Posted by Eric Chad Gracey and Patrick Dahlheimer – Music Supervisors for the Indie Documentary, The Downline, featuring 13 original songs, 7 of them by Chad and Patrick From April 2005 through September 2006 Producer/Director, Eric Martinis, set out to make a documentary about the wacky world of MLM’s or the Multi Level Marketing business. The preferred term now in the new millennium is “Network Marketing”. Also known derogatively as Pyramid Scams/Schemes. An example of an MLM ranges from everything from Amway, Shaklee, Neways to Avon, Mary Kay, Slumber Parties and Pampered Chef. Often ridiculed, sorely misunderstood...the network marketing or multi-level marketing industry is one of the most fascinating American phenomena as business and culture. Everybody has a story about a friend or family member hitting them up about "the next big thing" and the promise of "financial freedom". The Downline is a documentary that traces the roots of the business and follows four distributors as they make a go at a brand new MLM upstart. Shot over the course of its first year, The Downline takes you on a wild ride through the USA, Japan, China, Russia and Israel as both MLM veterans and new entrepreneurs try to realize their own definition of success. The Downline features wonderful animation, old film strips, 16mm educational films and original music from two of the members of the multi platinum selling band, Live. (Chad Gracey and Patrick Dahlheimer.) The Downline was also edited by Aurora Film and Music (www.aurorafm.com) An interesting side note…Chad Taylor is one of the Principal owners in Aurora. Chad and Patrick are credited as the Music Supervisors. The Director of The Downline is a long time friend of Chad’s. Knowing of their busy schedules, he approached Chad and Patrick to work on the film in a small capacity…maybe spend a couple of hours working on it. As it turned out, they both jumped in full force and ended up doing all of the music supervision for the film, to include recording 7 original songs. As the Music Supervisors, the first job was getting the proper clearance for using a musician’s work in a film. For an established musician, this means contacting all parties that have an interest in the song and contractually arranging an agreement to use the song in both Independent film festivals and then later on for wider distribution. For example, there is a song by the Flaming Lips, “Money (That’s What I Want)” that was a huge hit in the ‘80’s. It is still very popular to this day. Therefore, to use this song requires a great deal of negotiation. The artist’s representatives want to know what the film is about, where the song will be placed in the film, under what context, how many months it will screen in festivals, etc. etc. From there the Music Supervisors will move on to the film. They gain a good understanding about the theme behind the film, character idiosyncrasies and typically watch some of the raw footage and eventually a rough cut of the film. This helps them pick out music that is appropriate for both the topic and possibly the characters themselves. If you watch The Downline closely, you will see that each of the 5 characters have their own “theme song”. So, whenever they come onto the screen, a variation of the same song will play as they carry the film along. This gives the film great depth and feeling. Have you ever tried watching a movie with no music? Next time you watch a movie pay attention to the underlying music and imagine what it would be like without the score. In total, there are 13 original songs that Chad and Patrick placed in the film. Most of the work is done during post production. Outside of recording the new songs, the process from start to finish took about 4 months. The Downline will premiere at the Park City Film Music Festival. (www.parkcityfilmmusicfestival.com) Chad and Patrick will be conducting a seminar for the festival about their experience working on the film on Friday, January 26th at 3pm. The fourth annual PARK CITY FILM MUSIC FESTIVAL (PCFMF) will be held in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, January 23-28, 2007. This is the first film festival in the world singularly recognizing the contribution of composers and their music to film, and the first of such festivals in the Americas. Awards are given in the categories of Best Use of Music in Full-Length Feature Film, Best Use of Music in Documentary Film, and Best Use of Music in Short Film. The first major film festival to recognize film music as part of the awards lineup since 1985 is the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent, which currently draws over 80,000 devotees. Film music, whose broad appeal continues to gain prominence in the music marketplace, has stood for a long time recognized only at the very highest levels: the Academy awards, the Emmys, the Grammy’s, and a few others. The growing stature of film music is exemplified in the announcement in 2005 of the Pulitzer prizes qualifying film music for the first time after over 60 years. To learn more about The Downline, you can go to one of two sites: http://www.thedownlinemovie.com http://www.myspace.com/thedownline Link: The Downline
on 1/17/2007, 10:49 pm, in reply to "Update"
207.172.90.88
More info for ya!
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: "The Downline" will be entered into
: the ParK City Film Festival and will be
: compete for Best Use of Music in a
: Documentary.
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: In addition Pat and Chad G. will be hosting
: a seminar on Music Supervision. Way to go
: guys!
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