Film Scored

Sigur Ros from Heima

The arts have always looked to and enhanced each other. Some of the best writers are almost balletic in their rhythmic use of language; fashion likes to marry up with art. But, often, the different genres will just rub along together without really pushing the boundaries. Increasingly, though, artists are using contrasting artforms to create new and interesting ways of seeing, entertaining and stimulating. Music and film - could you imagine a film without a score? - are two areas ripe for creative potential, and there’s no better example than Sigur Ros’ recent, critically acclaimed DVD Heima and the forthcoming Blue Planet Live – a tour with the BBC orchestra of the hugely popular BBC series.

They both  synthesize different and diverse representations of landscapes that harmonise (not as a result of the other) creating  new and exciting art that can capture a wider audience better then ever before.

Usually, when bands release DVDs, it  involves a clutch of self-indulgent snapshots of “spectacular” live performances, that inevitably build up to a clichéd crescendo of screaming audiences and flashing lights. A proverbial pat on the bands own back.
But  Heima ( Icelandic for homeland ) is different and  indicative of how exciting and forward thinking it is when two artforms join in perfect and mutual balance.

The film (and you can rightly call it a film) is shot in high definition and edited more like a feature film with astounding cinematography and carefully thought out performances and interviews that talk as much about the band as they do about their native Iceland and the people around them.
Not only do they travel back to their place of birth but, as the film goes on to explore,  they describe the music and sounds that were inspired by their country’s terrain and its people.

  It is clear this film is as much about the music and performances as they travelled around Iceland, as it is about its vast and almost lunar landscape. 
Here music and image carry one another to give an overwhelming sense of place.  The reason this film works so profoundly well is because Sigur Rós’s music creates an aural representation of Iceland and their “home” that transcends the muted and limited visual images that, say,  a photo or snapshot might produce on its own -  and vice versa.

The result is hypnotizing:  tinkling of chimes mirrored by images of an icy stream; cracking rhythms reminiscent of crunching gravel on a mountain pass, or an ethereal note from a violin capturing a deathly still lake.
Some scenes are even played backward as the rhythm slows to almost inaudible whispers.
Its cleat this isn’t just a film with an aptly written score.
It is about music and cinematography working together - something that inevitably brings a new edge to  both mediums when combined creatively.

 Similarly , the  Blue Planet Live, achieves more than the sum total of its parts.
 Again here it is about creating music to provide a narrative beyond just background sounds.

Making a score live like this means the audience has to relate directly to what they are hearing and seeing in order to fully understand its nature, something which is not necessary when watching normal blockbusters or documentaries.
 However, that’s not to say that the music becomes more important than the film. 

Clearly aware of the impact a live orchestra would have on the audience, the creators rectified the balance by projecting the images onto 18m wide screens, allowing for people to imbibe equal measures of the huge sound resonating from a live orchestra and the spectacular visual display.

What is clear  is that in both these cases the music and film support each other’s gravitas in perfect and equal equilibrium.
 On occasion the representational sounds that accompany the film offer more legibility and can better map, or describe spatial contours then the physical landscape itself, likewise images help to realize what might have previously only existed in the imagination.

 In modern day culture where people are so easily distracted from one thing to another, perhaps it makes sense to overload the senses and stimulate both aurally and visually- not just as an accessory to one another but in unity.
After all our ears and eyes are not that far apart.

Natasha Peskin
 
The Blue Planet Live starts in April 2008. For more information visit www.blueplanetlive.com

Heima is available on Amazon

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