There’s a reason why “Music Composers” is a category that get thoroughly study-session by those who compete in the Movie Trivia Schmoedown. Primarily because in any visual medium no matter how good your storytelling is everything just clicks when the right music is played in the proper manner to elicit a greater response from the viewing public.
Often times this can be accused of being a crutch or a manipulation
in order to bolster a tale that isn’t quite connecting. And to that I say “So
fucking what?” If the goal at the end of any project is to make an emotional connection
between your story and your audience you would be an idiot to not collaborate
with as many other artists as possible in order to best achieve the desired
result.
In fact the biggest challenge I have as a novelist is trying
to find the right mood to better enhance the scene I am creating with my
characters. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to underlay a
soundtrack on all my eBooks or have a note in all the margins suggesting the
songs I had on in the background while I crafted this chapter.
One of the most creative releases I have outside of writing
and wrestling is video editing, and cutting images to music is one of the most
enjoyable practices I engage in and certainly the one I would love to spend
more of my time doing. Maybe that’ll be my Xmas present to myself, an updated
desktop solely for videos. Hmmm…
Regardless; this topics comes to mind for two recent
reasons.
The first came as a question from one of the wrestlers who
for some Godforsaken reason has chosen me to mentor him. Among one of the many
questions I get fielded on a semi-regular basis came the all important “What do
you think of such and such song for my walk out music?” And boy, after 25 years
of independent wrestling and seeing all kinds of bonkers trends, musical tastes
and more I have witnessed some disastrous examples of dumb-fuckery for those making
a key first impression upon their audience.
The first thing to remember in this case, is that the music
should reflect not only who you are trying to portray, but who you actually
ARE. I mean, I really like listening to the Beastie Boys, but under no circumstances
should I have ever walked out to “No
Sleep til Brooklyn.” And yet, that mistake I did make. Several times.
Nothing turns an audience off more than someone whose walk
out music just doesn’t fit what they end up seeing. Perception truly is
everything. So no matter how deeply you might like the hardest of hardcore
death metal, if you walk through that curtain and don’t look like a bad ass
shit-kicking machine the climb to having your audience respect the match you’re
going to provide for them just got a lot steeper.
This isn’t to say “Pick something generic or bland.” Just
pick something that suits you. Something that genuinely works with your
presentation and mood. Being a “Try Hard” is fine, but people see right through
that shit. So don’t get discouraged, play around with a few things until the
right one sticks. You’ll know it when it happens.
The second reason I wanted to talk about this came as I was watching
Episode 15 of “The Bad
Batch” on the Disney-Plus. This
might be slightly spoilery but by this point you’re either in on the show or
you’re judging me for watching a Star Wars cartoon on a Friday night. Either
way, too bad.
In the penultimate episode of this season we have the pseudo
reunion of the team with their estranged member Crosshair who has been
ostensibly hunting them down since the pilot episode. After having the kind of
dialogue and emotional discussion not normally found in most “cartoons for kids”
we find the main characters suddenly surrounded by battle droids, espounding
upon the original reason for which the Clones were all created. As the fight
begins and things look lost we are treated to not only Crosshair joining in the
fight and once again making the Bad Batch whole, we have the swelling of the
shows main theme. But this time, composer Kevin Kiner changes the tone
perfectly, making it less of an action march and into something triumphant and
exultant. An audible cue that finally the team is back together and that all is
as it should be. Even if only for a moment.
That moment brought literal chills to me. True story, I ain’t
afraid of my emotions. That was a powerful moment in the show and the music helped
the audience understand that it was important for us too.
Storytelling is rarely ever one thing. And while some people
get bogged down in plot and minutae, I think it’s important to remember the
things that make us feel. And so long as you’re feeling things, the story is
working.
AK
Check out the consequences my main character Joe goes
through in my Urban Fantasy OVERDRIVE Series at the following retailers.
Availble in eBook, Paperback and Harcover.
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