Composer Derek Kirkup discusses music of Sorority, his influences as a composer and his personal approach to scoring for film projects.
What drew you to the project?
James and I had a great experience working together on his short Hushy Bye. I had since read several other scripts of his, enough to pretty much make me an automatic ‘yes’ on any of his projects! Sorority struck me as deeply sensitive and moving. There was such life to its characters and a rich sense of the backstory they shared, which added so much power to the subtlest of words and gestures. There’s a huge amount in the story that is implied rather than explicit, and this was an exciting opportunity for the music to explore the hidden world the characters share together.
How would you describe the music of Sorority?
The music to me is very sensitive, gentle. There is a great sense of attachment in it, to others, to places and to memories, the good and the bad. It is full of warmth and joy, but this is always accompanied by the dark, be it a sense of loss or a fear of the unknown. The ‘Sisters’ theme, like much of the music, is written in such a way that it never quite feels finished, capturing the feeling of endings that are also beginnings for the characters.
What is your process when you start a project? Does the musical approach just leap out or is it a more organic process?
Usually I start by establishing a personality for the score as a whole. This might be done as early as reading the script, or otherwise on viewing the first edit. For most films I get a sense of everything the film made me feel in one summary impression. My first task then is to capture this in some short musical ideas that seem to say everything at once. These ideas can bring together everything from emotions to relationships, to physical objects, places and phenomenon. Working with all the different elements of the film in one go helps me capture the unique feel of the story. By this point the spotting session will usually have taken place and I will be clear on which scenes are to be scored. I then extrapolate these musical ideas into a single suite of music with distinct sections corresponding to particular scenes or characters, and then from here there is enough material to fully develop each cue.