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The Best Music in Film
Jeff Mills
(One of the biggest names in American techno. In 2000 composed an alternative soundtrack to Fritz Lang's re-edited Metropolis)
- S&S: What is your favourite film soundtrack music and why do you like it so much?
- "My favourite soundtrack would have to be György Ligeti's contributions of 'Atmospheres', 'Lux Aeterna' and 'Requiem' to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). I adore his work in this film. Because of the multi-dimensional aspects 2001: A Space Odyssey encompassed, I believe that those that played key roles in producing such a story must have required an enormous psychological depth. The thing I liked to most about this film was that it never really allowed the viewers to believe they understood and knew about the time in which it happened, the place or exact location in space or the outcome of the situation. Like Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, Wally Veevers and others, Ligeti is guilty of creating one of best films ever created."
- S&S: In what ways does music best enhance a film?
- "I believe music best serves film when the viewers are not aware of it. When the music soundtrack drapes itself in the interaction between actors and very discreetly instigates a certain situation. I often think that music soundtracks may resemble passing clouds in the sky. In any given situation that evolves in our everyday lives, the movement of clouds are undeterred. Always moving to allow a certain amount of light for exposure or realization."
- S&S: Which film either has music that you wished you'd written or is one you would like to rescore and why?
- "I wish I had written the music for the Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner (1982). Vangelis created a simply beautiful soundtrack that I listen to all the time and from time to time, even study his work as a reference in making the Electronic Music that I produce. Without being able to resist the temptation, I have in the past, scribbled a few ideas of what I might to it if I were given a chance to rescore it. As a composer of Techno Music, I am more than convinced that the futuristic visions and thoughts that circulate within the Techno genre could not only support such a storyline but also allow the viewers to "feel" again."