Light as a Feather is a 2018 thriller television series about a group of teenage girls who must deal with supernatural fallout stemming from an innocent game of “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board” when they start dying off in the exact way predicted.
These days it takes a lot for a television show to become a bona fide hit. All the many elements have to magically align in hopes that audiences will embrace the project with open arms. Some of these elements include an imaginative story, dynamic casting, eye popping set design, and lastly a standout score that sets the overall mood. A few recent examples of this magic: Netflix’s Stranger Things, HBO’s Big Little Lies, FX’s American Horror Story and USA’s Mr Robot to name a few.
Another new show worth paying attention to is Hulu’s Light As A Feather. Light As A Feather follows an innocent game of “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board” that goes wrong when the five teen girls who played, start dying off in the exact way that was predicted, forcing the survivors to figure out why they’re being targeted – and whether the evil force hunting them down is one of their own. It has all the intrigue and mystery that made Pretty Little Liars a hit, also with a distinctive score by composer Pieter Schlosser which adds both suspense and chills. We decided to speak with Pieter more in depth about his score for the show in the exclusive interview below.
When beginning work on Light As A Feather did you look at the show as a whole from the very beginning or did you just take it scene by scene?
Upon getting the job, I was sent scripts for the first 2 episodes. I received the remaining 8 episodes as I started scoring the show. After 3 episodes, I quickly decided to stop reading the rest as I wanted to react to each episode as an audience member and approach writing the score the same way. We would spot and score in batches of 2 episodes so I never go to see anything ahead of time.
Light As A Feather is based on a novel by Zoe Aarsen. Did you read the book at all to prepare for your work on the show? If not, what did you do to prepare for the show?
I did not read the book ahead of time, but I definitely researched the project prior to putting a demo together with the producers! I also had a few conversations with them even before I got the job to make sure we were on the same page. Turns out we were! In my mind, this show is more about the relationships between the girls than it is about the supernatural elements. Underscoring this aspect, whether it’s a friendship or a love story, made the suspenseful moments and each of their losses much more impactful. Mostly, I tried to not get in the way.
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What surprised you most, musically, about working on Light As A Feather?
What surprised you most, musically, about working on Light As A Feather?Not sure this is specific to light as a feather but I always have to remind myself that less is more. Very often I will write a cue, let it sit for a bit before coming back to it and I find myself muting a lot of elements and simplifying the music a lot. It’s part of the process of creating and I like to believe I’m getting better at it. Every cue I write is another chance to create something better than before. It’s a real treat. Thankfully, there are also producers and deadlines that force you to let go of the music at a certain point. Otherwise, we’d never stop tinkering!
What were the showrunners’ goals for sound of Light As A Feather?
We talked a lot about not doing the typical jump scares that you often hear in horror and suspense show scores. We used them very sparingly and only when they were really warranted. We wanted to create a specific sound for Violet, our antagonist, so I messed around a bit with sounds and came up with something that resembles a cicada. On episode two, I wrote a melody for a cue where the first death is foreshadowed. The producers really responded to it and it ended up becoming the main title for the show. That theme appears throughout the series.
You were one of the composers of the video game Destiny 2. How different is scoring a video game than a television show?
It’s quite different because the implementation of the music is different. When scoring for a film or TV show, you score specific scenes and the music is timed very surgically to what’s happening on screen. The video game equivalent are cutscenes in between levels that are used to propel the story. For video games, the cues are much longer and much more modular. This means I write the cue in a way where you can use the different elements at different times depending on what the player is doing. It’s quite fun to write this way!
Did you use any unusual instruments or unique techniques when creating the score for Destiny 2 that you can share?
The aim was to keep the sound of the score quite organize and grounded in natural sounds even if the original source might have been a synth. I ended up using some wine glasses which, depending on the context, can be quite a haunting sound. It’s a familiar enough sound that the audience has heard before but it’s really hard to pin down unless you know what it is. At the request of the producers, we also used lots of different voice samples. Some remained very pure and some were processed beyond the point of recognition. Overall, I wanted to keep the score organic. No electronic sounds.
What are currently your main compositional challenges?
How much time do you have for me to answer this question? Every time I sit down to write a cue in front of a blank template, I always have the feeling like I have no clue what I’m doing. I try to use this as a motivator rather than let it deter me. My aim is to service picture, always. However, I also aim to write something that I will find interesting so I attempt to do something I haven’t done before. This is one of the challenges that I love about scoring TV: the lack of time. This means I have to commit to an idea and simply make it work!
What do you personally consider to be pivotal moments in your work and/or career?
This is a really tough question. Can you ask me again in 30 years? It’s really hard to know what those moments are until they pass and you have a moment to reflect. One aspect that I believe is helping evolve as a composer and as a human being is to fail faster. Failing has such a negative connotation but it’s such an integral part of learning. Get started and try things out. If they don’t work, you move on to the next idea. No moment is ever wasted and it’ll lead you to where you need to go. Of course a deadline will also inspire you get started but it’s probably favorite motivator!
You can learn more about Pieter here