by Director Austin Hice
When it came to the music in THE LAND OF SHADOWED SAND, the producers were all in agreement we had to take a unique approach. As the film is a classic noir, there were various challenges to a successful score, not the least of which was avoiding musical anachronisms to maintain the period feel.
The cornerstone sounds of the movie came from Geanie Stout and Kip Maercklein, who are actually the parents of co-writer Wylie Maercklein. Geanie's one-of-a-kind jazz delivered an ominous edge that anchored our story in the dangerous desert of the 1950s. We couldnŐt have made the movie without her.
To build on the jazz foundation with an original score, I decided to assign each character their signature instruments, representative of their personalities. Frank had the deep, crooning harp and tuba, Laura had dramatic cellos, Louis rounded out the treble with harsh violin, and so on. When a given character was in a scene, only then could their respective instruments be brought into the compositions.
From that point, I just kept the instrumentation sparse and the timing loose to reflect the shakey ground on which each relationship stood. Enjoy.
Austin HiceDirector, THE LAND OF SHADOWED SAND