The marriage of music and film in Portland ? Oregon Music News

Film is big business in Portland, but don?t forget the music

Oregon has long been a source of creativity and underground inspiration for independent artists in the worlds of music and of film. In fact, it was Oregonian Sheldon Renan that wrote what is considered to be the first guide to American Underground Film in 1967:?An Introduction to the American Underground Film: A Unique, Fully Illustrated Handbook To The Art Of Underground Film And Their Makers.?Tall Tales True Tales?contributor Anne Richardson reports that Renan ?made a foundational contribution to independent filmmaking in Oregon by writing the first National Endowment for the Arts proposal for a network of regional film centers, launching the process which led to the formation of the Northwest Film Center.? (Available as a?free download?at Archive.org.)

Just one year later, 1968, Oregon launched the?Governor?s Office of Film & Television?to promote the development of film, video and multimedia industries in the state to generate additional revenues and become a location of choice for film and TV projects. The focus paid off. The last Economic Impact Analysis of the industry was conducted in 2007 and it?showed the following industry contributions at that time:

• Direct economic impacts of the film and video industry consisted of $542.9 million in output, $164.4 million in wages, $40.5 million in business income, and 3,977 jobs.
• The total economic impact associated with the film and video industry were $1.04 billion in output, $469.1 million in labor and other income, and 8,614 jobs.

This industry was the sole topic at last week?s?Portland Mayoral Candidate Creative Economy Forum?presented by?OMPA?(Oregon Media Production Association),?Portland Monthly,?KGW?and?WIF-PDX?(Women in Film), where it was reported that last year was the Portland metro area?s biggest year for film, bringing in an estimated $110 million thanks to shows like Leverage, Grimm and of course, Portlandia. Seems that despite the economy, television and entertainment is booming in Portland. Mayoral hopefuls?Eileen Brady,?Charlie Hales?and?Jefferson Smith?shared their priorities for how they would support the industry?from streamlining permitting for productions, maintaining the?Oregon Production Investment Fund?(OPIF), and setting up creative incubators to spur job growth; to negotiating the broad implementation of gigabit broadband to allow creatives to send files around the world.

But there is a group that is consistently left out of these creative industry conversations?those that make up the local music industry. We read about declining physical album sales, record-breaking digital sales (thanks to Adele, says Nielsen), and more artists doing it themselves. Well, guess where many of those artists are ?doing it?? Right here in Portland. Recording artists are making their way to Portland to collaborate with our internationally known and local luminaries,?and often end up staying to record, if not relocating altogether.

The impact music has on our communities, economy and quality of life is significant, albeit unmeasured. The musical talent Oregon possesses is one more reason this is a great place to produce your next film/TV project.

Behind the scenes on "Leverage"

Filmmakers and composers in our own backyard

Taking this story in a more ?creative? direction, I?ll shift gears away from economic impacts and explore the impact music has on a film itself. Let?s?talk to local filmmakers and composers about their process and how it all comes together.

Long before people were talking in films, music set the tone and mood for the visual experience on screen. Musical cues let you know what was about to come.? A film?s score is as important as the words being expressed, and at times, as influential as a character in the story.

I wanted to know more about the process a filmmaker embarks on when they incorporate music into their film, and alternately, the process a musician goes through to score a film. I sat down with Tara Johnson-Medinger, Executive Director of the Portland Oregon Women?s Film Festival (POWFest) and founding member of WIF-PDX (Women in Film, one of the organizations that hosted last week?s Mayoral Candidate Forum in Portland) to get her perceptions. I also exchanged thoughts with local filmmakers, Eliza Greenwood and Kimberly Warner, whose films were selected for this year?s POWFest and included scores by Portland-based musicians Jen Agosta and The Decemberists? Chris Funk.

