Seattle 48 Hour Film Project - Team Shenanigans

From July 13-15, 2018, I had the honor of working with Michelle Shadday's "Team Shenanigans" (originally Team Estrogen), for the third time.  

The 48-Hour Film Project is a nation-wide festival in which teams of amateur film-makers write, film, and edit an entire 4-7 minute movie for submission - all within a single weekend.  Not only is it a great experience with your friends and a lot of fun to put together, it is also a good opportunity to push yourself to complete a project and have a finished product.  Afterwards, all teams who completed their projects participate in a film-screening at SIFF Uptown (for Seattle teams).

On Friday evening, each team pulls their category from a hat, and all teams receive items that the film must include:  1) a name and occupation of a character,  2) an object, and  3) a line of dialogue.  The writers begin on the script as soon as possible, and (typically) by the next morning, the crew begins filming.  Post production includes editing, sound effects, and music.  By Sunday at 7:30pm sharp, all films must be submitted or they are out of the running.

Our team this year consisted of:

-Michelle Shadday (producer/actor)

-Sandra Geldenhuys-Scragg (director)

-Bilal Young (associate director)

-Chen Yu Hsu (associate photographer)

-Nicole Pouchet Skuba (screen writer)

-Christopher Chambers (actor/editor)

-Yvonne Velez (actor/editor)

-Natasha Clarette (actor)

-Colleen Kelly (makeup)

We unfortunately lost both our director of photography and editor shortly before the festival began, and thus several members of the cast had to step in to fill their shoes.  This resulted in a rougher process than usual, and a true "48-Hour" experience for Chris and Yvonne, who both acted and edited.  

Our category for the film was "Romance", which turned into a romantic comedy called "Speed Date".  Nicole wrote a cute, punchy script depicting a rather ill-attended speed-dating event with two women and one man.  Humorously, it is the two women who develop chemistry with each other, and leave the sole man alone with a glass of wine at the end.

As the composer for the score, I found a new challenge with this film.  Since the script was essentially one long scene and dialogue sequence, I couldn't just write individual pieces of music.  Nor could I write one long piece of music, because I wouldn't have the opportunity to view the movie until after it had already been submitted.  I could only approximate the necessary material based on the script, and give it to the editors to add pieces in as they put the film together.

I attempted to solve this problem by creating a puzzle-piece score.  I created several themes that could be looped, truncated, fit together, or layered in any number of combinations, hopefully without losing the interest of the audience:  

1. Pizzicato string quartet intro

2. Bassoon addition (character theme)

3. Light percussion track (dates)

4. Pizzicato + percussion track

I made sure that each of these pieces had identical tempi, filters, reverb, and complementary instrumentation.  In addition, I created two "romance" tracks that were meant to warm up the romantic moments of the film and add an extra layer of cheese.  Finally, I created several short moments which could be used to punctuate the sillier actions in the film.

After finishing the film, I created a suite from these pieces for a full soundtrack:

(photograph taken by Chen Yu Hsu)

For more information on the 48 Hour Film Project, see the festival's website below:

http://www.48hourfilm.com

Brahms v. Radiohead at the Seattle Symphony

  

On July 11, I went into a concert with the slight trepidation of having no idea what I was getting myself into.  The program was a conglomeration of two famously complex and wildly different artists:  Johannes Brahms, and Radiohead.

The brain-child of conductor/composer Steve Hackman, "Brahms v. Radiohead" is the complete integration of various songs from Radiohead's 1997 album OK Computer into Brahms' 1st Symphony, which happens to be my favorite symphony of all time.  Mr. Hackman seemingly does it all:  according to the SSO program I was holding, he is not only a conductor and composer, but also a singer, pianist, producer, DJ, arranger, songwriter "and even rapper".  Considering his breadth of expertise, it seems natural that he would begin to innovate various ways of combining the classical repertoire with popular music.

As I entered the hall, with nose-bleed tickets in the right corner of the third tier, there seemed to be an even mix of both younger and older generations.  This is common with the exciting new concerts that introduce popular music as played by the orchestra, and is, in my opinion, an extremely positive indicator of the continuing success of the symphony.  I also noticed that, somewhat more uncommonly, the entire hall was completely full, even up in the nosebleeds.  

