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TRANSCRIPT
Chris Hajian Publicity Wrap Report
Prepared By:
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Chris Hajian
Revised Bio
New York-based composer Chris Hajian has the rare distinction of having two
feature films premiere nationwide this spring. The documentaries – Stick
Figure Productions’ “Unraveled” and IFC Selects’ “First Position” – are two
compelling movies that have premiered in prestigious film festivals worldwide,
and captivated critics and audiences alike with Hajians’ scores.
Hajian began scoring music for indie films in the 1990s when he composed the
score to “Ten Benny,” starring Adrian Brody, which was selected for the 1996
Sundance Film Festival. Hajian also composed the provocative score for
Alchemy Pictures’ “Mr. Vincent” that premiered at Sundance the following year.
Recently, Hajian finished the score to “The Greatest Movie Ever Made,” an
edgy-comedic indie, produced by David Letterman for his production company,
Worldwide Pants.
Hajian is also known for his dramatic scores for Lionsgate’s “The Take” and
Magnolia Films’ “Yonkers Joe.”
Other documentary, film and television credits include: HBO’s “Naked States”
and “Naked World;” Michaelson Films’ “Ex-Terminators;” Argyle Productions’
“Nursery University;” Comedy Central’s “The Upright Citizen Brigade;” ABC’s
“The Knights of Prosperity;” Bravo’s “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List;”
Disney’s “Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2;” My Date With The President’s
Daughter;” among many others.
Born and raised in New York, Hajian has a strong musical background
beginning with trumpet studies under his father Edward Hajian. His formal
training started at New York’s “Famed” High School of the Performing Arts, and
continued at the Manhattan School of Music where he graduated with a
degree in classical composition. Hajian works out of his production studio
located in the Film Center Building on Manhattan’s West Side.
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Flyer created for Chris’ New York
Screening of Unraveled.
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Custom flyer created for First Position.
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Flyer created for Chris’ Los Angeles
Screening of First Position.
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Custom created Facebook Page Cover
Art
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Custom created Facebook Page Cover
Art
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
CW3PR secured ASCAP’s social media support for
the Los Angeles, May 5th First Position post
screening Q&A (which featured Chris). ASCAP shared
the above tweet with their followers; and shared the flyer
on their Facebook wall, exposing it to their
18,000 Facebook followers.
More social media mentions of Chris’
Q&A:
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
CW3PR secured Unraveled’s
participation in the REEL Talk screening
series
Custom invite created for
REEL TALK
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Continued…
CW3PR shot and edited a video of the REEL
Talk Q&A highlighting Chris’ participation
Continued…
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Interview Transcription
Mark Gordon: And a very good evening. You’re listing to KXLU Los Angeles. My name is Mark Gordon and the program is Center Stage. Every Tuesday night starting at 7pm. We love to talk about film. We’ve got two excellent films in store for you this evening. First we’re going to talk about a new documentary, it’s called First Position, and we were listening to some of the music for the film. We heard “The Competition,” it’s the opening, and then “Preparation,” part of “Preparation”. And in studio we are joined by Chris Hajian. And also on the line in a few minutes we’ll be talking with Bess Kargman, and she is the director. Chris actually is the composer of this lovely music, and also a couple weeks ago we talked about a film called Unraveled, and he is also responsible for the music of that as well. Good evening and welcome. Chris: Happy to be here and thank you for having me. Mark: So this is like your third film isn’t it? Chris: Yes I’ve done a bit, but these two documentaries, I’m incredibly proud of. To have them both kind of premiere back-to-back is really special for a composer. Mark: When you talk about being proud, why are you proud of this one? I mean, it’s obvious why you’re proud, but what does that mean to you, to be proud of your work? Chris: You know there are some projects that are just really special because of the way they are made, and documentaries really symbolize something wonderful for a composer because it’s a very pure form of collaborating with a director. It’s very authentic; it’s not corrupted by studios, or people getting involved in the creative process. It’s a really pure, wonderful relationship you forge with the director of the film. And with that, I think, comes a lot of great opportunities for a composer.
Continued…
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Mark: Well I was looking at your background and you studied at the Fame High school for
Performing Arts which was made famous by the movie Fame and then the series.
Chris: That’s right, and I was there! I was a sophomore when they made Fame. And I can’t
say that I jumped on top of cabs and danced, but…
Mark: Now, is your instrument of choice, piano?
Chris: I’m a piano player, but my main, first instrument of choice was trumpet. And I was
actually a trumpet player for 20 years as a performance major, and then always was
interested in writing, and when I got into Manhattan School of Music I morphed into doing
more composition, and then got my degree in classical composition
Mark: Who were some people that inspired you and what did you bring from those people to
your music?
Chris: As composers, or film composers specifically?
Mark: Yeah.
Chris: You know, I always had this fascination with how music and visual and film work
together. But my roots, really my background, is largely responsible because my dad was a
professional trumpet player and he introduced me at an early age to jazz, b-bop, big bands,
Louie Armstrong, Felonious Monk, and the entire classical literature. So I really grew up
listening to jazz, Stravinsky, Bartok, Bach, Beethoven, a full range of classical music, so that
was really what I related to mostly as a kid. And I got involved in pop music kind of later. My
friends in school were listening to Led Zeppelin, I was like, ‘okay yeah I’ve heard it, but…’
Mark: “I’m busting out the Bartok, man. I want to listen to Stairway to Heaven through that
Bartok vibe, babe”
Chris: Exactly. And I would say, yeah that’s cool, I’m going to go check out The Rite of
Spring. But yeah, of course I have a love for all types of music. Anything that’s good, I love.
