Coach
Click a link to hear samples from this project.
Cue list:
1. Rotator Cuff
2. Concentrate
3. Discovered
4. We Have Something
5. End Credits
I'm very pleased to announce that my latest short film is nearly complete. Coach had its final sound mix at Todd AO West on Stage 1 just this last Sunday, April 9th. A great deal of thanks to the mixer, Eddie Bydalek, and the two sound supervisors and editors, Brett Voss and Seann Dougherty, whose amazing dialogue and effects work really put the film on a professional level. Coach is a complicated short film about a high school baseball coach who is in love with his star pitcher. In a very vulnerable moment the coach expresses himself to Cody and the situation takes a dangerous turn.
This is the first time that I have worked with Chris Hampel, the film's director. He did a brilliant job of realizing the story with a great sensitivity to detail. The end result is a brilliant snapshot of naivete, sensuality, repression, and devotion. At first he had no idea what to do with the music, but as I began to make suggestions, he really began to realize what he wanted the music to feel like. It was a process for me to get the music to reflect exactly what was in his mind, and a learning experience for both of us. It is always valuable to work with as many different people as possible. But I've always insisted on being a "more is more" kind of person--because what is more than less? Well, more! More violins! More woodwinds! More percussion! And with this project moreso than any other, I have really learned the value and necessity of using less to achieve something greater.
By the end with all my different versions of the various cues, I wrote almost twenty five minutes of music... for a sixteen-minute film! But without all that music, I never would have arrived at the point where I did.
There are some moments I truly love, for example in the second cue, "Concentrate," those piano chords are so sensual, a bit of polytonality to suggest something more in between the score and the images. The repeating piano melody was something that both Chris and I fell in love with instantly. Of all the cues this one never changed. It's like a music box, slowly hypnotizing, drawing you in.
The fourth cue "We Have Something," I love all of it. The low rumbling woodwinds and the strong undertones of the brass. The build up in the strings to that impending moment where the clarinets and tremolo celli sustain, and finally into to those piano chords. Those chords have bring in a similar polytonality like the second cue, but purposefully more dissonant, less resolve, and almost shattered. The end is tough to explain musically but it is very specific to the images on the screen. I did employ synths to sort of bob and weave in and out of the sound of the strings, although I guess it is a roll-of-the-eyes sort of irony that the rest of the instruments are themselves sampled. I wanted to create a sound that wasn't entirely real, and by adding a very synthesized warm pad, it kind of, by contrast makes the sampled orchestral instruments sound more realistic.
One of the biggest surprises for me was the end credits. Chris mentioned that he wanted to replay the second cue under the credits because there was something very strong about it, perhaps the repeating piano melody. I made the off-the-cuff remark about putting a drum beat under it, thinking he would scoff at the idea, but he said, sure! Just put it on a separate track so I can get rid of it if I want. Well I figured if I'm going to chop up this cue, I'm really going to chop it up. And the result is this surprising, sexy beat that lulls you dreamily inward. I never could have foreseen this cue when first conceiving of the score. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.
Instrumentation:
Oboe
Clarinet
Bass Clarinet
Contrabass Clarinet
Bassoon
Contrabassoon
Horns I, II
Trombone
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Piano
Synth
Violin I
Violin II
Viola
Cello
Bass