Indie Filmmaking Tips & Tricks 5: Hygeine from Ryan Gielen on Vimeo.
Film soundtracks are usually a poor investment, and often laden with incidental music and songs that have been previously issued; ditto releases which propose to be “inspired by the film…” which tend to be thrown together at the behest of ad departments. Not so with The Graduates, which emerges as a cohesive collection of up-beat novelty offerings that certainly evoke the film’s storyline of libidinous high-school grads who head to a beach resort to get laid and party. Though they’re not (yet) household names, the artists here - most notably Mad Tea Party, Seth Freeman, Sex w/Lurch, and The Smittens, - all put their best musical foot (and bleeding hearts) forward. Sex w/Lurch’s “Tokyo Cowboy” is a mad-cap garage rocker that would fit nicely on Nuggets (think ? Mark and the Mysterians). “Here Kitty Kitty,” one of several Freeman cuts, has a ska beat to die for and a sexy libretto that would make Beyonce blush (note to Freeman - you should prompt her to cover this!). Mad Tea Party lives up to its goofy name with the “Wipe Out” inspired “I Went Out” - replete with Beach Boys harmonies and charmingly out-of-tune vocals that would get Mother Theresa thrown off American Idol. Dig The Smittens heartfelt “The Garden” - a mid-tempo rocker rendered in a baritone just south of Johnny Cash. The Graduates puts the fun back in rock ‘n’ roll where it belongs!Get the entire thing FOR FREE, HERE!
--Tom Semioli [January 26, 2009]
Check out the feature article on our Soundtrack!
While the former music industry crumbles into a slow, self-inflicted suicide stabbing of itself, there is an opportunity for independent musicians/bands to form alliances with independent filmmakers. Recently, I read a story in TechDirt about a independent movie production, for a movie called The Graduates, that was going to heed SEC Bad Boy Mark Cuban’s suggestion of giving away soundtracks to movie goers. Being a big fan of both independent movies and indie music (not to mention Mark Cuban), I was really intrigued by the idea of attempting to give away 1,000,000 soundtracks to an independent movie. So I contacted executive producer of The Graduates, Ryan Gielen, for an interview to better understand this process and how it might benefit both independent musicians and movies in the future.Free Soundtracks - Getting Your Music Into The Movies, Jan 2009
Ideas for any indie musician or filmmaker on getting great music into great indie films...
