The Fantasia International Film Festival has had a lot of amazing titles emerge from the festival this year, including the Korean political thriller Idol, Ringo, Sadako and The Father’s Shadow. Another film that continues to garner attention is David Marmor’s horror/thriller 1BR. The film’s official synopsis reads: “After leaving behind a painful past to follow her dreams, Sarah scores the perfect Hollywood apartment. But something is not right. Unable to sleep, tormented by strange noises, and threatening notes, her new life quickly starts to unravel. By the time she learns the horrifying truth, it’s too late. Caught in a waking nightmare, Sarah must find the strength to hold onto her crumbling sanity…or be trapped forever in an existential hell.” We wanted to learn more about 1BR, so we spoke with the film’s composer, Ronen Landa (The Pact, At the Devil’s Door) about bringing the project to life, musically. He also discusses many more topics including what instruments make up the sound of nightmares and his upcoming film, Yinz. Read here:
What was your favorite part of working on your latest horror film, 1BR?
There is no shortage of memorable moments from this score— director David Marmor and I had a great collaboration throughout and of course finally getting to experience it with an audience at the Fantasia Film Festival was a major highlight. But my favorite part of this score (and really most scores I work on) is recording the musicians. So much work goes into writing the score and finalizing the arrangements, so it is just a huge thrill to finally hear these world class instrumentalists bring the score to life with their talent.
I asked the astounding concert pianist Karolina Rojahn to perform on this score, and after we had finished all the score cues we decided to record a rendition of our main theme for solo piano. Instead of my normal chair in the studio control room I went to sit next to this wonderful old Steinway to hear her play her interpretation, and I could barely hold back the emotions. It was a cathartic and poetic arrival for all of us who had put so much into this music— a feeling I’ll never forget. We added that recording to the end credits.
Were you scoring to the final picture for your latest film 1BR? If not, at what process did you begin work?
In some ways I suppose the work started when I first read the script! I began working with David on musical ideas while he was still editing the picture— I suggested temp music that could compliment the scenes and we worked together to establish the creative direction of the score.
When actual scoring began we were working with the locked picture, or something pretty close to it. We were very careful about spotting the film and making sure the score would complement the story perfectly.
Each film score is completely different, but did you find yourself using any tones or motifs that you have used in previous projects for 1BR? Or was there something in this film that you have been wanted to try and haven’t been able to until now?
Yes to both! I think with each score I expand my toolbox of sounds, and sometimes there is a special sonic profile I love that I return to— like the ethereal sound of rubbing wine glasses or scratching the strings inside a piano. In my mind that’s just the same as using a cello or clarinet on many pieces of music, there’s definitely a reason we return to those sounds.
At the same time I am always developing new sounds to use, especially on horror scores that call for so much experimentation. There’s an enormous catalog of new sounds I created for 1BR and they help create a unique sound for this score— even as the more traditional instruments carry some of the main emotional themes. Some of my favorites are sounds I created with a very special low woodwind quintet (I think we must’ve had 40 or 50 feet of woodwind tubing in the studio that day!) and some metallic percussion created by the boutique instrument builder Morfbeats. All of these sounds went through some studio manipulation as well so the end result is pretty fascinating and new.
What would you say are the sounds of nightmares? Or what instruments make those?
I love this question. I think there is the obvious set of answers— screeching violins, pounding percussion, howling brass and the like— but that’s not how I look at it all.
Think of your own nightmares as a small child, why were they so upsetting? They were usually dark fantasies about ourselves or loved ones in danger. What makes them so scary is our emotional connection to the characters we are dreaming about. We care about their lives, we don’t want to see them at risk.
So when I approach one of these films, my most important objective is to draw the audience into our story and our characters on an emotional level. This comes through in the more romantic themes you can hear throughout 1BR and in pieces like “Her Little Dreams” from The Pact or “Leigh” from At the Devil’s Door. It’s that music that sets up the impact of the screeching violins or pounding percussion— without a sense of connection those sounds are just a cacophony.
