Does the power of your editing bring audiences to tears? Do dramatic timing and creative transitions excite you? Does the thought of missing great clips, inadequate breathing room and cheesy music make your stomach churn?
Sound & Music
At Clothesline Media, we work with your team to find the sound and music that represents your brand, tells your story and connects with your audience.
It’s not a science - it’s an art. It demands the very best talent.
Here’s how director Nance Ackerman and sound and music guru Jamie Alcorn describe their creative process:
Jamie Alcorn and Nance Ackerman ham it up.
Music is pure emotion. It is a melodic and visceral bridge to our first loves, our broken hearts, last summers and first steps. Think of any seminal moment in your life and you will remember the soundtrack. It is in our soul, our core. Rhythm and melody is part of being human: the beating of our hearts, the wind in wires, our footsteps on stairs, a bicycle going through a puddle.
Our job as filmmakers and composers is to massage the music out of everyday life and apply it to the visual story.
““You can make a film of someone rearranging their sock drawer, and with the right soundtrack and sound design, make people cry.””
When I create a story or direct a film, I will invariably have the music in mind. I can hear the instrument, the tempo and will create scenes and camera angles to accommodate that band playing in my head. This is equal parts freeing and frustrating but it’s how I work.
Sound ‘events’ in the film’s audio become soundscapes and can feed into the music itself. That shopping cart wheel will morph into an industrial low drone with a rhythm and melody of its own; that squeaky clothesline will flow into an emotional fiddle lick that takes your breath away.
When it comes time to create the soundtrack, Jamie and I have our own way of collaborating. It’s a combination of trial and error, musical brainstorming and improvisation. We allow the organic nature of music and audio guide our soundtracks, inspired by the story itself.
...Nance and Jamie
Watch our Clothesline story here and see if you can pick out the squeaky clothesline that flows into a fiddle lick.