Today’s Needle Drop is a 3 in 1 special chosen by master music supervisor Karl Westman.
NY-based Westman has sculpted music for the world’s most recognisable brand campaigns and works with artists from Dave Brubeck, Philip Glass, Danny Elfman, Quincy Jones, Timbaland and James Murphy.
Here Karl offers his insights on Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider, Disney’s Fantasia, and a classic ad for American Express he helped find the musical solution for.
KW: The first is the 1969 groundbreaking counter-culture film Easy Rider. It was one the earliest to use songs from the pop-culture repertoire - The Byrds, Steppenwolf, Bob Dylan - to form a musical narrative. In fact director Dennis Hopper claims it was the first. As a high school kid, the film blew me away. The use of music that I could identify with as "mine" helped create an emotional bond to the film that lasts to this day. The original trailer seems quaint today but was a big deal at the time.
The second is the Disney classic Fantasia circa 1940 which I experienced (in an altered state no doubt) at a late night arthouse movie theater while I was in music school. In classic Disney fashion, every musical phrase of Paul Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice is accounted for in the animation. In essence, the film is scored to the music as Mikey's story unfolds.
Lastly, I humbly offer my personal first: an American Express commercial. I’ve just viewed it for the first time in over 30 years and oh, how the ad world has changed. I recall we were struggling with the edit. This Motown classic (Rescue Me sung by Fontella Bass) appeared quite by accident when thumbing through my vinyl collection. The title clicked, I literally dropped the needle, transferred the tune to 1/4 inch tape and with grease pencil and razor blade in hand, I edited a musical solution. As is often the case, music came to the rescue...pun intended.
What can we learn from these three examples? In Easy Rider, current tracks add emotional relevance to the narrative. In Fantasia, a 19th century classic inspires great visual art. In my first placement, music becomes the voice of the story and sets the tone.
In all three examples, the role of music is an equal partner in the storytelling. And, while tastes, styles and technologies have changed – the power of music remains the same. Music is magic."
Read Karl’s full bio HERE
