For No Impact Man I needed forty pieces of music and I had four weeks to complete the entire score in time to mix for the Sundance film festival. There was every reason for butterflies and palpitations, but the process unfolded with uncanny ease. I think part of it was returning to the documentary format. My first few films were docs and it felt natural to be back in that genre. I also benefited from a wonderful collaboration with the directors, Laura and Justin.
It’s always a welcome surprise when music flows so quickly. For this blog, I thought I would write about the inspirations for some of the main musical themes:
It’s interesting that the first thematic breakthrough was inspired by the littlest Beavan, Isabella. My daughter Harper is around the same age as Isabella, and I often miss her terribly while working on a score (although my studio is a backhouse, it seems miles away when I’m working 15-20 hr. days, for weeks on end). When I started working on NIM, the scenes with Isabella would always make me think of Harper, which would cause me to run next door and spend a few moments with her. Once, on the way back to the studio, I was humming a happy, little melody that I had sung to Harper over the years. The light bulb went on and I hurried into the studio. I began recording what would become the family’s theme when they were bouncing through the garden and splashing in the fountain with Isabella. This piece seemed to represent the most positive benefits of the family’s experiment and from here everything fell into place as I worked my way backwards towards the film’s main subject.
The next themes to emerge were for Michele. While Colin was steadfast in his mission, Michele went from being a supportive, yet skeptical participant, to becoming a driving force in the project. It seemed to me that her journey would be the most relatable to viewers. Her themes are where I started introducing the piano.
For Colin’s thematic material I tried to give a persistent pulse to the main theme, media and blog motifs, while the more intimate music concerning his moments of doubt mirrored the music that accompanies the scenes of Michelle’s frustrations. Sparse guitar and organ are the backbone of these pieces.
Instrumentally, I wasn’t really thinking conceptually other than the idea of keeping things minimal and low-fi. However, when Laura and Justin were in the studio we began to notice that many of my instruments fit right in with the spirit of the film. There are bottles, scrap items, found and repaired instruments. Upon later reflection, I also noticed that I have very few instruments that were bought new. Many are beat-up cheapies I found on ebay or craig’s list. Others were donated by friends, after years of collecting dust in attics or garages. In this way, I decided that my three “r”s would be retrieve, repair and reuse.