TARA JOHNSON-MEDINGER ? EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, POWFEST

March 2012, marked the fifth anniversary of POWFest. As the only film festival in Portland exclusively dedicated to showcasing films directed by women, it is one of only a handful of festivals in the US dedicated to women-directed film, with an intent to encourage more women to take the leap into the director?s chair. Executive Director Tara Johnson-Medinger?scheduled over 60 short and feature films into four days of programming from the over 400 films submitted from around the world, that if not for this festival, might not otherwise be seen.

When it comes to the role of music in film, Medinger has a strong opinion. ?I think this is a neglected area in independent filmmaking. Many filmmakers hesitate to go after copy written music because the clearance process can be overwhelming, and there is a lack of knowledge about what you can do with original music. So many filmmakers are surprised when they hear that a well-known musician has granted me a license to use one of their songs in a film, or has offered to write an original piece. They don?t realize that the first step is asking, you?d be surprised at how many artists will say yes.

?I am working on two films at the moment where music plays a key role. One of them is a documentary feature by Jackie Weissman called Rock N Roll Mamas, which follows three prominent indie artists as they balance parenting and performing. Dandy Warhol?s Zia McCabe is one of the subjects of the film, and she has created some original music to accompany the transitions between her scenes in the film that really complement her segments. I am also producing a new feature film called My Summer as a Goth, and incorporating early ?80s music from that genre will be an important way to honor the Goth subculture, while also creating opportunities for working with modern bands to create new music in that same vein for the film.

?Music is really good for taking people on a journey. In a subtle scene, a subtle note is effective, so is silence. The right music during a transition helps enhance the mood and lead your audience to the next place you want them to go. My advice to?filmmakers is to take the time and workshop it?does the scene call for a joyful melody or a contrasting sorrowful one??Get feedback from others. In addition, one of the most important things to factor into any production budget is music and sound enhanced with Foley. It is really hard to correct poorly captured audio, and it will make a big difference in your final product.?

ELIZA GREENWOOD ? AUSTIN UNBOUND

Eliza Greenwood is a Portland-based film producer/director and founder of Greensoda Productions, ?an independent company that produces film and theater about deaf people and deaf culture.? She envisions a day when this population is more joyously and healthfully provided access to mainstream society.

Film Synopsis:

Austin has struggled with feeling burdened by his female anatomy all his life. In middle school, he changed his name and began to dress as a boy. Austin is a regular deaf guy with a comedic sense and flair for romance and storytelling, despite his challenges. The film follows him and his best friend on the road trip to finally meet his surgeon and undergo a double-mastectomy.?Inviting viewers into the operating theater, they bear witness to the happiest day of Austin?s life.

Film Score:

The visual story is accompanied by 34 minutes of original folk music composed by Portland-based musicians Ashleigh Flynn, Chris Funk (of the Decemberists) and Jen Agosta (of La Pump). Flynn granted the use of her music, while Funk and Agosta both scored original music for the film. It was mixed/mastered by Ron Setzer of Bitteroot Media.

Austin Unbound uses specific cinematography, subtitles, and sound design that reflect Austin?s deaf experience in full cinematic effect. The sound design intentionally avoids voice-overs and utilizes small portions of background noise. This approach invites viewers into Austin?s world completely (while providing those who do not sign with subtitles throughout the story.) The 43-minute film uses only American Sign Language, with English subtitles.

Austin Unbound screens four times at the Ashland Independent Film Festival?this week starting Friday, April 13th. It will screen with the short documentary film, The Universal Language at the following times in Varsity Theatre 5:

4/13/2012 10:00a
4/14/2012 12:30p
4/15/2012 3:30p
4/16/2012 6:30p

ELIZA?S EXPERIENCE AS FILMMAKER

?Music and pop-culture were not part of my childhood. I spent it high in the mountains of Colorado where radio stations were few and far between, and TV signals were extremely rare. When I went to college, I really got turned on to music with the rap and R&B that was throbbing in the streets of Washington, DC, which I would contrast with classes at Gallaudet University, which were taught in sign language. To those I would wear earplugs to try and gain an aesthetic perspective of the deaf experience.

