"Like a sad machine, dying"

This is a beautiful track from the soundtrack of Synecdoche, New York. I am a real sucker for piano solos like this. The electronic sounds in the background turn the track into a whole different experience for me. They 'sparkle' as if to say everything moves beautifully, in one way or another.

Starting Fresh

As I have been revisiting my thesis film in the cutting room, I've started writing down some ideas for another short film I'd like to make. Rather than making something for contention in a festival, I really want to make a short film just for the sake of making one - and, of course, because I love making films and want to continue making films long after film school.

Music has always been a strong driving force in terms of what inspires my work. The stylistic approach for my thesis film "This Is Not Poetry" was partly inspired by Jon Brion's "Theme" from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The short film "Night" which I shot as a storyboard for the thesis film was inspired by Carter Burwell's "Lost Fur" from the soundtrack of Where The Wild Things Are. These tracks, to me, feel like mini-ballads. At 2-3 minutes long, they feel like short films themselves, like fragments of a much bigger story.

My next projects will be similar to the approach I took with "Night". 2-3 minute shorts, or 'fragments' that may, or may not grow into a bigger picture. Firstly, this could probably be the only way to get me right back into making lots of films at a regular (if not, more often than 'never') basis. And secondly, it puts the idea of 'making a film is as easy as you say it is' into action. And I believe it.

I'll end this post peacefully with the opening scene of Paranoid Park, which features a great track by Ethan Rose - "Song One". I need this soundtrack so badly.