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Actually you
like to compose and perform rock music. How was it to make a classical
soundtrack?
I
think also rock music needs some ballads from time to time and I have a streak
of calm songs, that’s why I made it. Also to work experimentally, mainly with
restful themes and rhythms wasn’t really a problem for me, even if I like rock
music much more.
How was the
experience to make the themes before shooting, to make music without seeing any
pictures?
I knew the story, how it approximately had
to sound and I had my own pictures inside, what were almost the same as I got to
see after the shooting. I made up my own film using my fantasy, started to play
the piano and was composing this music very spontaneous. I made notes, tried to
get them into shape and finally recorded these themes.
Why is it, that
most of your music is made on the piano, even if you learned guitar?
Piano music gives more power to the
pictures, I think. Piano is absolutely an instrument to make film music with. Of
course I do not have any orchestra to present it overall.
You only played
two instruments, how did you manage the whole soundtrack?
First I made every theme in midi files. But
this sounds very chemical, but you can control if it works with other
instruments. And without a real orchestra you have to make a whole bunch of
special sound effects. I created some sounds with the computer, to put them
under the piano parts, trying not to be that boring and to fill up the music and
give some upgrading to it. Piano and guitar by themselves would have been too
less for a soundtrack ultimately.
How did you
start making music?
When I was a little boy, I sang a lot. Later on I
attended different
choirs. And I always wanted to get lessons in
piano playing. And one day I saw the film “Back to the Future” and I knew,
that I wanted to learn E-guitar. Piano playing later came by itself. In 1999 we
founded a band and since 2000 we are known as “Alive”.
How was it, to
do music for a children’s movie and to create the themes for the two boys?
It was pretty tough. Honestly! Movies for
children are not really the genre I’m interested in. And I’m not that
qualified to do music for children in principle. So it was sort of difficult to
make something easy, because I tend to be a pensive adult. And I honestly have
to say, that I often was out of consideration for the childhood, at least I
got the first film material. And I realised that all themes worked out
nevertheless. And “microsleep” isn’t just a movie for kids, it’s also
for grown up.
Your music
finally became sort of melancholic.
Yes, that’s right. That’s what I felt
while composing. I couldn’t find that kind of cheerful themes. Maybe that’s
why, because I had some trouble to step back into my own childhood.
Has the personal
background on „microsleep“, the dedication for an accidentally killed boy,
influenced your work?
That definitely influenced my work. I
actually had to include that fact very much, because I knew this boy by sight.
That’s why the music is melancholic. I was watching his grave and his picture
and while composing I tried to remember the things I did, when it happened to
him.
Does your music
support the pictures or is it sort of a compare of pictures and music?
I
believe, it’s more a togetherness and
of course, it could be much more matching to the pictures. More of major chords
and cheerful themes. But I think the final version of this soundtrack fits
really good and brings up sort of an ambiguously feeling to listeners. And that
is what I actually wanted.
After finishing
the row themes you got the first cut of the film. How was it like seeing two
almost completed parts coming together for the first time?
First it was a totally chaos. I had my
themes, what were very differently made, because I tried a lot of things. And I
was supposed to bring a lot of my themes into the films soundtrack and make them
fitting the pictures. I got confronted with problems like not being able to use
the metronome any more, because the rhythm of the music was different to the
rhythm of the cuts. And so I started again almost from the very beginning.
Was that an
useful method to work?
I was thinking about that way being the
normal development of a soundtrack from the very beginning, because I can not
believe, that other composer work another way. You have to make your music part
of the film. That means, to shorten your themes, to find musical transitions and
to try totally new things.
Would you like
to work the same way at your next project?
Concerning „microsleep“ it was just the
right way to do it, because it was my first time to do a score. To compose the
themes before shooting, brings a lot of material, what you can use wonderfully,
but it’s a lot of time to pass, particularly afterwards, when you have to give
up something to do it a new way.
How was it like
working with the director?
I got tasks concerning the gradually
available versions of the film. That started with drawing up the themes using
the storyboard, then trying to bring the themes into shape and finally getting
the music dubbed to the films numerous versions. I made eight different versions
of a “microsleep” score. Of course my work often had to be an initiative of
my own. Every version of the score had a deadline of two to four weeks, what had
to be hold, because the editing department continued work on every single
revised version.
Do you think
your music is sort of an independent piece of work what reflects the deep inside
of you?
Well, I had some of the themes in my head
before thinking about making a score. These themes I naturally associate with
special feelings and a few of them worked for the movie and could be used for
it. The piece played to the credits with guitar, actually was supposed to be a
song for “Alive” but it never
came to it and so I had it left and shaped it to the films credits.
Do
you think your rock music will be part of a film one day?
I really would like to do that, but
nowadays you need a label or something and management, without that you never
will get the chance to be part of such a project. Besides, the genre of the
movie has to fit with the music or the other way. If it’s that way it can
bring a band a lot of money and fame to be on a soundtrack. For me it’s only
something to dream about at the moment.
What movie would
you like to write the music for by yourself?
I
can’t write new music to my favourite movies, because they are superb. I want
to think about new stuff and not dealing with old things.
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