Eliza Greenwood

?It was that experience I was hoping to capture when we started making Austin Unbound. I believe that anyone with a heartbeat can have rhythm; they do not need to have hearing. Seeing Austin on film was evidence of this. The commitment to portray this authentically, without voice-overs, presented challenges that added an extra two years onto the film production.?

Getting started with the score

?Musically, I started out imagining a blue-grassy feeling because of how I see Austin and his personality as strongly rooted in a heritage that is multigenerational, yet his expression is totally fresh and undiscovered. I had no idea how to go about doing this, so Irene Taylor Brodsky (Oscar nominee and Sundance award-winning filmmaker of Hear & Now) invited me to her studio to show me how she lined up temp music on a timeline and then used emotive adjectives to convey what she was looking for when she started talking to her musical contributors. She also suggested Portland band Sneakin? Out as guys who might enjoy helping with the project.

?Sneakin? Out scored a 13-minute version of the film which we played at fundraisers and events. We loved them because the personality of their music really matches Austin?s, being so complex and jolly. What we learned, however, is that in filmmaking, sometimes with the score it is more helpful to contrast what you are working with to balance it out, and in fact, Austin?s jovial tapestries were already coming across quite clearly and the music didn?t provide the contrast we needed. Instead, we wanted to emphasize other elements such as his ?All-American? nature, as well as some of the conflict brought about by his mother, while still matching his good nature and rhythm. We went back to the drawing board with Jim Brunberg from Mississippi Studios, and tried out a few scenes with him and other musicians.?

Pulling pieces together with Ashleigh and Jen

Ashleigh Flynn

?The artist who really gelled with the project was Ashleigh Flynn. Her Americana-folksy element matched our aesthetic perfectly. Something about her music reaches out to a person who may not be familiar with the issues but still wants to get to know the meat of the story. Ashleigh offered her music to us to use portions in of the film. We also sought help from Radio Sloan, who said she would give us a temp track to work off of with Ashleigh?s music and whatever she had in her library for us to piece together something for our full 43-minute cut.

?As it turned out, when in session with Radio, it was actually Jen Agosta, her partner at the time, who overheard to my comments and started guiding the process. Jen would jump in and say, ?Actually, I think what Eliza means is?? and then Jen started bringing in her music and creating pieces for the film. Jen connected with the material in a way that brought us from a completely blank canvas of sound (literally silent) to a film with a patched together soundscape. She went through our original audio and pulled in bits of the original sound and Foleys to add room tone, etc. When Jen stepped away from the project, and there was still a good amount of work left to be done. Our sound design at the time felt like a ?rugged terrain? that still needed smoothing out and polishing up.?

Finding a ?musical interpreter? and getting out of the way

?I presented the project to Docgroup at NWDoc, a local group of documentary filmmakers who meet to get feedback on their obstacles, frustrations and desires for their projects. I hosted an entire session focused on our sound design. The problem we all clearly identified is that I was getting in the way. I had a sense of how the film was supposed to sound, but no way of communicating what I was looking for. I had learned how to use adjectives and emotive words to make requests, of course, but the musical vocabulary felt like a maze to me. Ironically, by day I am a sign language interpreter and what I needed to bring this thing to completion was a ?musical interpreter? who could get inside my head and put my vision into terms that a film composer would understand.

?Eric Maxen was at that session, and by a stroke of luck (or perhaps magic), he had a curiosity about Austin?s story, and the music background/vocabulary to bring us through the final stages. He rolled up his sleeves and removed music that wasn?t working and ?hunted and pecked? through existing music to try out new approaches. Together we toiled over ways we could fill in those remaining seven to nine minutes of scenes that needed music.?

Bringing it home with Chris Funk

?Finally, we returned to Ashleigh Flynn, and let her know that her music resonated best out of everything we?d tried. She introduced us to Chris Funk who had done much of the instrumental work on her album. Chris graciously agreed to help us out and scored the remaining trickiest scenes. The three of us worked together remotely: Chris providing songs, me writing up feedback, Eric advising me and rewriting my feedback, and Chris incorporating it. Each of the musicians was fabulous to work with and I?m still amazed at what they were able to accomplish given our circumstances and the unique challenges of the sound design.

