"S-RWF" One Hour Photo - Johnny Klimek & Reinhold Heil

Extra Info

Before One Hour Photo:
Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek have done some scores in the past, most of the times with Tom Tywker. Heil en Tywker both have origins that go back to Germany and in the case of Klimek you must point towards Australia. After done scores for films like Winterschlafer, Lola Rennt and Der Krieger und die Kaiserin, Heil and Klimek moved on without Tywker on board while scoring this film called Tangled. Also note that they still were all connected to their band Pale 3, but that’s to take a sideline. Tangled became their first American filmscore, but it was already with Lola Rennt that they did there work from their home studio in Santa Barbara. Then followed One Hour Photo.

The first approach and final approach of the score:
When they began working on this project director Romanek wanted them to score something which was basically ambient music. Now ambient music can lend itself perfectly to a lot of things, but the problem lies in what kind of pace you have to work with. In the case of One Hour Photo there is this atmosphere being build up and which isn’t directly right in your face with a lot of action on the screen; it starts off relatively slow. This kind of approach is known for its style that is bound to be prominent. Now you don’t want to catch too much attention in the beginning, so that idea went straight out of the window. This was decided through a screening of the film with the ambient score, where not a general audience got the chance to give their opinions, but just the crew of the film. The difference between just a general audience and filmcrew members is that the audience will color their opion by an overall opinion of the score, while the crew could specifically be of help in those cases where it wasn’t actually working. Romanek admitted he had taken Heil and Klimek into the wrong direction and adjusted his directions towards them to something that would became very appropriate for the film.

Now how did Heil and Klimek work on this project? The thing is when you have two composers working on one project, they must understand each other very well. You can’t do something like let them both individually figure some things out and work separate, or cut the score in half; you do this part and I do that part. When workshopping One Hour Photo, they needed to share ideas. So both wrote certain pieces of music and discussed whether these were any good. The mood should be overall the same, so when Klimek would write something that fitted some sequence just fine, but was working against the general approach it wouldn’t work. Lots of material was discussed and edited and kind of thrown back and forth. And not to forget director Romanek who had the final choice. That’s something you always have to be ready for, it could be so great to a composer's own taste, but if the director doesn’t like it, you can surely forget about it. And when he does like something, but finds it nearly perfect, the composers need to collaborate and figure out how both opinions can get to a compromis where they satisfy themselves and the director. It even happens on occasion that one of them wrote some kind of motive or atmospheric piece with a rhythm, that was thought to not serve the film, but when the other composer was going through this stuff found a way to use that anyway in the end. Romanek was very precise about what he wanted, how he wanted it and took many other aspects of the film in his mind; from art direction till pieces of dialogue.

So the approach they ended up using was something more minimalistic opposed to the ambient approach at first. They are known for their electronic, synthesizer approach, with additional orchestral parts. Yes, there was made use of an orchestra. Unknown is what sort of piece orchestra was recorded in this so called Studio X. Among the instrumentations are harps and strings, while lots of industrial sounds make the sound at it’s fullest, though it stays minimalistic by the way. Chimes also represent a part of the red wire throughout the score. The composers used a lot electronic tools, which were provided with many sample sounds and a large amount of sound design. Each composer who uses electronics has his own sound library, where sounds are stashed away, waiting to be used on the right moment if necessarily. By the looks of it the electronics are very prominent, almost like these orchestral parts weren’t even there. Due to the fusions with electronics they sound like thrown to the background. Very important is the fact that there were three mixers involved: Heil and Klimek did their own mixing of electronics, while the orchestra was mixed by Armin Steiner. Steiner has a great name in the business, and is considered to be the best in the business, which is absolutely a fact. The only instrument that stays on top a lot is the harp or piano that represent the main theme of the score. The great thing is that whatever the cost, nothing was going to be bombastic or schmaltzy or even melodramatic. It all makes sense in the end, as every little motive or sound has its place. Not to forget the fact that several sounds were used for different situations into the story, like the synthesizer choir parts used for a couple of emotions.

