Tag Archives: documentary

My Thoughts on: The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (2021)

I recently had the opportunity to check out a screener for the upcoming documentary The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (due to release on July 9th), which follows director Joshua Zeman’s journey to locate the so-called “52-Hertz whale”, a near-legendary creature due to the fact that it appears to be the only whale in existence to call out at a frequency of 52 Hertz, giving it the nickname “the loneliest whale” because no other whales can seemingly communicate back with it.

I’d never heard of the loneliest whale before seeing this documentary, so I found the entire story fascinating. It also helped that I’ve always been interested in whales, and I’ll always take the opportunity to learn more about them if I can. This documentary will certainly teach you quite a bit about whales, particularly about blue whales (the largest whale on Earth), fin whales (the second-largest) and humpback whales. I knew of course that humpback whales could sing, but I never knew that blue whales and fin whales had their own vocalizations as well, and the documentary covers this in a way that makes it easy to understand.

The bulk of the documentary, as the title implies, follows Zeman and a crew as they embark on a seven-day expedition to look for this mysterious 52-Hertz whale, which at the time of filming in 2015 hadn’t been documented for nearly 11 years. In between tracking the expedition however, there are segments inserted that explain the history of humanity’s fascination with whales for better and for worse. The history of humans hunting whales is touched upon, along with the subsequent “Save the Whales” movement that started in the 1970s. It’s a nice way to cut up the action and prevents what could be relatively boring story about hunting for one lone whale into a story that not only follows that hunt, but tells you about humanity’s relationship with whales along the way.

That being said, while I do appreciate learning about the history of whaling and the devastating effect it had on whale populations worldwide, I did find some of those scenes to be rather distressing. I’m sure that was the idea, but if you are uncomfortable with the sight of blood and seeing carcasses cut up, some of that footage might bother you.

Now, on the side of the story that followed the hunt for the whale, I liked how they explained each step of what they were doing to try and hunt for the whale. They even included some amazing underwater footage of the sonar buoys deploying, which I found fascinating because I had no idea that’s what one looked like and it was really helpful that the documentary showed that process. But my favorite part has to be when the crew went around “tagging” blue whales and fin whales in an effort to locate the loneliest whale. And I liked it because these tags had cameras attached, so once they managed the rhythm of getting the tag attached, one minute you (the viewer) are in the air, the next…you’re suddenly riding on the back of a blue whale, the largest animal on Earth. It’s a thrilling moment, one that took my breath away and I definitely have a new appreciation for whales after seeing them up close like that.

But aside from the whales, The Loneliest Whale also touches on why we are so fascinated by this mysterious whale. There’s an interesting commentary on the nature of human relationships and how they’ve changed. The documentary could have touched on this a bit more, but it definitely provides some food for thought on the nature of human relationships and why they’re so important (and necessary) for us.

Now, the one thing that frustrates me about The Loneliest Whale is that it ends with less resolution than I would like. I know documentaries like this aren’t guaranteed to have conclusive endings, but this one’s ending definitely left me wanting more. Hopefully there will be a follow up documentary down the line, because I definitely want to hear more about this mysterious whale.

In the end, I’m very glad I got to see The Loneliest Whale. I learned a lot about whales, about our history of interacting with them, and I gained a deeper appreciation for the issues facing whales in the 21st century. This is a really fun documentary and I highly recommend checking it out.

Let me know what you think about The Loneliest Whale in the comments below and have a great day!

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Soundtrack News: Six Degree Records Releases Belushi (Music From the ShowtimeⓇ Documentary Film) Composed by Tree Adams

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Soundtrack Review: Spaceship Earth (2020)

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The soundtrack for the recently released documentary Spaceship Earth is now available from Milan Records. Spaceship Earth is the true, stranger-than-fiction, adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth’s ecosystem called BIOSPHERE 2. The experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine a new world.

The soundtrack for Spaceship Earth was composed by Owen Pallett, who is a composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. They have released a string of critically praised solo recordings, winning the Polaris Prize in 2006. They currently release albums with Secret City Records and Domino Recording Co., and have performed as a solo performer with orchestras worldwide. Their chamber music work has been commissioned by The National Ballet of Canada, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Bang On A Can, The Barbican, among many others. They also served as curator of the TSO’s New Creations Festival in 2017.

Of the soundtrack, composer Owen Pallett says:

This is my second collaboration with Matt Wolf, after 2019’s Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project. The film Spaceship Earth chronologically spans from 1960 to present day— it is serious, it is comedic, it is retro, it is futuristic, it is scientific and it is highly human. It is also distinctly American. As a result, I was inspired by 60s sci-fi film scores, Nino Rota, as well as American 20th century music— John Adams and Aaron Copland.

All of those influences are evident in Pallett’s score for Spaceship Earth, which is among the most beautiful I’ve heard this year. The music for this documentary runs a huge gamut from nearly symphonic to an American style that is, as the composer indicated, clearly inspired by the music of Aaron Copland (“Synergia Ranch” in particular). I may have listened to a few of the pieces out of order, but I was instantly struck by a four-part piece organized under the title “Biosphere 2.” Played back to back, these four pieces reminded me of a symphony, with themes weaving together and coming back at the end of the piece. It’s not often I hear a symphonic piece of music while listening to a soundtrack, but that is indeed what the four parts of “Biosphere 2” reminded me of.

