Like A Dog Chasing Cars

“Do I really look like a guy with a plan?.. I just do things.”

-Joker, The Dark Knight

Does it get any cooler than this? Hans Zimmer and his badass orchestra performing The Dark Knight medley. Brace yourself around the 5:00 min mark, as your mind is about to go supersonic…

Long time readers may know I’ve been working on my own Dark Night epic passion montage for over a year now (and it could well be another year from completion). I will slow cook this project my whole life if I have to. I know I’ve hooked a very big fish, and I’m in a small kayak.

Last night I made a breakthrough that restored my confidence that I can reel this monster in, and I wanted to share this good news with you – I FINALLY have soundtrack lock. This means I have strung together the ~20 pieces of music for this ambitious, 3-Act structured montage. AND in the correct order! That was the most important part, and the part I’ve really been struggling with. You see, every twist and turn in the story must be compatible with the emotional highs and lows of the music. Not only that, but the music tracks themselves have to flow into one another emotionally and sonically. Key and time signatures have to join up always, or the spell will be broken! There is simply no margin for error on this front. It’s a jigsaw puzzle with no guiding image.

What soundtrack lock allows me to do is vastly reduce the number of possibilities for story. The music now leads the way. I simply have to listen to the music and imagine what could or should be happening visually at this moment in the music. Now the story writes itself, basically. It’s beautiful.

In The Myth of Sisyphus (1942) Camus spoke of possible roles a person can choose to take in life. One he labeled “The Conqueror.” Of which he said, “every (person) has felt himself to be the equal of a god at certain moments… But this comes from the fact that in a flash he felt the amazing grandeur of the human mind. The conquerors are merely those among men who are conscious enough of their strength to be sure of living constantly on those heights and fully aware of that grandeur” (p. 88).

Now, I am not sure of of living on those heights constantly. If I were, I imagine I’d be up on this stage with these phenomenal musicians. (How do performers do it night after night? With such passion and energy every time.) But I can say I sometimes reach great heights. And it is in these heights where my creative progress is made. I’m calling A Dark Night a ‘masterpiece or bust’ project. I sometimes feel like I’m painting the Sistine Chapel on a bungie cord. Jumping high from the ground to make each brush stroke. It’s a long and painstaking process, and dizzying. But it’s also a ton of fun.

I want to thank those of you who have advised me and supported me on this very trying journey. Your wisdom has guided me, not only creatively, but personally. I have shelved this project numerous times bc I have been able to recognize, with your feedback, it’s danger. At times it threatens to consume me, and ruin my personal life. And that is when I stop. That is when I need to remember to keep living, learning, becoming a better person.

If A Dark Night is to ever see the light of day, it must be at least as cool as this live performance. It must deliver all the feels. That is my promise to myself, and to you, my audience.

Are you a musician? What’s your favorite Hans Zimmer film score? Hope you enjoy the Hans Zimmer orchestral performance here. We are living amongst greatness.

E.F.