Story in need of a soundtrack (this is ONLY a drill)

[Nick2012]

I found this to be a very emotional story, especially when I read what the brother would sometimes do with the chips. I've been thinking, what if this was turned into a screenplay and the producers solicited for music? What would I write? I'm thinking it would be a lyric that captures the emotion but isn't in any way shape or form a narrative of the story. I may come up with something soon and post it in lyric lovers. Anyway, I figured I'd share this to see if anyone else wants to take a crack, just for the learning experience.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-07/us/s ... s?_s=PM:US

[Len911]

Interesting story that almost sounds like fiction, except it isn't of course. I don't know how you could write a song to go with a screenplay, unless you knew what the screenplay was first. Well maybe that only applies to musicals and not tv or film.

[Nick2012]

Take "League of Their Own" for example. The soundtrack has a great song by Madonna called "This Used to Be My Playground". The lyrics say nothing about women's baseball, but the song captures the emotion and vibe of the story beautifully. So I'm reading this story and thinking to myself what a powerful movie it could be. And then my follow-up thought was, what would I write if given the opportunity to submit a song for the soundtrack? I definitely would not write lyrics which tell the story. The movie already tells the story. The purpose of the song would be to augment the story on an emotional level.

I know to be made into a movie a lot of storyline would need to be added. But I think that the bottom-line premise can already gleaned from this. A child is aware everyone is trying to "fix" him, but he doesn't understand what's "broken". How would you express that in a song?

Nick

[Len911]

I'm not a child psychologist, but I don't "know" that a child would think everyone is trying to fix him. I would think they might feel rejection, but probably not understanding why. In a universal way, everyone deals with culture, and is pushed to conform. There are some things that aren't so problematic to go along with the fashion, but the very essence of whom one is, that is not really changeable. Imo religion and politics are like a clothing fashion, superficial, but personality and sexual preference are more deeply embedded. The powers that be in this country tell us how horrible it is that the taliban treat their women abominably, making them wear burkas, and treating them like second class citizens, yet in this country gays aren't really allowed in the military or allowed to marry. Psychotic drugs may help treat mental illness, but they do nothing to change one's personality. I watched a public television program how the CIA done mind control experiments, and finally concluded that it was impossible to create a "Manchurian Candidate".
If this was a documentary, it would probably be a simple script, and an easy, open and shut case, but if the book writer decided to go artsy fartsy and delve deeper, it might be more like playing "pin the tail on the donkey" blindfolded, and a shot in the dark whether a song would fit or not if you didn't see the script first. If it was a low budget film, I suppose they could peruse the catalogs of music libraries and find songs that were appropriate. Nick, why don't you write the story and the songs yourself? Then all you would need is a producer,lol. Seriously, you already believe in it and see the story! Expand your horizons. At least consider the possibility. I don't know whether I've been encouraging or discouraging, the goal was encouragement.

[Nick2012]

I posted lyrics in Lyric Lovers, under the title "Christopher Says".