?The three of us were putting together a puzzle. We had an edited film with a fixed timeline and its own natural rhythm.? Because of my (lack of) music background, I could offer little musical direction. I had specific cues for the precise moments when tone shifts or new moments begin, which are important but subtle to someone who is not fluent in American Sign Language. When Chris or Jen disagreed with my request, I would explain my artistic vision or the importance of the moment that was being conveyed. Then we would have discussion about what they had been intending and how it might actually work or be modified to fit the story. Between this bouncing back and forth, we ultimately came up with the score we have today.

?Austin Unbound has a certain aesthetic quality that brings you into Austin?s world, which is exactly what it was intended to do. It brings you into a zone that allows you to appreciate Austin?s world. It took extra time and work but was well worth it.?

CHRIS FUNK?S EXPERIENCE AS SCORE COMPOSER

Chris Funk

This is the third film score Portland-based, multi-instrumentalist and Decemberist Chris Funk has contributed to.?The Decemberists??song ?One Engine? is on the soundtrack for current blockbuster The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond. In March, the band released a live double album,?We All Raise Our Voices To The Air.

For Funk, the creative process of scoring for a film is very different compared to writing a song for self-expression. ?For starters, there is a visual which you are attempting to augment in some form. You are working to serve the overall picture and within that, the emotion of the moment. I find that film can be a very difficult medium for musicians as you simply aren?t writing for yourself; you are working with the vision of the director and other parties. It feels closer to a puzzle, or problem solving for other people in the abstract realm. Very fun when it works, however.

?I found this film to be very challenging as the cues are unusually long due to the fact there isn?t audible dialogue. I personally did not use lyrics, just tried to play what I felt. I watched the cues, spoke with Eliza specifically about moods and length of songs and started there. I own and attempt to play many instruments, so for me it?s the most liberating to play the non-obvious instrument for a cue or song. I find it very frustrating when I play banjo and someone instantly calls it country or bluegrass, lol. I think to create something truly unique in score, everyone has to have an open mind to let chance happen, which is rare.

?I hope the music allows the emotion of the moment to be revealed.?

JEN AGOSTA?S EXPERIENCE AS SCORE COMPOSER

Jen Agosta is a Portland-based songwriter/producer/musician/performer. Her current music project is electro-pop band,?La Pump. Other recent production projects include a remix of ?Figure 8? by fellow Portlanders, the band Lovers, and recording engineering Kaia Wilson?s (Team Driesch, The Butchies) single ?The Cabin? to be released on an upcoming solo album.? Austin Unbound is Agosta?s second film score contribution.

Like Greenwood and Funk, Agosta likens writing a film score with solving a puzzle. ?When writing my own music, which tends to be very personal, it is an expression of my own experiences. When writing music for a scene, I must tap into what the context of the scene is, what feelings are being conveyed, what the aesthetic of the film is, what the culture of the characters are, etc. There are many nuances of the music that are deliberately timed with events in the scene. This differs greatly from writing my own compositions where all of these variables are intrinsically more personal, and there is nothing I have to work around or adhere to. In a way, writing music for a film is like figuring out a puzzle. I get to draw on my skill set and apply it to a specific purpose, as opposed to entertaining them for my own purposes of expression.

Jen Agosta

?The influences for the score came from the film itself: the characters, the films down-home nature, its modesty, raw honesty, and moments of social conflict mixed with excitement of self-evolution. Though Austin had many friends along the way on his journey, he was still very much solitary in his process. The rawness of the film can be attributed to both its method of recording, and the transparency created by the film, allowing the audience to peer into a very personal part of Austin?s life.