And it only got better from there. Most of the soundtrack is delightfully musical, with a sense of “sci-fi” lurking around every corner. If you didn’t know what this documentary was about, you could be forgiven for thinking it was about literal space travel. It would be interesting to know, specifically, which sci-fi film scores influenced Pallett, as their influence can clearly be felt.

But there was also a touch of weirdness (in a good way) as well. As I mentioned earlier, “Synergia Ranch” was clearly inspired by the music of Aaron Copland (it put me in mind of “Hoedown” in case you were wondering) and it definitely stands out from the music around it.

In conclusion, the soundtrack for Spaceship Earth is beautifully done, and I applaud Owen Pallett for creating such beautiful music to accompany the documentary. Let me know what you think about Spaceship Earth (and the soundtrack) in the comments below and have a great day!

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Soundtrack Review: A Brief History of Time Travel (2018)

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Just recently I had the unexpected pleasure of looking over the soundtrack for the documentary A Brief History of Time Travel. As the title suggests, this documentary is all about a subject that has fascinated scientists (and regular people for years: time travel. The synopsis is as follows:

Time travel reaches far beyond the realm of science fiction. From early stories featuring heroes mysteriously falling into far-flung future worlds to countless appearances in literature, science fiction and video games, the idea of traveling through time has spanned cultures across the globe.

Through interviews with experts across a variety of fields – theoretical physicists, game designers, spiritual leaders to futurist authors, “A Brief History of Time Travel” explores how this idea has inspired some of the prominent intellectual minds of today, and how it has influenced their work.

The soundtrack for A Brief History of Time Travel was composed by Tracie Turnbull, an LA-based composer. Apart from her work on this documentary, Tracie also works as a scoring and tech assistant for Emmy award winning composer Jeff Russo. She has written additional music on projects including: CBS’s Star Trek: Discovery, Sci-fi’s Channel Zero, FX’s Snowfall, Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy and the film, Mile 22.

The music for A Brief History of Time Travel was a lot of fun to listen to. Considering Tracie Turnbull is also a cellist, it’s not a surprise that the soundtrack features a healthy amount of that instrument. Indeed, a large portion of the soundtrack appears to be devoted primarily to the strings to create the warm, but quirky sounds that make up most of the score. Perhaps I was overly influenced by the title of the documentary, but it seemed to me that a lot of the music I heard reflected the passing of time. For example, I could’ve sworn I heard the ticking of clocks in several pieces. The idea occurred to me because Andrew Prahlow did something similar in his score for Outer Wilds. For that matter, speaking of the passage of time, the way most of these pieces “flowed” felt so appropriate given that they’re covering a documentary about time travel, in that time is often described as “flowing” from the past to the future.

As with most documentary scores that I’ve heard, the music for A Brief History of Time Travel is very easy to listen to; it’s gentle, it’s warm, and it draws no more attention to itself than necessary. By no means is that a bad thing, by their nature documentary scores aren’t generally supposed to stand out because that would make them a distraction to what the documentary is talking about. I think Tracie Turnbull’s score complements the topic of the documentary beautifully, allowing the imagination to run wild about the possibilities of time travel.

Track List:

1 Time Travel
2 Time Passing
3 Clock Slowed
4 Three Theories
5 Beyond Space
6 Back And Forward
7 Perspective Of A Computer
8 Space And Looking Back
9 Freeze People
10 Imagine Time Travel
11 Happens In The Future
12 Constraints Of Nature
13 If You Could Travel
14 History Of The Universe

The score for A Brief History of Time Travel can be purchased/downloaded from the following places:

Notefornote Website: https://bit.ly/36bS4DF

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LKdM8a

Tidal: https://bit.ly/3e1YJmo

Deezer: https://bit.ly/3e2Dkty

Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/2XeKUKC

Let me know what you think about A Brief History of Time Travel (and the score) in the comments below and have a great day!

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Film Soundtracks A-W

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My Thoughts on: Stuffed (2019)

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Soundtrack Review: Stuffed (2019)

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Soundtrack Review: Stuffed (2019)

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Lakeshore Records has made available Ben Lovett’s original motion picture soundtrack for Stuffed, a film directed by Erin Derham. Stuffed is a documentary feature film about the surprising and unique world of taxidermy. Told through the eyes and hands of a passionate and diverse group of renowned artists from around the world, the film explores the lives and perspectives of an extraordinary subculture that exists at the intersection of art and science. With a keen eye on conservation and the natural world, Stuffed also explores the important and unexpected relationship that exists between taxidermy and the human effort to preserve the beauty of nature.

