The Light of Day

Pieces parts

Some “blogging music”, maestro:

Thank you, sir. I doubt many of you happen to know the 1998 version of TFBD forwards and backwards, but this is the backing track from Scratched Off, Called Off — or, on earlier versions, Listed Black — right off the old worn-out tape, before I’ve had much of a chance to revitalize it. One recurring regret is that I tended to have “too much fun” with the sequencer back then (circa 1994) — lots of experimenting with ridiculous polyrhythms and other “mathy” ideas, just because I could — often at the expense of the overall aesthetic. In the case of this song, though, I think the arrangement works perfectly. You can clearly hear that there’s space in the sound where the vocals would go. It’s also refreshing to have music that isn’t emotionally overwhelming; it’s just a sonic backbone for a degrading dialogue between three jerks.

The overdubbed instruments on the original tape, i.e. the guitars (and that short REAL CLARINET OMG phrase at 1:16), were all apparently bounced together with the sequenced drums/bass/keys onto a single stereo pair, to open as many tracks as possible for vocal work — so if I’m not totally happy with the guitar tone as it is, tough titties.

Some early observations on the movie project (still in the “scavenger hunt” phase):

1. It doesn’t matter that I can’t see the entire movie in my head at once. All I need to see is the next thing I’m going to do. This much is easy. Each time I do the next thing, I can see a little further in my mind, and keep following where it leads me.

2. While props and costumes accumulate, and parts of the puzzle are coming together, the project is alive. While something sits at one end of the room, untouched for days on end, the eyes stop seeing it, and the project slips into a coma.

3. Visuals don’t hide music or detract from its flaws; they either resonate with it — magnifying and compounding what it already has — or just don’t go with it. If the music is kinda stupid, then the visual has to be kinda stupid. “Music visualization” is somewhat of a misnomer. We can’t see music, so there’s no such thing as one absolute correct visual to go with it. We can, however, see whether or not something fits the music. So while the music can’t dictate the visuals outright — even generative visuals rely on an algorithm that was developed independently of the music that drives it — the music can act as a test for whatever image we present to it. Sometimes just hearing the music helps to tell us, “this image is almost right, but needs to be fluffier/darker/grainer etc.”

4. I’ve long believed visuals could serve as a sweetener, to help some people swallow my more difficult musical pills — or at least as a distraction, so that people might let down their guards and let in some music that falls outside their usual comfort zone in some way. (Notice that people who complain loudly about certain radio stations never seem to mind when the same music appears in the soundtrack of a movie they’re enjoying.) What didn’t occur to me is that I’d be helping myself to experience this old music in a fresh and vital way, just by having a few tangible props to look at while tweaking the mixes.

Investments

Here are a few of the acquisitions that I’ve funded so far with my “stimulus incentive” rebate…

…just so you don’t think I’m spending it frivolously.

No, I’m not going through an “Elton John” phase, but it’s a good guess, and it’s sort of in the right direction…

Thanks to Sassy for the tip regarding ostrich fringe. (That was October? Christ, someone light a fire under my ass, please!)

Film meetings are awesome.

Ah, in the midst of all this emotionally roller-coastery last-minute life-or-death job hunting, two hours to put it all aside and experience sanity. It is so great to be talking with film people on a regular basis. Their input and suggestions for my project are helping to make it real — I really am making a film.

Two months ago, I forced myself to speak of it out loud for the first time. I think I sent an email to Mike a few days prior, just to get his feedback on my “pitch”, and then meekly made an announcement at the meeting, to the effect of, “if you read about it and don’t get what I’m talking about, don’t worry about it”. I don’t know what I was afraid of, but I was. I felt like people would think my idea was stupid and then it would all slink back into my head. But about a month later, Mike happily came over to have brainstorming session #1, and then I created and showed my little rotoscope test at the older/smaller group’s meeting. This one weird little test elicited a lot of interest and feedback, and when it came time at tonight’s meeting to do an update, I wasn’t nervous at all.

This is the “Episodes feeling” that I sometimes miss, where if any of us brought a song into the group, it was a given that we would all get right to work on discussing how to play it. It was always very re-affirming, and in an emotional sense, it’s been a challenge to work on music without that validation. (There’s some validation later, but from people who aren’t directly involved, and haven’t “taken ownership” of the song in some way, so it’s not quite the same animal.) That’s the feeling I wanted to bring back.

I could get way more detaily about this, but I need to go eat something before I pass out.

Oh, and by the way, I haven’t shot a single frame of this thing yet. Yet somehow, it’s “alive” now. Know what I’m sayin’?