CLARE BOWDITCH - APRA

By what measure do we assess the overall health or success of
Australian filmmaking? It certainly isn’t the year to year swings
in perceived quality of a year’s production. If taxpayers finance
production primarily for cultural reasons – as distinct from a profit
motive, for which, heaven knows, there are scant prospects – then surely we
should evaluate the films made under that regime on cultural terms. Are they
telling stories that are relevant and compelling, and are they (or some of them)
of lasting value? While Hollywood calibrates its output at the box office – with
a cherry on top at the Oscars - Australian films cannot be judged successful
or otherwise simply by the box office criterion; that is just a measure of their
popularity, not their cultural value.
>> Mick Harvey. Photo by Stephen McKenzie. >> Bryony Marks. Photo by Matthew Saville.
And other than the subjective opinions we all have, what makes up this cultural
value? Does a story have to be about Australia or Australians? Or is it enough
that it is told by Australians, automatically ensuring that it is told from our
unique perspective? I opt for the latter and suggest that the complex mix of
narrative, character, mise en scene and music are the principal elements that
combine to create a unique cultural framework for each film. And while I have
listed music last, in this list all the elements carry equal responsibility and
equal authority.
Rocking the suburbs
with Mick Harvey
“Most musicians fancy the idea
of writing music for a film. You
expect any musician to see that as
something fun or interesting to do.
Whether you are good at it or not
is another issue I suppose,” muses
Mick Harvey.
Arranger, composer and co-founder of
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The
Birthday Party, Harvey found his way to
composing film scores through networks
of arts contacts in Berlin in the 80s.
Released in October, and nominated for 12
AFI Awards including Best Original Screen
Score, Suburban Mayhem marks his second
collaboration with director, Paul Goldman.
“Paul is an old friend and we kind of came
out of the same scene really. He was
studying film in Melbourne when our bands
were starting off and shot a few clips for
us. When he finally wanted someone to do
his score for Australian Rules, he asked me
if I was interested. We had a good working
relationship on the first film, so Suburban
Mayhem just followed on from that.
Suburban Mayhem is a black comedy that
follows the path of destruction and havoc
wrecked by teenage monster, Katrina.
Harvey’s score blisters with loud, dark
rock underscoring the anger and appetite
of a young woman spiralling out of
control. The soundtrack also features
scorching covers of Double Dare and Sex
Beat, produced by Harvey and performed
by Magic Dirt’s Adalita.
Harvey views creating a film score as a
way of adding texture to areas of a film
that need assistance or are crying out
for juxtaposition. “It’s an opportunity to
provide an expansion of the information
through what the music can bring.”
Although he goes on to point out that
the composer doesn’t always control
how their music is finally presented. In
reference to Suburban Mayhem he explains,
“Conceptually I would have liked to have
had more say in the type of source music
(pre-existing songs) being used, to create
an overall musical pattern or aural concept.”
He notes, philosophically, “it just didn’t
work out that way... it’s a tough one.”
Making noise
Newcomer Bryony Marks tracks
her journey to her first feature film.
“I know it’s a cliché but you do this because
you love it; it’s often not very lucrative and
it does take a long time to get anywhere,”
remarks Bryony frankly. Having worked on
over twenty films and numerous chamber
and theatre pieces since 1996, it’s only
been in the past three years that Bryony
has been able to ‘make a living’ from screen
composing.
Commercial success has come in the form
of scoring the first block (three episodes)
of the Network Ten drama The Surgeon, a
collaboration with Chris Lilley on the sixpart
ABC mockumentary, We Can Be Heroes,
plus nominations for Best Television Theme
and Best Original Song Composed for the
Screen (for Indigeridoo) at the 2006 APRA-
AGSC Screen Music Awards.
“We Can Be Heroes was my first TV
gig (not including commercials). Chris
wanted the series to present as a genuine
documentary; he didn’t want music that
made it sound like a comedy. He had heard
CDs of my ‘serious’ music, took a bit of a
leap of faith and chose me to do the score.
Chris and I worked really well together,
creating Indigeridoo (he wrote the lyrics, I
wrote the music) was just too much fun – it
all just flowed.”