This is apparently what you get when you showcase two superstars from different spheres of the music world.  

Joining the orchestra on stage were three vocalists:  Andrew Lipke, Bill Prokopow and Kéren Tayar.  Almost immediately, Lipke launched in with Radiohead's "Airbag", with a clear, carrying tenor voice.  

Without missing a beat, the orchestra transitioned from "Airbag" straight into the Brahms' 1st movement, not an easy task considering that the symphony begins with a thundering timpani heart-beat and long, dramatic chords from the strings.  My ears instantly adjusted to the symphony I have by now memorized.

After the exposition, they transitioned into "Paranoid Android", which was a bit jarring to me as my expectations of the natural progression of the 1st movement were suddenly interrupted.  It took a minute for me to say to myself, "Wait a moment, drop your addiction to the familiar.  Open up, consider the possibilities."  Once I made this mental shift, it became much easier to appreciate the painstakingly crafted blend of Brahms into Radiohead, and vice versa.

Ending movement 1 of the symphony was a transition into "Subterranean Homesick Alien", with Tayar's haunting, keening vocals, and a sudden breakout into three-part harmony of all three vocalists which raised the hairs on the back of my neck.  The song instantly became one of my favorites.

As the music progressed, the songs became more and more part of the actual symphony, with harmonies carefully constructed to fit the existing harmonies of the symphony.  I found this especially impressive since, as since I mentioned before, both of these works of music are incredibly complex.  Whereas many of the earlier classical (Haydn, Mozart) symphonies maintain standard chord progressions such as I-IV-V-I at regular beats in the music, Brahms is anything but regular.  His seamless transition from tonal center to tonal center and definitive shifts from triple meter to double meter and back stretch the bounds of tonal classical music.  Similarly, Radiohead utilizes modality, chromaticism, and other hyper-tonal techniques in their arrangements.  To marry the two is a beautiful accomplishment.

For example, my favorite Radiohead song turned out to be "Exit Music (For A Film)", in the middle of which it became apparent that the music was going in a completely different harmonic direction from the section of Movement IV which was playing simultaneously.  The tension created by the impending harmonic crash condensed into one terrifying moment where no one knew what would happen.  Suddenly, all three singers broke out into three perfect tones of an even diminished chord which had me astounded with the accuracy of the dissonant harmony.  

In less tense moments, the singers utilized satisfying suspensions, not only against the orchestra, but also against each other.  Somehow, everything resolved correctly.

Another part of the genius of Hackman's arrangement was inserting various motifs from the Brahms into the Radiohead songs.  A couple of instances of this technique stood out to me in particular.

First, anyone familiar with the Brahms' symphony will recognize the violin solo played towards the end of the 2nd movement.  Not content with letting this gem remain embedded in the classical world, Hackman gave it another prominent statement in, ironically, "No Surprises".  The reminder of the movement, now passed, was a particularly contemplative moment.

Second, in the last song of the night, "Electioneering", the famed horn solo from the 4th movement of the symphony interjected - in minor!  The cleverness of this moment was extremely satisfying for those in the audience who recognized what was going on.

Which leads me to my question of the evening:  The concert was clearly enjoyable for any classical music lover who knows the intricate inner working of a musical composition - the harmonies, melodic and motivic development, structure and orchestration.  But what of the audience mainly familiar with the Radiohead pieces?  Were they able to appreciate the concert to the same capacity?

My question seemed to answer itself with the final, bombastic brass chords of the symphony's fourth movements.  The entire packed hall immediately raised to their feet and started applauding as loudly as possible.  The singers left the stage and re-entered; as Lipke bowed, everyone started screaming as if they were at a rock concert.  Hackman entered; the screams got even louder.  By the time he acknowledged the orchestra behind him, the audience was going crazy, and kept it up for a good five minutes.

With this level of craft, consideration, and attention to details, along with stellar orchestration, it seems impossible that anyone could turn their nose up at the "pop music" that had sold out the symphony.  The integration of classical and popular ended up a wild success that did not sacrifice musicality and artistry.  

After all, according to Steve Hackman: "Ultimately, when you distill them, they are made of the same twelve notes."