My handy dandy idea notebook! Can't leave home without it!
The hardest part about writing a musical has to be the songs, especially when you don’t have the know how to compose the music for them. When writing the outline for the story, I had mapped out where I’d like to have songs and what these songs might be about and the type of music genre they cover. In the process of writing the script, these song ideas might morph into something similar or totally different to fit the story.
The first song I attempted didn’t really depend on the main story. It was the theme song. It gives some basic concepts of the prestory elements, so we understand the underlining evil force that’s at our doorstep and how it got to this point. It’s also a song that I hope will be catchy enough to help me win people over to throw money my way. I want it to be a selling point.
I’ve been working with some talented people to bring this song to life. Although I wrote the lyrics, I have no idea how to formulate the music involved. I have an idea of what I want but I need people who are more talented in the realm of music creation. I originally tweeted and facebooked my need for musicians to help with my song creation. A guy I know, Kevin Darbro, responded and I gave him the lyrics and let him come up with some tunes to back it up. Originally, I wanted something like an 80′s power ballad, but then we went more for an 80′s pop song.
I then needed someone with a voice who could bring attitude and power to the lyrics. I asked Christy Johnson of the rock group, Dreamkiller, and she agreed to sing the theme. She recorded her voice to the track and even though it was more of a test of her voice than a final track, I would’ve been happy to release the song as is. It was that good.
I was pleased with what we had created so far, but I wanted to take it further. I wanted something that could be more of a dance track, so I threw the music and voice samples to my good friend, Rick Burnett. You might know him from more for his camerwork and f/x expertise in the web series hit, Modern War Gear Solid(which also stars my lovely wife, Alena Koch.) He helped me create a kick-ass song for my short film Bursters and he’s currently working on a dance mix of the theme for this film. I’m extremely excited to hear what he comes up with.
One of the things I wanted to do with this picture is make it not your traditional musical. I wanted to incorporate many types of music you wouldn’t normally hear in a musical like a techno song, an 80′s rap song or a hard rock song. Music you might jam to and rock out to and possibly sing along to.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog was a big inspiration for me to make this film. The story of a superhero villain fighting his way up the evil food chain was something you didn’t normally see in the world of musicals. Plus, it had a lot of great songs with fun lyrics.
That’s what I’m trying to achieve with this project. It’s my main objective. I want the songs to be fun. There will be songs about all kinds things in this movie. Many of them humorous but hopefully all will keep the audience entertained.
I recently finished writing the second song for the feature and I’m really happy with how the lyrics turned out. It will be a different approach than the theme song, and I’m already looking into another music contact to bring that song to life.
I’m excited about this part of the process. The songs are such an integral part of the movie as a whole. The acceptance of my film could hinge on how these songs are received. I hope people will be as happy with the songs as I am. I can’t wait to hear them all fully realized.