?Because Austin Unbound is essentially a ?silent? film, the approach I took was that of creating more of a score than a soundtrack. There are no words in any of the film?s music?a deliberate choice to preserve the film?s audio, keeping it free of oral speech and eliminating its potential distraction, so the music is entirely responsible for delivering the message. It is also important to note the use of the ?silent spaces??places where there is no music at all and just the hiss of the original film audio track. Moments of deliberate breathing space in scores can be just as moving and communicative as segments with music.

?Any instrument can convey any emotion at any level of intensity. In general, it is not the instrument that conveys the emotion as much as how it is being played or what is being played out of it. A violin can be associated with love as much as it can be associated with fear, boredom, anger, excitement, etc. I think the selection of an instrument for a scene has more to do with supporting the style of culture of the characters and scene. The way that it is played, what key, the tempo, time signature, style of music, etc., are more what convey the emotion. In this film, I felt that the acoustic guitar was fitting for so many scenes because it is warm, solitary and raw.

?The best example I can think of where music helps deliver a critical scene is in the film American Beauty, specifically the ending scene after Kevin Spacey is killed and he?s recapping the beautiful elements of his life. There is powerful juxtaposition between the sadness and terror in the characters? experiences during the aftermath of the actions leading to his death, intertwined with joyous and simple memories of his life. All the while, there is a very serene score of sparse piano in the background conjuring a feeling of one long exhale after a hard cry; like pulling a single thread of peace out of a very conflicted and tumultuous circumstance. I also love the film Winged Migration for the fact that there is no music in the entire film until the very end. Moments where there is no music in a film can allow the audience to feel more present in the film and have a more raw connection to the scene.?

KIMBERLY WARNER ? CPR

Kimberly Warner is a photographer, screenwriter and filmmaker living in Portland. CPR received the Silver Award in the 2011 Oregon Film Awards short film competition.?

Film Synopsis:

While watching lifeguards train and perform rescue drills at a neighborhood pool, a woman faces her own need to be saved. She longs for the masculine?the father, lover, saint, or in CPR, the lifeguard to rescue her and then activate her purpose in the world, to shine his light on her unrealized potential. But the fantasy is unfulfilled; lifeguards toss her like the lifeless dummy she empathizes with, into the water. She is left alone to surface. To awaken. To move forward with her own life without the muscle or magic of another. She smiles not because she was rescued but because she is free. And not because she knows the journey ahead will be easy. She sees clearly now, facing the wisdom and madness of her longing. And now it?s up to her to take the next breath or stay at the bottom of the pool.

Watch the CPR teaser:

Film Score by? Mark Orton:

The original score for CPR is by Mark Orton, a Portland-based composer working in the mediums of film scoring, concert music, and radio drama. He is a multi-instrumentalist, performing on all manner of guitars, keyboards, and percussion. He is the co-founder of Tin Hat, a San Francisco Bay Area-based composer/improviser collective with five critically acclaimed albums. He has written scores for dozens of films?documentary, features (including 2002?s The Good Girl with Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal, as well as well 2005?s Everything Is Illuminated, adapted from the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, starring Elijah Wood)?and has composed music for modern dance, theater, experimental radio, video/art installation, the circus, and the concert hall.

Mark Orton

His latest soundtrack effort is for a new feature called 360, directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, Constant Gardener) and written by Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) and features a terrific cast including Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, and Eminem in a globally shot adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler?s ?La Ronde.? ?For the score I went back and re-recorded my bossa-torch-song ?Helium Reprise,? adding many elements to the arrangement including a new growly, blistering whisper of a vocal by the amazing Mike Patton. Look for it in theaters in spring 2012.?

KIMBERLY?S EXPERIENCE AS FILMMAKER

?Since CPR was my first film, the process of selecting a composer was very much left up to serendipity. I had worked as a photographer for Mark about two years prior to the making of CPR, shooting his recording and mixing studio, and also his impressive array of antique and rare instruments he uses daily for his projects. Following the photo shoot however, we lost touch and it wasn?t until I had finished the first edit for CPR and wondered ?what ever happened to that guy? that I quite literally stumbled into him in downtown Portland. Magic.

