1 00:00:05,670 --> 00:00:08,790 S1: Hello, this is Chris Porter, creator of Solar. If you've 2 00:00:08,789 --> 00:00:10,980 S1: listened through the show's credits, you might have noticed that 3 00:00:10,980 --> 00:00:13,180 S1: I composed all of the music for the show as well. 4 00:00:13,710 --> 00:00:16,170 S1: On the behind the scenes excerpt for This week, I 5 00:00:16,170 --> 00:00:19,020 S1: spoke with Jenni Curtis, director and producer and voice of 6 00:00:19,020 --> 00:00:22,380 S1: Allie and executive producer Bill Curtis to discuss the process 7 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:25,860 S1: behind scoring solar here. The three of us are discussing 8 00:00:25,860 --> 00:00:28,620 S1: the four note main title theme and the significant hidden 9 00:00:28,620 --> 00:00:29,490 S1: meaning behind it. 10 00:00:31,380 --> 00:00:34,770 S2: The theme is incredibly powerful and it's four notes. 11 00:00:34,860 --> 00:00:37,350 S1: I've said this before, but in the writing of it, 12 00:00:37,350 --> 00:00:40,470 S1: in the conception of it, the sun is a force 13 00:00:40,470 --> 00:00:43,019 S1: to be reckoned with, and it was definitely not to 14 00:00:43,020 --> 00:00:45,690 S1: spoil anything. I made a ground rule from the get 15 00:00:45,690 --> 00:00:48,030 S1: go that no one is ever allowed to control the sun. 16 00:00:48,180 --> 00:00:50,640 S1: They can fight to use its power. That could be 17 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,190 S1: a thing. But no one gets to say, Oh, I'm 18 00:00:53,190 --> 00:00:55,170 S1: just going to take the sun's core. Like, No, the 19 00:00:55,170 --> 00:00:58,050 S1: sun is an entity that we have to cope with. 20 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,630 S1: So in the music, I wanted there to be that 21 00:01:00,630 --> 00:01:04,950 S1: same sense of neither good nor bad, just something massive 22 00:01:04,950 --> 00:01:08,429 S1: and unfathomable. So as a result, the main four notes 23 00:01:08,430 --> 00:01:12,420 S1: are a EGF, which is not technically in major or minor. 24 00:01:12,420 --> 00:01:15,660 S1: It's literally just four notes in a modal sentence. And 25 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:17,550 S1: I can make it sound major. Minor if I had 26 00:01:17,550 --> 00:01:19,890 S1: it in the C or C-sharp. The theme itself is 27 00:01:19,890 --> 00:01:22,619 S1: just those four notes, and it exists kind of outside 28 00:01:22,620 --> 00:01:26,010 S1: of any sort of modal rationale that we would need 29 00:01:26,010 --> 00:01:28,650 S1: to think about. And in the scoring of it, I 30 00:01:28,650 --> 00:01:31,350 S1: just wanted it to keep repeating and just get bigger 31 00:01:31,350 --> 00:01:34,440 S1: and bigger with the bass getting louder and louder until 32 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,800 S1: it just cut off and drifted out into space, which 33 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,320 S1: was as much as I thought about the composing. And 34 00:01:40,590 --> 00:01:42,540 S1: a lot of that came through in the orchestration of 35 00:01:42,540 --> 00:01:44,280 S1: it where I was like, Oh no, this is the 36 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:46,710 S1: sound that I'm hearing and this is the distortion that 37 00:01:46,709 --> 00:01:48,570 S1: I'm hearing on it and this is the feeling of 38 00:01:48,570 --> 00:01:52,800 S1: it spiralling out into nothingness. And that's where that came from. 39 00:01:52,830 --> 00:01:54,360 S2: How long did the theme take you? 40 00:01:54,540 --> 00:01:57,240 S1: Well, it's not like a continuous like I sat down 41 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,070 S1: and was like, We're going to do this today. I 42 00:01:59,070 --> 00:02:00,870 S1: would go over to my piano to do something and 43 00:02:00,870 --> 00:02:03,570 S1: I'd be like, I want this