Withdrawn score by Trent Reznor:
Mark Romanek did some music videos of Nine Inch Nails in the past, a band where Reznor is part of. Closer and The Perfect Drug are two examples. When One Hour Photo was being shot on location, instrumental versions of tracks of Nine Inch Nails’s album The Fragile where played to get into a certain mood. Often a director requests some moody music help while filming. But since the director knew Reznor for quite some time now, it seemed he was going to write the score for the film. Rumors of this showed up somewhere in 2001, but never really got confirmed. Reznor himself claimed he got to do a couple of scenes and wrote some pieces for them, that weren’t welcomed with open arms sort to speak. So he was dismissed.

OHP Temp Score
When the shooting of a film is a wrap, the director and editor dive into the editing room, trying to figure out a pace and which scenes should be cut etc.
Romanek’s first cut of the film, was slightly different than the final one, for instance an additional voice over was cut and the film was totally chronological in story. Sometimes a director contracts a composer for the project in a very early stage, sometimes after just having read the script. But when they're not immediately looking for one or can’t find one, they make up a temp score version of the film. Some don’t like to do that, others find it very useful. These are temporarily pieces of music used to fill the film with. A director may like the atmosphere or feel that a certain bit of a certain filmscore expresses or finds it very fitting in his own film. There are advantages and disadvantages to this use of temp scoring. Advantages are that you can make clear what kind of music you would like to have somewhere, so when you’re hiring a composer, he has something to work with. But when a director falls in love with a temp track, it can be very hard for a composer to compete with that. Both disadvantages and advantages are equally important. Also note that usually a film is put through the spotting session, where the director, composer, editor, music editor, sit down and decide where music should start and end. Now when you’ve got no composer yet and use a temp score, there are just a few other people who help you with that, who most of the times don’t have the craft of a composer. Romanek was helped by Scott Stambler and Adam Smalley, who did the editing of the temp score.

OHP score used as temp music
On One Hour Photo the temp score fitted in a sublime way with the images. While they borrowed lots of really good existing cues, the editor of the Dutch film Off Screen stepped forward and used Klimek and Heil’s work throughout that whole film. What makes this a very interesting choice is the fact that the two films share much more alike than meets the eye. Both have a same lonely character who’s so obsessed with someone and both decide to take a similar sort of action. The atmospheric theme from OHP serves as the emotional core, while lots of sequences have the same floating dream world feeling. Shocking while being very scarily to say at least, to see how well this between the score and other things can be exchanged. In this Off Screen documentary link (Bert Pot docu) part of a sequence can be seen with the score used as temp, beginning at 1:36.

Review

|written by Joep de Bruijn

Main Titles

The score opens with a pulsating and dark mood and indicates that’s something is really wrong. While the images focus upon a camera and move to Sy being photographed for his arrest. Notice his creepy look and the strings variating on dark tones with rhythm textures consisting of bass and chimes; which has a haunting quality to it. This sad mood crawls little by little down your skin, but here it does make it look like a mystery, what has this character done?
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Birthday Party

After the opening mood set with a darkness in sound, this lovely cue introduces the main theme; a harp/string motif. The sequences where it was written for is the one where the Yorking family celebrates another Birthday of Jake, while Sy is informing you in his first voice over about the reason for making photos of the happy moments in your life. This theme used here is a lovely, happy one, conveying to the cheerful images and has a dreaming quality to it, which makes it so memorable. Also note that the composers put some tingling chimes in between it. The theme tries to be as memorable as a photo from a happy moment in your life and succeeds in being just that.
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Agfa Montage

Nina drops off her films at Sy’s photoshop, who starts developing them right away. As Nina and Jake walk around in Savemart, he’s moving into his photo room, while he explains his line of work. To quote a piece of his voice over that’s very appropriate: ‘’The way I look at it, the mini-lab machine is like a musical instrument. And like any musical instrument it can be played exquisitely...or poorly depending on the skill of the performer.’’ That’s funny that he mentions this because the subtle rhythm that the composers wrote for this piece, where you see how the machine works, is musically flowing with the actions of the machine. The track title refers to this system Afga, which helps in the process of montage and printing of photos.
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Diner

