THE INFLUENCE OF FILM (Dan Croll Takeover)

Films and Musicals have always been a big thing in my upbringing, as a kid (usually around christmas) I was subdued in to watching every musical under the sun with my mum, and given the older brother duty of taking my little brother and his friends to the cinema every weekend. At the time I may have thrown a strop but looking back now I greatly appreciate it all.

About 3 years back whilst moving out of University I came across a VHS of ‘Calamity Jane’, Instantly I could remember it being one of my mums favourite musicals and one that we regularly watched in the house. With my VHS player being in the skip I ran down to a dvd store to find it for the bargain price of 50p (re-coloured as well!)

That night I watched it, and was blown away by the music, in particular the track ‘Black Hills of Dakota’…

This track went on to inspire a couple of my tracks due to its super simple melody and cinematic harmonies.

Other family favourite musicals: Meet me in St. Louis, Singin’ in the rain, The Sound of Music, Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory.

As for film, theres the obvious old disney films with the fantastic soundtracks, but my first real connection with a soundtrack came after watching ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’.

By a mile, the best piece of music in this film has to be ‘South American Getaway’. A track so strong that I feel it tells the story without even having to be matched to the video. The instrumentation, arrangement, and generally everything about it never fail to inspire me to write.

Wes Anderson, I worship the man. Every film and every shot is visually stunning. His attention to detail not only shows through content and depth in every shot, but also in his soundtrack choices. Moonrise Kingdom, is amongst my favourites and I love how he used ‘benjamin britten the young person’s guide to the orchestra’ but my favourite piece of music has to be ‘Cuckoo’, an incredibly beautiful and delicate piece of music…

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This post was written by Dan Croll as part of his Takeover of Indie Music Filter. Find Dan Croll online or on twitter.