combination of notes. And 44 00:02:03,570 --> 00:02:04,610 S1: I knew I wanted to be simple. I didn't know 45 00:02:04,620 --> 00:02:05,670 S1: it's going to be four notes, but I was like, 46 00:02:05,670 --> 00:02:07,620 S1: I just need something simple. And I would just try 47 00:02:07,620 --> 00:02:09,960 S1: some stuff and I'd be like, I'm not really hearing that. 48 00:02:09,970 --> 00:02:12,329 S1: And then I'd go shower and then I'd come back 49 00:02:12,330 --> 00:02:13,890 S1: and try a couple more notes. So it wasn't like 50 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:16,380 S1: four days of intensive labour, but it definitely took about 51 00:02:16,380 --> 00:02:19,410 S1: four days until I found that combination of notes. And 52 00:02:19,410 --> 00:02:20,850 S1: then I was like, We're going to sit with that 53 00:02:20,850 --> 00:02:22,890 S1: for a while. After a few days I came back 54 00:02:22,889 --> 00:02:24,810 S1: and I was like, I think that's it. That feels 55 00:02:24,810 --> 00:02:26,470 S1: really good to me. We're going to go with that. 56 00:02:26,669 --> 00:02:29,160 S2: I want to talk about all of the various ways 57 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:31,740 S2: you think of these themes and how you come to them. 58 00:02:31,740 --> 00:02:36,630 S2: But I especially my absolute favorite cue in the entire show, 59 00:02:36,630 --> 00:02:39,540 S2: which we hear a couple of times, is the human theme, which. 60 00:02:41,450 --> 00:02:44,300 S2: If you go back and listen to. 61 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,089 S1: We first hear it in three three with Jessa. Yeah, 62 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,420 S1: and then we hear it in five. I want to 63 00:02:50,419 --> 00:02:53,809 S1: know what you're calling a human theme. I wasn't interested 64 00:02:53,810 --> 00:02:58,429 S1: in writing like, Jamal's song or like Wren's theme. 65 00:02:58,460 --> 00:02:59,960 S2: Can you explain what the theme is? 66 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:04,130 S1: Yeah. Like, a great example, obviously, is Star Wars, right? 67 00:03:04,370 --> 00:03:08,609 S1: Where you hear the bum, bum, bum, bum bum. The 68 00:03:08,630 --> 00:03:11,810 S1: da da da da da. That is the Luke Skywalker 69 00:03:11,810 --> 00:03:15,410 S1: Jedi theme. It's called the Motif, oftentimes. And it's something 70 00:03:15,410 --> 00:03:19,280 S1: that John Williams just mind blowing. He's the best at it. 71 00:03:19,940 --> 00:03:23,930 S1: I just took the route of I don't want characters 72 00:03:23,930 --> 00:03:27,390 S1: to have themes. I want my thematic material to have themes. 73 00:03:27,410 --> 00:03:29,690 S1: So I wanted there to be like a distressed theme 74 00:03:29,690 --> 00:03:33,050 S1: or programming a theme, different little tiny motifs. And they 75 00:03:33,050 --> 00:03:35,600 S1: all had to be real simple and just spread out 76 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:39,650 S1: like Simsek did get kind of a theme with the bum, bum, bum, bum, 77 00:03:39,650 --> 00:03:41,450 S1: bum bum that you hear a few times. 78 00:03:41,690 --> 00:03:45,680 S2: So the human theme, which is my favorite piece of 79 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,490 S2: music in this show, and it's probably because I lean 80 00:03:49,490 --> 00:03:51,560 S2: into the emotion of things. And to me that is 81 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,640 S2: the most emotionally gut wrenching piece that comes under some 82 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,180 S2: of the most emotionally gut wrenching moments. But this was 83 00:03:59,180 --> 00:04:04,880 S2: not something Chris composed originally for this show. So I 84 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:07,220 S2: want to hear the story of where the song came from. 85 00:04:08,150 --> 00:04:09,780 S1: So this is actually a video you can if you 86 00:04:09,890 --> 00:04:12,170 S1: dig around on Facebook and if you can find this video. 