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Interview conducted
in August 2004
LATEST RELEASE:
"A Page of Madness" |
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| |  | |  | | By Bertrand Hamonou | | Photo all rights reserved |
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In The Nursery's records are released with a mathematic regularity, one per year. It's with the soundtrack for a 1927 Japanese silent movie, "A Page of Madness", that they carry on their Optical Music Score series with this fifth volume. Back from an International Films Festivals tour, and ready to leave for Canada, the prolific Humberstone brothers tell us the reasons, the choices and the motivations that led them to create those recordings dedicated to the last century silent movies. Action.
Why did you choose to release your Optical Music Score series records under the name of In The Nursery rather than under another name, like you previously did with Les Jumeaux?
Nigel: The Optical Music Series is a separate aspect of our work with it's own unique identity, but we've always considered it as a continuation of work by In The Nursery.
In 1987 you released "Stormhorse", the soundtrack for an imaginary movie, and then in 1993 was the one for "An Ambush of Ghosts". Can you remember when the idea for your Optical Music Score project, which officially started in 1995 with "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari", started really?
Klive: The idea that we wanted to write music for a silent film began in 1986. We initially collaborated with a local 'arthouse' cinema in Sheffield to compose music for a film for which the title now escapes me. But the project fell through and we then decided that instead we would write music to an imaginary film, hence the recording of "Stormhorse".
How do you start a record for your Optical Music Score series like "A Page of Madness"? Is it a commissioned work or are you so fond of silent movies that you watch lots of them and choose the ones you'd like to write the score for?
Klive: "A Page of Madness" had a bit of a staggered start to begin with. We were looking for another film to work on and went to visit the BFI (British Film Institute) in London to have a private screening of various titles that were currently available. We had already read quite a lot about "A Page of Madness" and after seeing the film on a Steinbeck flatbed editing machine in a tiny room in the depths of the building, we decided there and then that that was the next film for us. We didn't wait for a commission but we just went ahead with the project on our own.
What are your aims in such a project?
Nigel: They are pretty simple as they're to interpret the soundtrack in our own individual way and to create a new combination of music and film that will attract a new audience.
Did those silent movies have an original soundtrack you could get inspired of to write your own?
Klive: When working on a new Optical music soundtrack we tend not to listen to any other scores that have been written. Instead we focus on the film itself, we research and archive anything we can find about the filmmaking process, the actors, the director, etc.
"A Page of Madness" is the fifth in this series. Do you know which one you're going to do next?
Nigel: We're free to choose whatever film we like and are open to suggestions. There are many interesting films that we've seen or heard about, like "The Unknown" (starring Lon Chaney), "The Passion of Joan of Arc", "Sunrise" and of course "Metropolis".
Which record of your Optical Music Score series do you like best?
Klive: I have a certain fondness for our score to "Man With a Movie Camera". Vertov's documentary has a timeless quality and energy that still excites audiences today. We have been fortunate to perform the score in continents like South America and Europe. The film breaks down all barriers of language and similarly our music responds on the same level. Someone once quoted that ITN's score provided a soundtrack that reflected Vertov's fascination with technology while finding its place within contemporary electronica's own relation to cinema.
How long did it take to record that soundtrack? Did you start writing this while still working on "Praxis"?
Klive: The writing and recording process varies with each project. I seem to remember with "A Page of Madness", we started working on the score and then because there were various copyright/ownership issues that had to be resolved, we put a hold on the project and channelled all our energies into "Praxis" and the European tour. So, it's difficult to calculate how long "A Page of Madness" took to write. With other Optical Music Scores, we normally take a period of 3 to 4 months to write and record the soundtrack.
Talking about writing process, do you watch the movie again and again to get inspired by some images?
Nigel: Once we've chosen the film, we'll watch it maybe once or twice, logging the scenes and the storyline, and roughly working out where each musical section will start and stop. Next we get together a specific set of sounds which will characterise the soundtrack, and start writing new pieces of music without direct reference to the film.
The movies you've worked on are pretty obscure ones. Would you be interested in writing a score for a big Hollywood production?
Klive: I guess you could call any one of the thousands of silent films 'obscure'. All were produced before 1930 and were 'superseded' by the 'talkies'. The viewing public turned there backs on the films made prior to this new era. Many of the storylines were remade and the silent movies quickly became forgotten. 'Obscure' seems the wrong word to describe them, I would like to call them 'rare' and 'groundbreaking' instead. Being able to compose new music for such films is a great honour and a challenge, that hopefully keeps the spirit of filmmaking alive and introduces a fresh audience to the historical medium. Obviously, we would like to work again on a contemporary feature film.
The Pet Shop Boys recently recorded a brand new soundtrack for Sergei Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin" silent movie. They're even going to play it live in London in September. Do you think they've heard about what you've done with your Optical Music Score series?
Nigel: It would be nice to think that other artists have been attracted to the idea of writing new scores for silent movies through our earlier work, but in reality, I think they simply see the appeal in using visual imagery as a stimulus for composing new music. Of course, I'm very interested to see what they come up with.
We sometimes have the feeling that both of you once were students in cinema. Is it actually the case?
Klive: I went to Art College in Sheffield and part of the course was Art History and Film Appreciation. The college had their own small cinema and I remember watching classics like "Battleship Potemkin" and "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" there. It definitely gave me a taste for researching Directors works further. Sheffield was also fortunate to have an independent cinema called 'The Anvil', which is sadly no longer operating. I was able to see a multitude of rare 'arthouse' films such as Jean Cocteau's early works there.
You've played the score along with the movie at Film Festivals in Australia & New Zealand this summer. Is there any date scheduled in Europe as well?
Klive: We have just returned from performing at various International Film Festivals in Perth, Melbourne, Auckland and Wellington. The score was performed live throughout, utilising modern technology and instrumentation. We also received a wonderful response from the audiences. They were amazed to see such a rare and stunning piece of film history and also enjoyed the soundtrack we had composed for it. We are planning to tour the film in the UK sometime soon and hopefully this will lead to some selected dates in Europe. But, as yet nothing is finalised.
You've also written pieces of music for commercials and movie-trailers. Do you find it easier to write music once you're given a scenario or images to work from?
Klive: Writing music is an expression of ideas for me and the stimulus for that can come from both the visual image and also the imagination. So, I can relate to both. With the film trailers, the music that is chosen is normally already recorded and available on CD. Working on TV commercials requires the music to begin at an agreed style. It then evolves and develops as the images are edited and the final post production is added. With the Singapore Airlines commercial, we worked closely with the Director Vincent Ward, 'crafting' the music to match and emphasise the images and scene changes.
Do you have some more projects until the end of this year?
Klive: We are currently working on a new commission from the BFI (British Film Institute). We'll be composing music for a series of films made at the turn of the last century (1900-1907). It's a fascinating array of life in Northern England at the time. We are also going to be visiting Canada in October, to perform our score of "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" at the New Forms Festival in Vancouver. | | | | | | | |
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