A:  So Frank, it seems like one day you’re holding a boom pole and joking around a lot watching Pete & Pete on set, and the next you’re the neighborhood score guy. What’s your background? How did this happen?

F: I was willing to hold the boom pole and filmmakers were willing to have me hold it for them. Production sound is always a fun, challenging experience. I was never paranoid about my shadow until I started holding a boom pole and mic. Recording production sound helped me meet great collaborators and work on more and more projects. This led to sound design and somehow my music background snuck into the picture. I’m OK with that pun.

A: We’ll live with it, yes. Do me a favor and take me through some of the films we’ve been associated with musically; Chuck, Licious, Statique, and now New Territory. How were the processes different for each, and can you describe the results for them from your point of view?

F:  The writing process for Chuck began before I had seen a cut. I had a playlist of influential songs to work from while the picture was still being edited. This gave me an idea as to the aesthetic to go for and I sketched out some ideas and sent them along. We sent ideas back and forth and the music grew from there. I think in writing that way the music for Chuck ended up resembling a collection of songs instead of simply score material and feels, to me, really colorful and dynamic. There’s a range of styles and instrumentation, yet it all works together as a whole and fits in with Chuck’s world. And I’ll always remember the last minute writing and recording session we did at Clint’s house the night before the final mix.

I got to abandon naturalism to an extent with Licious. I spent a lot of time experimenting and sound sculpting in addition to traditional writing methods. The music is a combination of natural and synthetic instruments, digital signal processing and musique concrète elements. It’s dark and mysterious but there’s lightness and beauty there too. Some pieces were created by combining as many ideas, colors and textures as I could fit into a piece and then sculpting and designing until it felt right. Working in that way tended to be an intuitive process. Then there are the other pieces that were me and the piano writing meticulously note by note. I feel like I’m always balancing extremes.

Statique takes place in a French location in an ambiguous time period. I chose instrumentation that would reflect and reinforce the setting; accordion, vibraphone, glockenspiel and a string quartet. The main character, Henri, is an introverted and quiet man; in a way slightly agoraphobic. I felt that limiting the instrumentation to a small ensemble would parallel that sense of isolation. We didn’t use any temp music to determine the placement or style of the cues. So I had a slight amount of freedom in writing the music for Statique, which resulted in lots of experimentation. Of all the films I’ve done so far it took the longest to complete, even though it’s one of the shortest collection of film music I’ve written. I got a bit obsessed with Statique.

New Territory’s music needed to feel open, airy and natural. Notes were allowed to float and hesitate with the moments between the notes becoming equally as important. The instrumentation is minimal and fairly natural sounding; mainly piano and strings with some organ and glockenspiel. The music needed to exude the right balance of wonder and foreboding without drawing too much attention to itself. I always keep in mind that I’m one piece of the puzzle.

Writing for these films let me research and explore various genres and sounds and create pieces I never would’ve written otherwise. Drawing inspiration from the story, characters and visuals makes me think of and write music in a different way than when writing music for music’s sake.

A: Just one more thing; tell us a little about projects you’re pursuing right now. Any new music? New ideas? New collaborations?

F: When I’m not working on film projects, I’m usually concentrating (obsessing) on my music project Wake Windows. I’m currently in the early stages of pre-production for the second album. The first album can be listened to, downloaded and shared here. I’m self-publishing this project, so I’ve been focusing on the business aspects for a while. With that almost complete, I’m excited to return to the creative side and make a new album.

A: Thanks Frank!

Check out Frank’s SOUNDCLOUD page : http://soundcloud.com/frankanapoli

We are pleased to announce that CHUCK has won the Best Screenwriting Award in the Short Film category at this year’s Saint Andrews Film Festival. For more info, and the full list of award winners, click here.