This low key track starts when Sy leaves his workplace, finds out that somebody has ragged his front window of his car and drives towards this restaurant where’s having diner. The damage on this window is showing us how in time he’s getting more aggravated and it’s no coincidence that this is symbolized by rather dark tones. But in the restaurant the music tends to get as low-key as possible.
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Good Thoughts

While Sy is still having Diner, the previous track flows into Good Thoughts. This is a great piece of music that deals with Sy driving home and this conversation between Nina and Jake. The kid feels sorry for Sy and thinks he hasn’t got any friends, so Nina comforts him by ‘’sending some good thoughts to Sy’’. This when Sy is just about home, and while these two sort of pray, the synth choir brings up a spiritual moment. While this track isn’t really different from some others, this ‘’hit moment’’ (where a certain action on screen and musical remark of that come together) is very good. Ironic are Nina’s comforting remarks about Sy, from what you see quite the opposite in the following sequences. The two upcoming cues let you in on the lonely state of Sy’s apartment.
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Hamster

The track title refers to the hamster that’s living in a cage at Sy’s apartment. Simply a brief underscoring cue, with nothing but atmospheric sounds.
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Wall of Photos

ou now begin to get to know Sy a little bit as outside his working place at home, sad and tragic walking around, sitting in his chair watching things which suppose to make you laugh (like the episode of The Simpsons). The composers build up with some deep, heavy bass, strings and choir also gets involved. The piano theme from ‘’Diner’’ is expanded to a much darker, emphasizing rendition. Goosebumps occur as the camera turns towards the photo wall and synths choir becomes prominent, while almost forcing you to open your mouth when seeing this incredible visual. This part really makes you shiver like nothing else. When some fast flashes of photos of the Yorkin family follow each other up, heart beating percussive tools lead you through this. This a most probably the best moment until now where in Klimek and Heil found a way to symbolize and to point out the isolated state of Sy’s life.
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Five Costumers

This track introduces you to something funny, but that’s really what happens right after the totally serious beginning. For the film there’s a short pause in between the serious and funny part. The serious part can be heard as Sy stands in front of the mirror, while he tries to laugh and you can see the sign saying ‘’Check your smile’’, supported by haunting strings. But here you already see that something about this guy is disturbing. But when on his work floor he turns into a friendly worker. Than he talks in his voice-over about various customers with their behavior and what kind of photos they bring in. This part is quite funny and also very welcome in between the sad and dark style of the score. A very catchy piano theme plays this short, hilarous part with a lightness to it, that can’t be detected anywhere else in the compositions. So while he briefly introduces you to some of his customers, there’s a short pauze in both his voice over and the music, when he gets to the amateur porn artist. But since he’s ok with it and goes happily on telling about others, so does the music just continuing with the happy pace.
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Christmas with the Yorkins

A small sparkling Christmas moment as Sy leaves his current depressed mind behind briefly for a nice imaginated dream. He dreams that he’s spending Christmas with the Yorkin family. So now it’s not just Sy the photo guy, but also Sy the Christmas guy and sees himself as their uncle. The way this short track is build up is kind of intruiging. First of all Tim Heintz helped Klimek and Heil by making up a varation of ‘’Silent Night’’, which was written somewhere in 1800 by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber. Then besides this included melody, the tingling chimes/bells build up a brief minimalistic thing, making it sound like a dream even more obvious.
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Flea Market

Sy walks around on this flea market, where he’s widening his horizon of his obession for photos. He seems to like the atmosphere there when you search for a really nice photo. The beautiful piano touch used for this sequence gave the images and voice over about snapshots an even more appealing feel. For this particulair scene Romanek was looking for this appealing feel and showed that in the temp scored filmcut, by using a piece of Thomas Newman’s American Beauty. This is just to point out what sort of music there should be. The thing they came up with in Flea Market, doesn’t veer too much from that Newman sound.
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Breaking and Entering

