When I write, I want to feel the emotion I felt when I wrote it. I want my heart to race because the notes, scene, or words hit home - and I want the audience to feel that same affinity that I desired for the production: sad during a slow & deep-toned score, or happy during a sun-lit, blue skied scene that presents two characters in love.
Though I am mainly a video production/creative writing guy, music is a very large influence to me. I write poetry, and music can be as deep and symbolic as poetry - just interpreting the melody and notes that draw specific emotions. One of the composers who helped garnish that inspiration is Clint Mansell.
As the composer of this score "Dead Reckoning" from the movie Smokin' Aces, the music just awe-struck me because of the emotion it generated. The songs begins with that tension - the slow building beat and volume of the melody - that creates a havoc in the mind like "what's about to happen"? Well for those of you who have not seen the movie, this is the scene where Ryan Reynolds's character pulls the plugs on the ventilator machines, killing the man he was meant to protect and that man's father. The music helps with that tension of what is Reynolds's character about to do, then releases that confusion on what is about to occur with the upbeat, high toned part of the score and then Reynold's action of killing the 2 men by unplugging the machines. Mansell has also done inspiring work for Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, and Black Swan. Each and every one of his works creates the kind of emotion I want to create, and present meaning from that emotion.
Not all of the emotion I desire to create is sad or emo, as though it seems; humor is my number one favorite emotion builder. The largest influence to me from comedy is, of course, Dane Cook. His comedy is stomach-wrenching funny to me - I want that kind of humor in my movies. Yet his humor is not just senseless jokes; a lot of his text contains subtext. For example, in his Isolated Incident album, Cook tells a joke about his parents (both who had recently died of cancer).
It is easy to interpret these jokes as a coping mechanism for Dane - by telling these jokes, he feels he is able to move on while keeping his parents in his thoughts. This creative way of presenting real-life events in work helps influence me because I would like to present some events from my life in my works as Dane does.
As I mentioned earlier, I like to write. Poetry is by far my favorite method of writing, and also my best. I have always felt that by knowing poetry, anything can be created: music, movies, stories, art, etc. I feel that poetry is the most important form of creation to grasp to be able to be truly good at all the other forms. The poet that has influenced me the most has been Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran. His form of poetry is very inspiring and full of wisdom. What work I like the most is The Prophet, with my favorite chapter being "On Love".
Every chapter in this poetry book is subjective - what the Gibran's "prophet" says is not necessarily a general consensus; yet with his very persuasive voice, and beautiful use of language, it is believable and feels true. Fpr example - in this chapter, one cannot say exactly what love is, and what Gibran says may not be how some see it; however for the readers that believe him, or feel his emotion in the words, it is very believable. This subjectiveness occurs in all of his works, and I base many of my poems off of Gibran's style as I desire to be subjective as he is, so that others may criticize my words or praise them - just as long as they feel an emotion and show it.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what makes me run in the race to be a quality producer and writer. This is what fuels my dream to one day touch someone with my work so that they may experience the emotion and truth I attempt to within it.
That my dream to be forever remembered some day can come true...
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