Music

Music and movies. Music is so important. Sound is so important. So first I want to say that is a thing people drop the ball on. Figure out how to keep your sound good, whatever way that is. You can be really inventive with hidden mikes and other non-expensive things and a sound designer is really great to have.

They're just wonderful. I had somebody on detention 101. He's amazing. He (Quentin Chiappetta) does a lot of indie film. There are people out there that give really good rates to indie film because they also do commercials and other things, which is their real bread and butter. So keep that in mind. But I want to talk about music because when Quentin and I were working on the film, he made a comment about the music in detention 101 that I agree with.

The music is kind of cheesy because it's kind of it's add music like cheesy, catchy, you know, makes you bounce in your seat but isn't like complicated music. And there's nothing wrong with it because it works and it works in the film for a reason, because the film is commenting on the characters and their situations throughout the movie and the music underlies is the style in which it's doing it because it's doing it through commercials.

So it's the perfect kind of music and it was very affordable and no, I don't have a corporate sponsor, so this is not me trying to like plug something, but I used Adobe Stock. They have stock audio, they have stock music, and it's very affordable if you're on a budget. And often, too, I do want to point out, because I hope to do this for my next project, independent musicians will have music.

They're also selling directly from their sites to you also for affordable rates. With no royalties, you pay one fee and that's it for perpetuity. And often if you connect with someone, they'll give you a deal and you can get great music that's really right for your film, because if I had to use really nicely orchestrated music with 500 musicians playing or whatever, you know, it wouldn't work for the film.

It would have taken away from the impact of the quirky ads that are going on throughout the movie. So music makes a difference. Music can lift up what you're trying to say, and it can be used in ways too, that are natural. So if you watch a film like Cabaret, Cabaret is a film by Bob Fosse. It's a musical, but the only singing that goes on is in the cabaret with the exception of one song where somebody's singing on the street, but it's somebody who is sort of making a speech through a song.

That's what they're doing. And everybody joins in. And it's very creepy because if you watch it, you'll understand it's not a good moment in history, but it's a great film and it's smart because the music only exists where you would expect the music to exist. So it feels very natural and real. It doesn't feel forced. A lot of times you watch films and they're full of music from beginning to the end.

It's pulling you along and it's great because it can help scenes that need help that are, you know, kind of slow and they need a little uplift and they need to pull you in a little more. Music can save you that way. But I think a good film designs the music around the world that it's creating.