This track starts when Sy is taking photos of the Yorkin house with his camera. Still a part of his voice over about snapshot runs, while he’s about to go a little further into his obsession; breaking into the house and look around. Chimes make up the rhythm and slowly moving into a dissonance. Dark, low bass elements and chimes allude to the way Sy’s looking a little nervous while being in the house, once in a while interupted by moments of silence. He decides to check everything out and initially grabs a beer and watches a football match. The dissonant part occurs when the Yorkins are coming home and find out that Sy is sitting there. This short moment of suspense is created, but nothing seems wrong with the fact that he’s sitting there. Then you find out that it was just a dream of Sy, still sitting in his car with his camera. Notice the first musical hints in the track that feel like something dreaming.
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Sy and Jake

Often the same harp/strong based theme is used, but in this track it quite differences, in the way that the harp motif is changed and strings hold on with their own long tones. Add you are undoubtly aware Sy is obsessed by the whole family, so of course Jake is one of them. Perhaps he wants to abuse the kid, to think very negative for a second. But sympathy goes out to Sy, who comes to see his football training match, while his parents never have time. He also brings along a toy the kid couldn’t have, so he just wants to be liked by people. In a way it’s both tragic and sweet. Heil found this scene very tricky to score, but since nowhere else in upcoming sequences Sy intends to harm Jake, it was scored with the lovely, feather light harp theme.
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The Things We Fear Most

Another cue where the main theme is performed in the slow and lovely matter, played by the piano. It can be heard while Sy is following Nina into the mall and sits down with her, talking a bit. He reads the same book as her, on purpose of course. The track title refers to Sy quoting a piece from the novel: ‘’The things we fear most have already happened to us.’’
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Silver Recovery

What seperates and distances this track from other dark tracks like Hamster, which is on many grounds very similair, are these inventive ideas put into it. Sy is just filling a can of silver into the machine, so that it can function in a normal way. For him just a weekly, routine job that he likes to call ‘’an SRS’’. During this routine he wears a breathing mask, so the composers incorporated sounds in this cue that recall this breathing. Then on the sideline dark, heavy bass and strings are used.
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I'm Letting You Go

Sy’s boss has been keeping an eye out on Sy now that some bad things have occurred. He calls Sy into his office and explains why he fires him; why he’s letting him go. At the exact moment Bill is telling him the bad news, the music starts. Haunting, yet dark and tragic, sad tones point towards the fact that Sy is now really going down the drain. He can’t believe it, he gets very angry. The atmosphere of the beginning of the cue makes way for several hit moments, like the one when Sy says ‘’I haven’t fucked up a costumer's print in 11 years!’’, as this kind of a ‘’weh’’ synthesizer effect interrupts the tone of the cue. Now that his world is brought down, he can’t think clear any more and sits on a bed for a while, trying to process him being fired, while the harp main theme plays. Back on his working ground he stares to this blank piece of paper, like he’s in this sort of a trance (notice the strings arrangements during this part). He can’t think clear anymore, he can’t really smile as Nina and Jake bring in their roll of photos from the camera he gave to Jake for free. Really scary and painfull are the fuller string arrangements and bells as he smashes the roll out of camera, something he probably has never done before. Melancholy, but yet happy smaller textures as Sy looks at the photos Jake has shot with his camera, with the main theme without any involvement of strings. Just like the music can fit two different moods, Sy also experiences something like this. People never take photos of regular, simple objects, but Jake did and that makes him happy, while he almost cries.
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Discovery / Following Nina

