Composer Neil Brand premieres new score for Blackmail
Film composer and accompanist Neil Brand came to the IU Cinema this weekend for the U.S. premiere of his new score for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 silent film Blackmail.
Brand spoke with IU Cinema director Jon Vickers and hosted a Q&A Nov. 6 about his 30 years of experience writing music for silent films. His score was played along with the entire movie by a live orchestra provided by the Jacobs School of Music Nov. 7.
With a piano on stage at the Q&A, Brand broke down scenes of Blackmail for the audience, showing how a composer takes the plot of a film and creates music to enhance the emotional response of the audience
“Cinema always had such more of a profound effect on me than real life did,” Brand said of his childhood spent seeing films of all kinds and the emotions they evoked.
Brand showed the audience how he composed music for one of the most famous scenes from Blackmail, which follows the story of a woman who kills her would-be rapist in self-defense.
“What I did was give the dress a little motif of its own,” Brand said from the piano, describing a scene from the film where the protagonist models a dress for her date, unaware of his intentions.
Brand took the audience through the piece step by step to demonstrate how creating a sense of unresolved conflict in his music heightens the suspense of the film.
“The whole sense of being able to build on unresolved music is what’s going on through Blackmail,” Brand said. “It very seldom resolves, and that is intentional because a lack of resolution is suspense.”
Brand said he first developed his interest in music as a boy when he would go to the cinema and watch cartoon films.
“And the music would still be buzzing in my head, and I’d still have it when I got on the bus and when I got home,” Brand said. “And I tried to get on the piano and pick out what I’d heard.”
Brand’s career has taken his artistic talent to several industries. Trained as an actor, Brand has worked as a writer, performer and composer. Some of his most recent work includes scoring music for new releases of films from the golden era of Hollywood, as well as avant-garde Russian cinema.
“I’ve been able to fulfill opportunities in my life because I’ve basically worked in fields where there’s not a lot of money,” Brand said. “As soon as you get into something in which there is a vastly greater financial risk, all of your options start to narrow out.”
Brand said that, although silent films have fallen out of popularity in the past several decades, they’re seeing a resurgence due to interest from independent filmmakers.
“I think modern audiences do struggle with silent film,” Brand said. “It was made for another world.”
Brand said that part of the allure of the silent film is that their themes are not much different from modern films.
“There is no difference in that they are timeless, that they deal with timeless issues,” Brand said. “The music is basically doing the same job, making us respond to that.”
Jon Vickers said that the premiere of Brand’s piece was unique.
“It’s relatively uncommon for orchestral scores to be presented live with silent films in smaller cities,” Vickers said.
Brand said he thinks the IU Cinema is at the forefront of promoting independent and art house cinema.
“When you come somewhere like this, and you see this auditorium and the work you’ve done here, it’s fantastic work,” Brand said. “It should be reproduced everywhere.”