You have another film coming out soon, Yinz. Can you talk to us a little bit about your score for that?
Oh yes! It’s a *very* different kind of score! Yinz is a dark comedy/thriller and the score features both full orchestra and a more intimate chamber group. The story takes place in a small town in Western Pennsylvania, but we felt an orchestral score would reflect the enormity of this drama in the characters’ lives. We cover a lot of ground from quirky comedic themes to dramatic interpersonal themes— there is one driving cue scored almost entirely for percussion which was a lot of fun.
It was a real joy to work on a classic acoustic score like this— there is not a single synth to be heard on the score and that is such a rarity for independent films like this. Sometimes I went to ridiculous lengths to maintain that integrity. Every other indie film composer I spoke with at the time told me I was nuts for wanting to spend my budget recording instruments like celeste when the electronic samples out there are truly usable and great— but in the end I hunted down the same instrument that was recorded for big Hollywood scores like Ratatouille and that’s the one you hear on our score. I don’t know, maybe it *was* nuts. But I really love this movie and wanted to do everything in my power to avoid cutting corners.
What was your collaboration like with Yinz director Jeremy Michael Cohen?
I’ve been so incredibly fortunate to work with directors like David and Jeremy! Jeremy and I initially met after The Pact screened at Sundance. He approached me to let me know how much he enjoyed the film and we stayed in touch. When he sent me the script for Yinz I was blown away— it was just easily one of the best screenplays I had read. When I finally saw a first cut I was literally jumping up and down because he just absolutely nailed it at every level.
We started by collaborating on the temp score (much as I had with David on 1BR). Still, working on a feature score of this scale is no small task and I couldn’t be sure how it would go. But Jeremy was an absolute joy to collaborate with. He was so supportive— some cues took a few drafts which is a normal part of the process, but throughout I felt like I had his confidence and trust. I’ll never forget the grateful reaction from Jeremy when he heard the music come to life with the orchestra— I knew we had achieved something really special together.
We heard you scored Yinz with the Budapest Arts Orchestra? How did this come about?
I’ve worked with the fantastic players in Budapest on a few projects now, including scores for A Rising Tide and Eloise so we’ve developed a bit of a rapport. The truth is that film scores are being recorded overseas for a variety of business reasons. Los Angeles has some of the best session musicians on the planet but I’ve been really impressed with conductor Peter Pejtsik and his players. He wields his baton with authority but also inspires a very sensitive musical performance, he’s been a great collaborator through and through. I also have to mention the piano solos performed by Dan Tepfer. Dan is a brilliant pianist and composer and it was such a privilege to collaborate with him again on this score. I always love his playing and he brought so much to our score.
You have scored many genres, do you have a favorite?
No! Ha. I love them all for different reasons— they just tickle different parts of my brain, and I like changing gears from project to project (it keeps my creativity fresh). What I ultimately thrive on is the opportunity to develop a unique approach for every film and collaborate with filmmakers to solve their film’s ‘musical puzzle’. And I love being a storyteller and using all these diverse musical tools to help a film achieve that deep connection with an audience. I have been very lucky to explore so many genres and I’m grateful that I have been trusted by different filmmakers to compose something special for them. OK I’ll cop to one thing I really do love, and that’s writing ‘break-your-heart-in-a-million-pieces’ music. I know I get hired to score unimaginable terror sometimes but really I’m just a big softie.
Has there been a film score recently that really stuck out to you?
Oh gosh— people are doing such great work these days, it’s really an amazing time to be composing scores because the possibilities are endless. I love the imaginative and bold music of composers like the late Jóhann Jóhannson — I just re-listened to Arrival and that was a shockingly excellent science fiction score. Nicholas Brittell has been doing strong work too, that theme for Succession is so spot on. I’m also happy to see women like Mica Levi, Kathryn Bostic and Lesley Barber flourishing. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score for Chernobyl was very effective and strangely beautiful. We are far from gender or racial equality in this field but I hope that trend continues as there are a lot of excellent voices out there.