You get another look of Sy’s incredible photo wall as he has apparently an insight. He looks at a school picture with Will and Nina, after recalling this somehow familiar women that dropped off a film recently. And this woman, Maya Burson, was in the same class at school. This discovery is already tinted by dark music, but when he goes to his photo lab after closing time to see the film she brought in, he’s even more surprised. The main theme plays and a moment of awe by the choir as he discovers Maya kissing with Will Yorkin on several photos. This perfect family that he is so obsessed with has a flaw. In a dramatic point of view he gets more depressed in time, what gave the opportunity to the composers to workshop some more frentic, electronic textures, even though it still stays minimalistic. The film than jumps further in time as Sy leaves earlier from work. With an ice cold look on his face he walks through the hallways of the store to the exit. This is where you most likely notice the first real rhythm presented by a more pounding beat. He has another moment of insight as he decides to steal a knife out of the store by using one of his keys, with a certain holy moment as choir represent this sin. The deep bass and rythms continue as Sy follows Nina on the road with his car. Stringed instruments keep up with the rhythm, until suddenly pulls the car over. It seems Sy has slipped the photos of Will cheating with Maya in her photo pack. Suspenseful small piano motifs make up for the tense and suspenseful atmosphere as Sy is trying to make photos of the family from within the car. This part is really disturbing because he wants good shots of the family, but can’t any. Cellos and strings accompany this part with a very haunting quality. When moving towards the end of the cue, low-key underscore with a special place for the synth choir allude to the what’s coming up further in the score.

The sequences that this cue covered, where in terms of the temp track version, seperated through different cues. The one that's heard for about a minute is the dark, haunting cue ''The Lagoon'' from Hans Zimmer's The Thin Red Line. A little more than a minute is used, starting when Nina stops and sees the photos till the angry Sy drives away from the Yorkins house.
The piece is rather calm and develops around strings melodies, that both recall something elegant and beautiful, but also contain this really hard-edged emotion.
It's kind of hypnotic, just like the piece that was ultimately used.
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Sy's Nightmare

Around this time the pace of cue is at a higher gear, considerably established in the previous cue. Sy also moves to a higher gear, as he does nothing else than bothering and stalking and making his obsession more fleshed out. Sy’s Nightmare has a menacing atmosphere, one that crawls right under your skin. The cue comes in when you have as a location this white section of the supermarket, completely empty and only filled by Sy standing there. This feels lonely, and depicts the state where he’s in, while dreaming it. Synthesizer elements fill this emptyness and in addition synth choir sounds, who build up towards a shock effect, where his eyes are being smuttered with blood. Note that the filmmakers had a particular look for each atmosphere: the supermarket was considered as heaven, like his own home was hell and the Yorkins in the middle of it like limbo. The minimal use of this choir element make it sound like a church in a way, but more important create an intense, hypnotic sense, a sense of dreaming, which leads to a ‘’klimeks’’ (climax). When that happens you get called back from this hypnotic state to the real world; Sy wakes up from his nightmare. Used for as temp tracks was ‘’The Coral Atoll’’ from Hans Zimmer’s The Thin Red Line score. The very beginning, when slowly fading in, music climes out of its hiding spot into a haunting movement. That fitted extremely well, catching the right emotion for the sequence. But on with the rest of Sy’s Nightmare. Sy decides to scratch out all of Will’s faces on the photos on his wall. This is were the rhythm comes in and continues in this pace, while Sy makes himself ready for some more bad activities. He takes off to the place where his ex-boss Bill lives and takes photos of his daughter.This is also were he delivers his voice over on who invented the word snapshot. A spectaculair visual showcase is shown as he takes the photos and camera zooms in on his camera, while the musical elements flow with the camera into Sy’s one. This scene than quickly cuts to Sy walking into the supermarket, where again the rhythm comes in. He has a quick chat with Bill, leaves a film he just shot, with Yoshi at the photo section and leaves. When Bill gets to see the upsetting threat of maniac Sy through these photos, depressing and horror strings sounds make up for it big time.
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Sy On The Move / The Assault