Bryony has also just completed work on
the score for her first feature film. Noise,
due for release in 2007, is a collaboration
with her film-maker husband, Matthew
Saville.
“Noise was my first orchestral film score.
Having not had the opportunity to write for
a larger ensemble since uni, I was pretty
anxious about this score. I have never
started writing again so many times, but it
feels like it has been worth the effort.”
Bryony describes Noise as a very unusual,
special and intense project. She became
very well acquainted with the script over
the ten years of development by Saville.
“It is unusual to be involved in a film from
so early on, and I certainly felt that I knew
the film intimately by the time I started
writing. Once pre-production commenced
we talked about musical ideas the whole
way through. While the film was being
edited, I wrote sketches on the piano.
Although Matthew and I both liked them,
there was so much work involved in getting
the tone just right that the end result is
unrecognisable.”
Bryony’s passion for her craft and her art
is infectious: “What I find challenging and
fascinating - and why I am interested in
doing film music - is that you get to add a
whole layer, an entire thread to the overall
picture. When you’re lucky enough to
work on a quality production, you get the
opportunity to contribute in a considered
way to the film’s intent, and not just give a
literal response to the action.”
“I read somewhere that every artist paints
the same picture, writes the same story or
the same song over and over again. In a
way, that’s how I feel about my music; it’s
always about working through how I feel
about being in the world.”
Music, which I call the intravenous artform for its visceral ability to create a
specific mood in an instant, is perhaps the most complex of them all - and
perhaps the least appreciated by the public and even some filmmakers. I have
heard many stories from composers around the world about the cavalier
attitude of some directors and producers to the score. That attitude is often
exhibited through the afterthought nature of the budget allocated for original
music. The relative scarcity of film score work in Australia makes this a
particularly challenging aspect of film composing.
The fact that Australian composers have risen to these challenges in a creative
sense is notable. It’s true that the ‘value’ of music to a film is intangible and
incalculable, it is nevertheless enormous – hardly an original proposition.
You’d be like a caterpillar up wolf creek without a machete in half light if your
score didn’t touch the right nerve, considering that film needs both intellect
and emotion to engage us.
For example, Cezary Skubiszewski’s unique and striking score for The Book
of Revelation – with Paul Pirola’s excellent sound design – characterises the
excellence of the creative force at work in Australian film composition - and they
are not alone, as many of this year’s film scores demonstrate. (Skubiszewski’s
score for Ana Kokkinos’ The Book of Revelation won the award for Best Score
at this year’s Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, and is nominated in the AFI
Awards – presented December 6 & 7.)
As Skubiszewski points out, the Australian psyche seems to respond best to the
sounds of a rock guitar. Americans like big production numbers and the Brits
like pop songs – these are generalisations, to be sure, but useful ones and
Skubiszewski’s diverse range of scores often pay heed to this understanding
of the audience. The rock guitar pops up even in the score for The Book of
Revelation, where he uses the musical colours of a string quartet and three
voices for much of the film, with jazzy backgrounds.
The cue at the start of the film, for example, creates complex visceral expectations
in the viewer, combining an urge to explore, a sense of dread... with a hint of
mystery. This segues into a driving piece of modern dance music for the rehearsal
scene, showing dexterity and great diversity in the composing.
Later, when the mood changes in the final act, the sense of tentative optimism is
echoed in a switch to the colours of woodwinds (two flutes, two clarinets) and
some piano. Subtle yet strong, the music seems perfect for the images.
In my view, the high standard of Australian composing for the screen plays a
significant role in our screen culture and filmmakers who understand this find
their films enhanced and elevated by the music – something that is certainly
one test of a film’s lasting cultural value.
Andrew Urban created and interviews for SBS TV’s popular Front Up series.
He is Channel Host for the World Movies Channel and a presenter for Movies
This Week, Ovation & World Movies Channels. He is also the Editor of
www.urbancinefile.com.au, an award-winning, weekly online movie magazine.
Australian
film &
music:
an Urbane
perspective
By Andrew L. Urban
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