Scoring my First Feature Documentary SONS

How that worked

Back in December of 2022 at a favourite watering hole, my friend Justin asked me if I’d like to score his next feature documentary, and I said yes.

This was - as these things always go - part of a much longer journey. I had scored Justin’s short HAND.LINE.COD. for the National Film Board back in 2016, which gave me my first TIFF premiere as a composer. Before then and especially since, our relationship has been much less work than friendship, though there has been a lot of work together along the way. I’ve done edit assist jobs for him, he has done producer jobs for me, and even shot my latest, TBD short film.

As a result of all that, I didn’t need to ask any more business questions of him when he asked if I would score his film, because I already knew a lot about it, gleaned from many casual conversations over the months prior. I knew that broadly it would be ‘a film about masculinity’ - a sentence that sadly carries a lot of tricky weight in modern times. The reality of the project is far less ‘controversial’ - this is a film about raising good sons, and takes a multi-generational approach to the topic.

The process for a project like this is fairly unique compared to other music industry jobs. There were months when I did nothing, and weeks where I did nothing but compose for the film. I started with 8 minutes that Justin and his editor sent me as proof of concept, and gradually wrote more and more music. I had a folder called “For Justin” that I would drop ideas into, and he and his editor Andrew would use this as temp music as they cut.

For those that don’t know, most films start with ‘temp’ (temporary) music, which is a wild concept when one thinks about it. Basically, the first edit of a film’s life is born with music that will one day disappear completely from it, replaced by final music cues that likely bear at least a rhythmic similarity to the temp music because, well, editing is rhythm.

This project was a gift to me as a composer in the sense that all the temp music was me. Over the process of the full cut, a piece of music from another film or artist crept in for a minute or so at points where nothing I had written up to that point fit the new sequence they were working on. But in general, it was present Ian vs. past Ian: a no lose face-off! Having scored quite a few projects at this point, I can say that rarely happens in this way.

Documentaries are unique film projects in the sense that they can only be scripted so much, since real life rhymes with art but isn’t bound by the same rules. Thus, the project was an iterative process over about a year and a half, where different scenes that worked with the score one month suddenly felt less impactful as the pieces of film and the pieces of music got moved about in the context of the broader story.

I took an ‘electro-acoustic’ approach to the palette, partly because those sounds are the ones Justin and I were enjoying at the time, but mainly because those sounds suited the subject matter. The emotions explored in the film - aggression, vulnerability, isolation, connection - all needed their musical centres, and all can and should exist together, just like delicate strings and pianos, and crushing synths and bangs and clangs can share a table.

I’m very proud of this project. I think a big part of that was the process employed: very free flowing, which Justin deserves all the credit for as director. He’s a thoughtful fellow who manages to offer the ‘just right’ amount of notes and direction: not too little, not too much. That is a very particular and often elusive skill that can bring out the best in those you’re working with.

The premiere of SONS at The Rooms in St. John’s was a special night. It was great to see a room of people react to the film, with many claiming it should be shown in every school in Newfoundland and abroad. I won’t delve into what could be a many thousands of words post about its timely nature in this moment, but suffice to say…I think it’s a timely and important subject that Justin handled with great care.

But what do YOU think? Because you can view it now HERE.

P.S. - special shout out to Substack buddy

Willow Kean

, who appears in the film as herself, Justin’s partner and mother to their son Jude. She’s also an excellent stage and screen actor and writer, and her Substack is for you if you’re interested in those things and also amazing recipes.