To most, breaking
into just one creative field would be more than satisfactory. Not in the case
of John Carney, a renowned movie director who continues to bring his love of
music into his films. He won an Academy Award for his debut film, Once, which
has since gone on to become a Tony Award winning musical. It’s safe to say he’s
pretty good at what he does. His three most well known musicals, Once, Begin
Again, and most recently Sing Street, all incorporate music in some unique way.
Each film uses its own genre to portray music differently for each story being
told.
Born
in Ireland in the 1970’s, John Carney attributes most of his inspiration and
love of music to his childhood years growing up in Dublin’s transformative 1980’s.
His band as young adult became a major influence on his later work in film. It
was his inability to set aside one love for the other that inspired him to
combine them, however not in the usual way we have all seen and heard a
thousand times over. Instead of creating yet another movie musical, with
choreographed numbers and set pieces, he interwove the two, making music in way
another lead character.
“The
breakthrough I had in Once, I remember writing that down and thinking, what
does a modern musical look like? And it doesn’t look like a musical, in fact
you shouldn’t even know it’s a musical. That was a big breakthrough for me
because it was almost like making a musical was to make an anti-musical, but
it’s still musical with eight or nine songs which are sung – but kids are no longer
going to accept people breaking into song unless it’s a comedy or
tongue-in-cheek.”
With this “anti-musical,” John
Carney has created a style entirely his own, one where music and filmmaking has
become one and the same.
After
getting his start in music, John Carney was then faced with decision of
choosing one or the other. When he choose to continue both, it was made clear
that the two would never be long separated in his mind. The concept of making
something wholly new is clearly very special and inspiring to him. As such, his
movies all depict the process of writing music and creating a new sound. All of
his characters share his desire to create their own sound. Bob actually used this clip first
day of class as an example of creative process. Carney includes scenes with this theme in all his works. One in
particular hits extremely close to his own creative process when writing music,
depicting a young character playing the skeleton of a song, rough lyrics and
all, with his friend helping him work through and then adding in the actual
chords (unfortunately the scene isn't on YouTube yet).
With this we are
offered nearly a direct glimpse into Carney’s own mind and creative process. He
directs with a very laid back style, allowing the actors to use their own
experience and whims, even to the point where they are not even really acting. His
song writing process works much in the same way. He and occasionally someone
else, as mentioned above, bounce around ideas included lyrics and chords until
something sounds right. His natural and carefree approach to writing reminded
me of an article in the extra readings, “Improvisation in Time: The Art of
Jazz”. The artist interviewed calls his process “organic” and talks about it
being inspired by what interests him at the time. John Carney’s writing process
is the same, it is inspired by his favorite artists, and his creations are free
to grow and become something completely different.
While
I definitely did not go looking for this comparison, as I read and watched
interviews with John Carney, it became harder and harder for me to ignore the
parallels that kept popping up between him and my Gardner creative, Pablo
Picasso. For starters, their creative processes are very similar. Picasso
reworked a single idea over and over in his notebooks, while Carney can come to
set or a writing session, and leaving with it completely transformed simply
because inspiration struck. Picasso could not have created Cubism without the
aid of his close friend Braque, where they each drew inspiration from the other
to create something new, similar to Carney and Clark’s writing process.
In
combining the industries of filmmaking and music, John Carney found a way to
continue to create within his passions. His films are some of my favorites, and
even to someone with as close to negative musical talent as you can get, his
love for music and the process of creating it make me fall nearly as in love
each time.
Interesting creative! The idea of having the actors incorporate their own experiences almost to the extent where they are not really even acting anymore was an interesting idea to me.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of encouraging the actors in his movies to improvise stood out to me too. It sounds as if his films themselves harness the same idea of creative collaboration as exists between Carney and Clark when it comes to songwriting. Not only is he bringing his creativity as a director, but he also encourages the actors to bring their creativity, so each is enforcing and potentially bringing out new ideas or efforts in the other. He sounds like a great case study if someone was interested in studying the relationship between creativity and collaboration, and whether one can fuel the other.
ReplyDeleteI love the work of John Carney. I first watched "Once" in a high school Irish Literature class and later watched "Sing Street" with my brother. Both films were very emotional experiences and clearly show an expert knowledge of music, film, and emotion. I don't rightly know if Carney invented the "modern" musical, but in my mind both of the aforementioned films are masterpieces of the genre. Musicals often alienate the viewer because of their obvious breaks with reality, these films flip that dynamic and draw the viewer in with the music instead of pushing them away. For the first time in my life, "Once" had me on the edge of my seat during a musical number in a film, it was just that good.
ReplyDeleteI thought the comparison between Picasso and Carney was a very interesting route to go. I wouldn't have thought the two shared that much in common, but there is a good amount of material there.
ReplyDeleteI think this post shows a wonderful convergence of the private and collaborative natures of creativity. While it is important to develop ideas within your own right, the process of taking inspiration and bouncing ideas off another creative is equally profound. I also liked that you compared Picasso and Carney, which contextualizes a greater common process between creatives.
ReplyDelete