Now that the police are aware of the danger and capabilities of Sy, they barge into his appartement, finding themselves in a desperate place. When the photo wall is detected, again mouths open up to this sight. You might consider the string/ synth choir use in the part as a reprise, tingling your sense for one last time. Klimek and Heil did have these creative ideas and explored the borders of what they could pull out of a synthesizer. In this cue the notable filtered air sounds extra depth to the whole sound palette. The deep bass continues, seemingless moving to the sequences with a moving Sy, who’s now in the hotel where Will and Maya are keeping up with their affair. Tingling textures, deep bass, a beat, chimes and strings develop in several variations as Sy moves towards the two people. Meanwhile the music also alludes to Van der Zee, a detective, who’s at Nina’s place. The choir and emotionless look of Sy’s face creep you out as he takes the elevator upstairs. This might very well be the largest choir moment in volume of the entire score. Arriving at the right floor, moving to the cheater, a steady beat is maintained. When he has barged into their room, the haunting string melody creates the sense of dispair and suspense. Sy wants to take photos of them, he wants to punish Will for this inresponsible act against his great family, while threating them with a knife. It isn’t really clear he would use violence, but no doubt that he is capable of such a thing. He treathens, he demands, he shouts. Simple and effective is the screaming sounds of him demanding them to do something ‘’Now!’’. This is almost like a shock effect and really tense, by greater effect to a thunderous bass. A mixture of the general choir elements with all kind of other unknown sounds add more to the overal color. When Sy finally takes photos the steady beat appears again at the outset. He wants them to pretend having a great time having sex and must smile. They’re totally scared and do what he says. The more photos he makes, the more upset he gets and the more the percussive musical background speeds up. When he’s got what he wanted, short/fast string tones put an end to the climatic tense situation.
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Sy At Rest

The industrial sounds and bells leave Sy at rest for a while, after his act of obession has come to a conclusion. He just lies on his own booked hotel room, thinking it over. Then he notices flashes, tingling bells are heard, from outside the window and sees the police have arrived.
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The Pursuit

Forget about the whole minimalistic approach the composers created for this score, because this cue represents loudness and nothing under surface, just full blown and high paced chase music. Sy tries to run from the police who’s coming after him. The bass lines follow him around the building, while chimes, a sort of a nervous chainsaw like synthersized motif, choir and strings highten the suspense. As the police closes in on him the strings are fully involved, here creating the emotional, desperate running from Sy. When he triggers an alarm, the music moves into a faster pace, while he tries to escape by running down the spiral parking garage. The closer he gets to the exit, the more all used instrumentation become involved. Still there is this pace but now more defined by bass than beats and the choir is in it for a final installment, as Sy has nowhere to go and is being arrested by the police. While white flashes of flashlights and carlites shine in his face, this is much like the moment in Sy’s Nightmare, where the choir adds the special emotion, almost divine feeling to the sequence. As a temp track 'Lux Aeterna' from Requiem For A Dream was used, instead of this cue. I found this Lux more fitting to the sequence, because the dramatic cello, string based motif with electronics express more emotion, depressing and exciting feelings than the thing that Klimek and Heil wrote.
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Will Returns Home

Obviously a track used to emotionalise the reunion of father Will and his son Jake, after the horrible situation. Will now has to face Nina, but seeks comfort with his son. This is a calm track, that symbolizes all the tense bits that occurred before, with comforting quality to the way the main theme is performed by more restrained use of piano and strings.
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End Titles (Sy's Theme)

After a small conversation between the now in custody held Sy and detective van der Zee, he gets to see his photos. Surely not the ones taken from Maya and Will, but the innocent ones, taken from various parts of the hotel bathroom. The sadness that’s upon this character is maintained by more melancholic main theme use than ever before in the score. Especially when you see the last thought of Sy of a photo that depicts him and the Yorkin family smiling together, you feel so sorry for him. Both the piano and harp variation of the main theme are incorporated, but also the use of chimes and flowing effects as the end credits stop rolling. It develops a little further and leaves you behind with a great amount of confusion.

And what was used as a temp track? Well the cue ''Puppet Love'' from Carter Burwell's Being John Malkovich. The scary thing is that it matches to images so good and is very similair to the minimalistic style of the One Hour Photo score in general. It features a mysterious feel an yet a hartwhelming feel thanks to the piano. Coincidence or not, both Puppet Love and End Titles (Sy's theme) are the most interesting showcases and most developed showcases of a main theme.