?I knew he was the one as soon as I ran into him. Already knowing his aesthetic and artistic sensibilities from two years prior, I was certain he would be able to understand my vision and also run with it.

?When we first began, I selected some songs by Martin Denny that I felt reflected CPR?s aura and whimsy. I wanted his interpretation of one of these Martin Denny songs to become our ?theme.? I also knew that I primarily wanted the sound design to be instrumental. Given Mark?s large playpen of unusual instruments, he is quite the master at reinterpreting ordinary sounds into something more tonal or musical.

?Once those two elements were discussed, I gave Mark lots of creative space to just dig in. Every couple weeks we would check in and I would sit in his studio with a fat grin on my face as I listened to his new developments. Because there is no dialogue in CPR, I kept telling Mark that I really felt like it was 50% image, 50% score. Neither dominated the other, they can essentially stand alone, but both ultimately serve and enhance each other. The reds are more saturated because of Mark?s drones, and his strings are more yearning because of the story?s quirky face.

?Mark would quietly indulge me in my ideas at times, allow me to see them all the way through so at the end I could laugh and say, ?OK, that was dumb,? but I have a hunch he knew it all along. So thanks to Mark?s diplomacy, we never really ran into major disagreements. I come from a musical background as well, understanding rhythm and timing, mostly as a dancer for 18 years, so we both entered into CPR a bit like a ballet, allowing the edit to be our colorful dancer and the instruments to enhance, highlight and elevate all of her tiny gestures.?

ADDITIONAL POWFEST SELECTIONS WITH SCORES BY PORTLAND COMPOSERS

JANET MCINTYRE ? FADED: Girls + Binge Drinking

Janet McIntyre is an award-winning director, writer and producer.? Her documentary Covered Girls?about Muslim American teenagers, screened at festivals worldwide and aired on Showtime, TNT and the Independent Doc Channel. She has produced and directed music videos with Peter Gabriel and Anton Corjbin, commercials for Adidas and Nike. She resides in Portland where she is the Dean of Visual and Performing Arts at Mt. Hood Community College and serves on the board of OMPA.

Film Synopsis

Girls are getting drunk more. FADED?is a 60-minute documentary film profiling young girls as they battle varying degrees of binge drinking and alcoholism. By presenting girls from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, each story is unique. Some girls self-destruct, some rise from the ashes, and some remain in staunch denial. Raw and unflinching in its honesty, the film presents the heartbreak and struggles of young women growing up under the allure of a booze culture.

Film Score:

The film?s original score was composed by Lindsie Reitz and Tobias Berblinger of ?Suite? and Lindsie Feathers and Olivia Duffy of the country-folk project Darlin? Blackbirds.?

JESSICA LYNESS ? THE LOST VAN GOGH

Film Synopsis:

This is the directorial debut of Jessica Lyness, NW Film Center?s PR and Marketing Manager.? Shot from the point of view of a painting, this comedic caper frames perfectly the value of art.

Film Score:

The film?s score was composed by Portland-based artist Carlos Segovia.?Watch the trailer:

Get out and get creative

With so many creatives in this town, take time to seek out some local music, a new venue or a new Portland filmmaker.? If you are in Ashland this weekend, be sure go see Eliza Greenwood?s film at the 11th?Annual Ashland Independent Film Festival.

If you are in Portland, head over to the NW Film Center?s?Northwest Tracking/Essential Northwest?a showcase the work of independent filmmakers living and working in the Northwest?Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington?whose work reflects the vibrant cinematic culture of the region. Whether presenting single artist retrospectives, new features, documentaries, or inspired collections of short works, Northwest Tracking offers testimony to the creativity and talent in our flourishing media arts community. The Best of the 38th Northwest Filmmaker?s Festival starts this?Friday, April 13th at 7pm and continues on Saturday at the same time.

Editor?s Note:?Ana Ammann is a member of POWFest?s Advisory Board.

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