walt Disney. Patrick Doyle, who has composed an episode of Harry Potter among others. Trevor Jones who made Dark Chrystal, The Last of the Mohicans, etc ... all great composers!
So I was bound to be compared to these prestigious composers, it was scary at first.
But at least one thing was sure, we shared the same musical tastes, and as I was open to some the gamble, I said ok!
It gave me an idea of his expectations regarding the style of music for the film, and I agreed with him.
Obviously the film has no budget, the music could not be played or recorded by real musicians,
so therefore it was entirely created in the computer with orchestral sound banks in my home studio.
In the end, I do not know if the music that I suggested was totally what he wanted for the film,
I think it was, at least in part. I think he just trusted me
and made a few conscessions too, and I thank him for that.
On my side i had to back-pedal a few times too,
rewrite certain parts which did not fit with the idea hat Michael had in certain sections.
But we both listened to each other and i think we are both very satisfied with the result.
When you receive for the first time a film without music, you only have images,
often not completed, and then some sounds, or a few voices...
So I watched the film lots of times to soak up its atmosphere,
its history, its characters, its themes etc ...
Then after having seen and reviewed it, I wondered what instruments I would want to highlight,
ones that would give color to the film's score, and then what kind of intrepretation I wanted to develop.
So, in addition to the classical orchestra (violins, woodwinds, brass, percussions),
when viewing it for the first time, i could hear church organs,
probably because of references to Hell and Paradise etc ...
I said to myself that this instrument could add a dramatic dimension, or contrasting comic and tragic tones, and give a particular color to the music.
I then tried to develop some themes for piano and organ of course, focusing on important sections,
which I then fleshed out with the whole orchestra, and most of them have been preserved.
A major difficulty I encountered was finding a good place for the music to fit in the sound scape.
Because the film offers a lot already, lots of visual and auditory stimulous,
especially character voices, sound effects and the narration wich is present for almost half of the film.
So placing an orchestral big score, in the center of it all
was a little difficult sometimes, a bit like maneuvering a large truck in a very small parking lot.
Michael also suggested using the beautiful theme of the final song
composed and performed by Andrea Perry.
So this theme appears in several places now, in a slightly different manner each time, just for variety,
and it creates a sort of connecting thread. We all agreed on that.
In the end, when all the music was finished, it was then allowed to stand for a while and then I reworked each passage carefully,
until we were both happy with the result.
I think that it took nearly three weeks (full time), spread over a year
to give nearly six and a half minutes of music. That's it.
Thank you for your attention and above all...
enjoy the film !