Heydon Hohaia performing at Parachute Festival, 2009
Throughout pre-production, Heydon Hohaia and I have been working on original songs for the film.
Well, when I say we've been working on them - what I really mean is I visit him, he performs his latest song for me and I proceed to offer my cringe-worthy two cents...
"Can we make it more blues-y?"
"Hey! How about you sing the entire last chorus a capella?"
"What if... instead of with guitar, you played the spoons with it? Can you play the spoons??"
...for a split second Heydon will peer over his glasses and then appease me with answers to my hair-brained suggestions. Fortunately for us, he only listens to me about five percent of the time when it comes to the music.
Then... it's our mandatory game of FIFA on PlayStation, where I always 'let' him win... for um, morale reasons. Yeah, that's it. The first rule of making films is you've got to keep the talent happy. Except occasionally, I'll mess up and accidentally win and then have to pretend to be excited that I was 'finally' able to defeat him. If you're reading this Heydon, it's time you faced facts - don't make me Wayne Rooney yo ass. Yeah, you know what's up... (cough).
In all seriousness, I don't have the musical expertise to offer insightful technical feedback regarding songwriting structure so I simply try to respond to the songs at a basic emotional level. It's refreshing because it's one of the few instances when I'm the audience on my own project, as I have a strong overview of every other aspect of the production. Being that there are many similarities between Heydon and the character he plays, I've offered him a lot of creative freedom with the writing and producing of the songs.
It's important to our documentary framework that the music be performed with authenticity and woven as seamlessly into the fabric of the narrative as possible. Although I have admiration for the choreography and production design in musical genre films, I've always found it really contrived when characters break into an epic song and dance number whilst lip syncing to a pre-recorded soundtrack.
Sweeping camera movements and dynamic editing can provide for dazzling visual sequences, however I'll always contend that the best format for a musical is seeing the live stage show. I'd suggest it's akin to watching a band perform live as opposed to seeing their concert on DVD. Last July, I managed to catch the Broadway show Next to Normal in New York and it was thrilling to witness world class performers on stage with no editing tricks to hide behind.
Movie versions of musicals certainly have the capacity to mask deficiencies in singing ability. It seems some actor's voices are so digitally spliced together that a robot super computer may as well be performing. I haven't seen Mamma Mia, but what few seconds I have seen of Pierce Brosnan in that role make me shudder. Why would he do that to himself?? He was James Bond for crying out loud!
Pierce Brosnan in the hit musical Mamma Mia
For realism purposes, songs in the film will be performed acoustically and recorded in one take on location. Although it's an opportunity to witness Heydon's talent as a vocalist, the songs are an outlet for a character with musical prowess. And it's a vulnerability and immediacy to the character that I aim to capture through a lack of editing; our strategy is to utilise technology to support the performance rather than the other way round.
Okay, I'm starting to feel bad about dissing Pierce Brosnan. And I probably shouldn't make snap judgements about a movie or performance without seeing it in it's entirety.
So, does anyone out there in Internetland wish to accuse me of jumping to conclusions about Mamma Mia and actually recommend that I spend two hours of my life watching it??
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They say the camera adds 10 pounds... Pierce is looking (in robotic voice...) Hev-Veeeee.
ReplyDeleteSo, some musicals have the ability to pull off success, but these tend to push the boundaries and break the limits of what can otherwise be achieved on stage. Schumacher's Phantom of the Opera, Baz's Moulin Rouge and dare I suggest Mamma Mia in my humble opinion all achieve this... but, it doesn't mean I like them :)
ReplyDeleteI can't help but think that Dreamgirls and Hairspray should've remained on stage.... (Travolta hung up 'hard mutha-fu*ker' for that? Look who's talking 5 must be in the pipes?)
Mamma Mia as a film adds 'location' to what an already amazing stage show! And don't forget it has the infinite power of Abba carrying it into the hearts of generations on either side of ours (FYI... 33)
Mamma Mia takes you on a journey (if you like that shit) but more importantly, more think it's good than think it sucks... so even though I personally can't stand it (I would rather watch a Coronation Street marathon!) I can't help but think Mamma Mia might actually BE good?
Pierce Brosnan was the best James Bond in the worst Bond movies.. add Mamma Mia to his filmography it leads to one conclusion...
His agent must be Estelle from friends! (same as Joey Tribiani)
MUST be because no career caring professional would let this happen to such a good actor... Laws of Attraction, After the Sunset... glurrrh... Give him some balls Estelle!!
Movies are a different experience to stage shows and I get frustrated with comparisons, each should simply be what it is. Stop comparing movies to books, books to movies, movies to musicals, musicals to movies, musicals to books, movies to cartoons, cartoons to movies, real events to movies, movies emulated in real life to become real events, computer games to movies and movies to computer games... really the government should step in with Medium modification laws...
"And the oscar for best adaptation of a computer game goes to!..."
or even worse "And the oscar for best adaptation of a musical based on a screeenplay based on a book goes too.."
(Maaahtt DayyMon! haha..)
I am tired of the movie biz... I haven't been inspired for quite some time. Most of the short attention span, extend music video trash that makes it to our multiplexes puts me to sleep. What kind of material, hyper colour, brand cluttered world do we live in when superheroes are even uninspriring!
Here it is. People of the world it's time to get real! I want to see a film I can relate to, some thing, anything that makes me feel. Something I can empathise with and go on an emotional journey through. I want to be on the verge of crying about something the humbles me and then LMFAO at something so true that it mirrors my life!
Give me something real, or don't give me anything at all. If you are going to dish up a superhero wrapped in a $100m budget, make me believe, give him humilty and vunerabilty and above all a reason that inspires me!
The future successes are 'the real' - documentaries, mockumentaries and whatever the fuck that addictive little thing called 'the hills' is...
Taika's 'Boy' had an authenticity about it that people are loving, give me more like that. Looking forward to The Chameleon for that exact reason... it will be real! bring it on...
That... is an EPIC response... Haha! I'm with you on the pointlessness of comparing movies to books they're based on... or comparing the movie based on the musical to the original stage show... there's not much point as they're all separate, distinct mediums that require differing attributes to be successful.
ReplyDeleteI guess what I'm getting at with movie musicals is how they often contain sequences which move from having actors speaking dialogue recorded in the location to having them lip syncing a song to a pre-recorded soundtrack. I've always just found that really fake.
The thing about a stage musical is the actual singing is performed live in the same time-space as the dialogue scenes. It's just feels more authentic to me for that reason. Know what I'm sayin'?