[NEohioPAL]An Open Letter to Johnny Wu and NEohioPal Regarding Music for Movies

Wed Aug 1 15:02:15 PDT 2007

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Dear Mr.Wu ,

I'm writing in response to your post today concerning Moby's offer of free
music to film makers. Although I respect your tireless work on behalf of
independent film in Cleveland, I must emphatically disagree with this
approach of looking much further than our own region for music for film, no
matter how noble Moby's intentions may be.

I know that there are many local musicians and composers who would jump at
scoring independent film if given the chance, myself included. In fact, a
short time ago I had successfully done so. I considered my collaboration
with the director as one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I'v=
e
undertaken.

Fresh from that success I was motivated to find other film jobs.
Unfortunately, other local filmmakers were not as interested in
collaboration. One in particular went out of his way to secure rights for
music he pulled from his CD collection. Others have opted to not include
music in their project; others use music without permission.

I've had film makers say to me that they felt an original score was a good
idea at one time, but as the production dates flew by there was no more tim=
e
to collaborate =96 at which point they succumbed to one of the other ways o=
f
obtaining music I've described. Can one imagine a film maker saying, "Well,
I thought having actors in my film but the time ran out=85so I just went wi=
th
filming actors off my television." Though I realize the absurdity of that
statement, it helps to illustrate my point.

I'm not saying that there are not recent or current local film maker / loca=
l
composer collaborations that have worked out. I know of a couple composers
that have worked very steadily over the past few years. But there needs to
be more urgency on behalf of the local indie film maker to find local film
music artists. Just as technology has provided visual artists with the mean=
s
of reliable and inexpensive ways of editing their work on personal
computers, so to have musicians benefited from being able to produce
professional-grade music from their home studios.

To sum up, I have nothing against Moby, but he's probably got more gigs tha=
n
he can shake a stick at. Why not give local composers, producers and
musicians a chance when movie music is needed? Why not let NEohioPAL be the
conduit for making these connections.

I remain respectfully yours,

Bruce Jennings

Shaker Heights, Ohio.

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Dear Mr.Wu ,
 
I'm writing in response to your post today concerning Moby's offer=
 of free music to film makers. Although I respect your tireless work on beh=
alf of independent film in=20
Cleveland, I must emphatically disagree with this approach of looking much =
further than our own region for music for film, no matter how noble Moby's =
intentions may be.
 
I know that there are many local musicians and composers who would=
 jump at scoring independent film if given the chance, myself included. In =
fact, a short time ago I had successfully done so. I considered my collabor=
ation with the director as one of the most challenging and rewarding projec=
ts I've undertaken.

 
Fresh from that success I was motivated to find other film jobs. U=
nfortunately, other local filmmakers were not as interested in collaboratio=
n. One in particular went out of his way to secure rights for music he pull=
ed from his CD collection. Others have opted to not include music in their =
project; others use music without permission.

 
I've had film makers say to me that they felt an original score wa=
s a good idea at one time, but as the production dates flew by there was no=
 more time to collaborate =96 at which point they succumbed to one of the o=
ther ways of obtaining music I've described. Can one imagine a film maker s=
aying, "Well, I thought having actors in my film but the time ran out=85so =
I just went with filming actors off my television." Though I realize the ab=
surdity of that statement, it helps to illustrate my point.

 
I'm not saying that there are not recent or current local film mak=
er / local composer collaborations that have worked out. I know of a couple=
 composers that have worked very steadily over the past few years. But ther=
e needs to be more urgency on behalf of the local indie film maker to find =
local film music artists. Just as technology has provided visual artists wi=
th the means of reliable and inexpensive ways of editing their work on pers=
onal computers, so to have musicians benefited from being able to produce p=
rofessional-grade music from their home studios.=20

 
To sum up, I have nothing against Moby, but he's probably got more=
 gigs than he can shake a stick at. Why not give local composers, producers=
 and musicians a chance when movie music is needed? Why not let NEohioPAL b=
e the conduit for making these connections.

 
I remain respectfully yours,
 
Bruce Jennings
Shaker Heights, Ohio.

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