87 00:04:12,500 --> 00:04:17,120 S1: My parents had moved down to Solomon's in Maryland, and 88 00:04:17,150 --> 00:04:19,640 S1: in their time of finding a place there to live, 89 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,510 S1: they had come across this beautiful art sculpture and garden 90 00:04:23,510 --> 00:04:26,659 S1: park called Anne-Marie Gardens. It's just a gorgeous place to 91 00:04:26,660 --> 00:04:29,270 S1: walk around because in the middle of the forest and 92 00:04:29,270 --> 00:04:32,330 S1: the trees, they've just put artwork from different people. And 93 00:04:32,330 --> 00:04:35,060 S1: sometimes it's massive sculptures and sometimes it's just little paintings 94 00:04:35,060 --> 00:04:37,490 S1: that they've painted into the knots of the trees. And 95 00:04:37,490 --> 00:04:41,000 S1: so it has this completely otherworldly feel of just walking 96 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,090 S1: into some kind of fairy wonderland where there's art everywhere. 97 00:04:44,089 --> 00:04:46,520 S1: And like, sometimes it's an upside down astronaut on a rock, 98 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:50,210 S1: and sometimes it's like this gorgeous sculpture with these completely 99 00:04:50,210 --> 00:04:53,630 S1: abstract figures. And at one point they had put a 100 00:04:53,630 --> 00:04:56,570 S1: green upright piano in the middle of the forest, and 101 00:04:56,570 --> 00:04:58,910 S1: it was not very well in tune because it was 102 00:04:58,910 --> 00:05:01,669 S1: out in the woods for four months, but it was 103 00:05:01,670 --> 00:05:03,799 S1: in tune enough that people could play it. And so 104 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:05,810 S1: I was there with my family and they were like, 105 00:05:05,810 --> 00:05:07,640 S1: you know, you should sit down and play something, come 106 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:09,350 S1: up with something. So I was like, Well, give me 107 00:05:09,350 --> 00:05:11,870 S1: a couple of minutes, because I'm not a very good improviser. 108 00:05:11,870 --> 00:05:14,180 S1: I just kind of know the feel. And so I 109 00:05:14,180 --> 00:05:16,580 S1: started just playing the one note over and over again, 110 00:05:16,580 --> 00:05:20,690 S1: which again is both meant to be internally retrospective, but 111 00:05:20,690 --> 00:05:23,360 S1: also the ticking of the clock in this particular moment, 112 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:25,520 S1: because like pianos are nothing but mechanical. To me, that's 113 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:28,339 S1: just the way that I feel about them. And I 114 00:05:28,700 --> 00:05:31,340 S1: so I came up with this theme and I just 115 00:05:31,339 --> 00:05:34,909 S1: played it and it's it's not very complicated, it's very simple, 116 00:05:34,910 --> 00:05:37,820 S1: but it just had this nice, lilting quality. And at 117 00:05:37,820 --> 00:05:40,190 S1: this point, this was very early on in the stages 118 00:05:40,190 --> 00:05:43,099 S1: of even dreaming up somewhere. And my mom was like, 119 00:05:43,970 --> 00:05:45,529 S1: That should be a theme. And so, like, it sounds 120 00:05:45,529 --> 00:05:47,299 S1: like someone floating in space. And I was like, Well, 121 00:05:47,870 --> 00:05:51,860 S1: we'll see, Mom. We'll see if that happens. Sure enough, 122 00:05:51,860 --> 00:05:56,810 S1: when I started working on Jess's spiel about her other self, 123 00:05:57,260 --> 00:05:59,409 S1: I was like, What was that video? What did I play? 124 00:05:59,420 --> 00:06:01,039 S1: And I actually had to like, dig it up on 125 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:03,229 S1: Facebook because my father shared it to Anne Marie Garden's 126 00:06:03,230 --> 00:06:06,529 S1: Facebook page and I transcribed it for myself and I 127 00:06:06,529 --> 00:06:09,290 S1: was like, This actually would work really well here. But 128 00:06:09,290 --> 00:06:11,480 S1: then I was like, What? What is the theme? What 129 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:14,330 S1: is the what is the theme representing? And it kind 130 00:06:14,330 --> 00:06:19,300 S1: of became this thing of when someone. Finally breaks apart 131 00:06:19,300 --> 00:06:22,030 S1: enough to show their inside self to someone else. It 132 00:06:22,029 --> 00:06:24,550 S1: became that and what I called the human theme. But 133 00:06:24,910 --> 00:06:25,960 S1: how do you get over it? 134 00:06:27,490 --> 00:06:35,900 S3: I had to try. Really hard. I wish there was 135 00:06:35,900 --> 00:06:39,540 S3: some words of wisdom or some catchy thing that inspired me. 136 00:06:40,670 --> 00:06:46,160 S3: But there's not. There's only the simple decision that every 137 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,080 S3: time I wake up. I do the best I can. 138 00:06:51,510 --> 00:06:54,839 S1: Look, I haven't been through any kind of trauma like 139 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:55,560 S1: you've experienced. 140 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:59,100 S3: So I hope not. Now, I hope you never will. 141 00:07:00,529 --> 00:07:05,540 S3: But here's the thing to remember Every time your life changes, 142 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:11,030 S3: for better or worse, you lose the other version of yourself. 143 00:07:12,410 --> 00:07:16,220 S3: There's always the other you. The one that said yes. 144 00:07:16,580 --> 00:07:19,700 S3: The one that said no. The one that wasn't hit 145 00:07:19,700 --> 00:07:20,600 S3: by a drunk driver. 146 00:07:21,650 --> 00:07:24,530 S1: So you, like, create a voice for the music and 147 00:07:24,530 --> 00:07:26,930 S1: then you just start attacking your keyboard to try to 148 00:07:26,930 --> 00:07:29,720 S1: see what comes up the way that it works for me. 149 00:07:30,590 --> 00:07:32,600 S1: Especially because I wrote it as I would have a 150 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:35,270 S1: vibe in mind where I'm like, This moment needs to 151 00:07:35,270 --> 00:07:38,090 S1: sound tense and hollow, and I can't really explain to 152 00:07:38,090 --> 00:07:40,730 S1: you what a hollow sounds like to me, but I 153 00:07:40,730 --> 00:07:42,679 S1: know it when I hear it. Not this moment that 154 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,810 S1: I just played, but like there are some moments with 155 00:07:44,810 --> 00:07:46,850 S1: Margaret where I was like, This needs to feel like 156 00:07:46,850 --> 00:07:49,880 S1: something's ramping up, but it's unclear what I feel a 157 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:52,460 S1: hollow sound here. And so then I would figure out 158 00:07:52,460 --> 00:07:55,550 S1: musically what's going on to get to that point, and 159 00:07:55,550 --> 00:07:57,830 S1: then I would go back and re orchestrate it and 160 00:07:57,830 --> 00:08:00,320 S1: try to find the sounds that captured the vibe that 161 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,980 S1: I have in my brain. That's only a short clip 162 00:08:03,980 --> 00:08:06,230 S1: of all the things we discussed in the solar panel. 163 00:08:06,500 --> 00:08:10,040 S1: In the extended interview, we discuss the technicalities of music creation, 164 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,830 S1: using music as sound design, and even more behind the 165 00:08:12,830 --> 00:08:15,470 S1: scenes stories about the creation of solar. Check out our 166 00:08:15,470 --> 00:08:17,540 S1: Apple Podcast Premium channel to hear more.