Ben Lovett is an American songwriter and composer best known for crafting unconventional scores to a diverse range of films and documentaries including the Netflix cult favorite The Ritual, Amy Seimetz’s award-winning noir Sun Don’t Shine, Independent Spirit Award nominee The Signal, the Duplass Brothers’ survival thriller Black Rock, Emma Tammi’s avant-garde western The Wind, and the time travel sci-fi noir Synchronicity which earned Ben a nomination for “Discovery of the Year” at the prestigious World Soundtrack Awards. Lovett’s most recent work debuted at Sundance 2020, a reunion with director and longtime collaborator David Bruckner for the upcoming Searchlight thriller The Night House.

Speaking on their close collaboration throughout the making of the film, Derham explained:

“The process was very unique in that Ben started writing and recording the score while I was filming. I knew I wanted Stuffed to feel beautiful and romantic like a Jane Austen novel but giving it that distinct Lovett edge. I’m Ben’s biggest fan. All of his movie scores blow me away, but when I first heard the ‘Stuffed Waltz’ suite it felt like he’d written a song about my heart. It represented the humbling journey that took place as I filmed wildly different people around the world for nearly three years and had all my preconceived judgements about taxidermy challenged.”

Lovett described his score as a collection of “musical dioramas” that aim to capture a glimpse into the minds and hearts of a variety of uncommon personalities. Lovett explained:

“I was inspired by the characters in the film who all come from very different political, social, and economic backgrounds and often disagree on most things, but ultimately populate a distinct subculture that’s bound by a deep and genuine love for nature. I wanted to capture that unmistakable childlike wonder they all have when they talk about animals. For taxidermists the work they do is not at all about Death, it’s about Life.”

The soundtrack for Stuffed was nothing like what I expected, though honestly I’m not sure what I should expect for a documentary about taxidermy. The music is beautiful and delightfully quirky in many places, especially in the opening tracks like “Encyclopedia” and “Life.” If the music is meant to reflect the personalities of the people working on these creations and the creations themselves, then Lovett definitely succeeded.

The instruments come together to create something bright and vibrant, and now that I think about it that could be what surprised me. When *I* think about taxidermy the big thing I remember is that these animals are dead, but Stuffed appears to be taking the opposite approach (and Lovett says as much above): don’t think about them as dead, think about how they simulate Life! And that’s why the music is so vibrant and alive, because that’s the work these taxidermists are doing.

If you listen to nothing else on this soundtrack, you need to listen to “Stuffed Waltz No. 2” and “Stuffed Waltz No. 3.” These are two beautiful pieces that take a moment away from the hustle and bustle of the regular soundtrack and seem to be created to give you time to think about what you’ve seen thus far. And for the record, they are in fact true waltzes, I can hear the 3/4 time clear as a bell (I wasn’t sure at first if the “waltz” in the cue title was literal or figurative).

Listening to soundtracks like this is giving me a renewed appreciation for documentaries and everything that goes into making them. Sometimes, I hate to admit it, these works can get overlooked because they’re all factual and can be mistakenly perceived as “boring.” But works like Stuffed are actually working really hard to tell a good story and the music has to work just as hard as any action film score to help tell the audience what they need to know.

I really liked the soundtrack to Stuffed and you should definitely check it out if you get the chance. Let me know what you think about Stuffed in the comments below and have a great day!

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Soundtrack Review: First to the Moon: The Journey of Apollo 8 (2018)

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For the past year, there have been several films and documentaries released, and several upcoming, that are looking back at the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969 and the events that led up to it. To that end, First to the Moon: The Journey of Apollo 8, looks at the important journey of Apollo 8, which orbited the moon and captured the famous “Earthrise” photo.

I was excited to have the opportunity to review the soundtrack for this documentary which was composed by Alexander Bornstein. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I popped the soundtrack in to listen to it. Documentary soundtracks, in my experience, can be very hit or miss, and sometimes documentaries don’t have much in the way of music at all. To be honest, I love this soundtrack. This may come out wrong, but it was lot more “cinematic” than I thought it would be. There was a sense of drama, a sense of excitement, and even tension that I just wasn’t expecting, but that made me really love the soundtrack even more than I thought I would at first.

I haven’t seen the documentary that goes with this soundtrack, but I can tell the music is meant to highlight the risks that were involved in launching Apollo 8 and how high-stakes everything was since this was one of the last Apollo missions before the all-important Apollo 11. I was actually reminded a bit of Hans Zimmer’s music, with some of the timpani drum riffs (and I mean that in a good way).

Alexander Bornstein did a great job with this soundtrack. My favorite track on the entire disc is “The Good Earth.” It was catchy, it just drove along and I loved listening to it. As I said earlier, I wasn’t expecting the music to be so orchestral and beautiful, and I’m so happy to be so pleasantly surprised by what I listened to. The soundtrack is available now and I definitely recommend checking it out. I look forward to hearing more from Alexander Bornstein, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to listen to this soundtrack.

If you’ve seen First to the Moon: The Journey of Apollo 8 or listened to the soundtrack, let me know what you think about it in the comments below and have a great day!

You Can Buy the soundtrack HERE: https://bit.ly/2EjfCd6

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