Continued…
Mark: So what constitutes being good to you? Because it’s really all relative isn’t it?
Chris: Yeah you’re right. Anyone can make their own judgments for that, but I just think that
things that stand the test of time and things that, after multiple listening, you keep
discovering things in the music. You know like a songwriter, if you write a song and it can be
covered by many different artists and all different genres that to me is an inherently amazing
song. And I think film writing is the same. You can listen to an old score now and it’s still cool
and modern, you can listen to Jerry Goldsmith’s score to Chinatown, and know all those
things are very relevant now. Ennio Morricone is as beautiful as it was when he wrote it in
the 60s and 70s or 80s depending on the score.
Mark: Now tell me about the work on First Position, and what kinds of themes were you
trying to create and do you think in terms of, because the film focuses on 4, 5, 6 dancers.
Did you try and come up with a theme that would represent each one of these dancers
musically?
Chris: Yes. Not necessarily themes in the general sense of like big melodies, but certainly
textures and in some case melodies. All the dancers have this love for ballet. These
children, and when I say children they range in age from like 8 to 16, and their families are
all pursuing this competition, so what holds them together is this dedication that these
families have, and the love for what they do, and the stories and where they come from,
they’re radically different. There was a girl that was adopted from Sierra Leone, Michaela,
one of the most horrific stories you can image, and there’s this boy, Joan, who is from
Columbia and he’s been living in New York City away from his parents for a year or two and
misses them terribly. So you really understand the lives and the dedication of what they go
through, so musically with that I did, of course everyone was addressed in a certain way.
Every one of the characters has their own personality and quirkiness, but that was
addressed. But not necessarily in a documentary, you know you’re not always dealing with
big, big themes, because sometimes that can really hurt the narrative. Differently with
feature films, when you can kind of write a little bit bigger sometimes, so I was trying to find
very, very nuanced, sensitive ways to enhance the characters and the story.
Mark: You know you talk about a big story that, like the previous film, Unraveled, that’s a huge story. Chris: It’s amazing. The contrast with Unraveled, within the film, is it’s a small story in the sense of it’s a man under house arrest in his apartment. That’s where the entire film takes place. With the exception of some of these kind of looking back, animated sequences that go back into the life of how he built his legal empire. But the bigness and the scope is the fact that this guy stole 780 million dollars and did it in the more brazen way, you know, posing as other people, going into the conference rooms of hedge funds, posing as themselves and selling it, so that film, to me musically as a composer, really represents intermit psychological aspects, and then the huge crime and fraud and what that represents and that’s sort of what the two most obvious parts of what the score represents, are to connect those two elements.
Continued…
Mark: What’s the collaborative process like for you working with different directors? What
did Bess…what was that project like in First Position working with her?
Chris: Well Bess has amazing musical instincts, and she knows her story. Especially in
documentaries, documentary filmmakers really know their story, I mean the good ones, and
it was great. It was the first film I worked with Bess so the biggest thing in any creative
collaboration, especially with a composer and director is that kind of trust. Think about it.
You work on this film for however many years and now you’re bringing somebody new in
that you don’t know, and you’re saying ‘Handle my film with grace’ and ‘I trust you with it.’
And it didn’t take us long; it didn’t take her long to trust me to be able to open up because
in any collaboration if you really trust somebody, really great things can happen.
Mark: Well, I mean, also too she’s coming to this project, it’s her first film. Now, like
Unraveled when you worked with Marc, he’s had extensive experience in film, even though
it was his first film, he’s been involved in films.
Chris: Marc Simon made a few previous documentaries. This is the second film I did with
Marc. We did a film before called Nursery University, about following these Manhattan
parents trying to get their kids into pre-school. It was a really good film. [Mark laughs] Yeah,
I mean you talk about slice of life craziness. So I was very proud of that.
Mark: It seems like in some ways working on this new film you’re still dealing with this
subject of young people.
Chris: Yes. And that energy. You know the big thing on First Position was a couple things. I
didn’t want to write an old-fashioned classical score because the kids are dancing to ballet
for the most part. There’s so much of that in the film because that’s what they’re dancing
to. I mean I’m not going to compete with Tschaikovsky. But yet these kids are young and
they’re cool and they’re hip and you’re seeing them in all of this. You know Aran, the blonde
kid who is amazing in the film, you’re seeing him skateboard and do all this stuff that kids
do, and he plays with a bb gun or whatever it is, and I wanted everyone to understand that
these are really contemporary kids, and they have this love for ballet. So I didn’t want the
score to at all feel stodgy or old-fashioned so I tried to incorporate modern elements, but
the big challenge there was that I didn’t want the score to feel not part of musical fabric of
what was there already, because of the classical music, so I worked with it carefully.
Mark: What track should we listen to? I played the opening one. I played the first two tracks. Chris: Great. Let’s play…this will be a good one…play 13. This is a very, very powerful scene. Michaela through the film battles a pretty serious injury.
Continued…
Mark: And she’s the girl from Sierra Leone. What’s interesting is that she’s got vitiligo and
she’s concerned about that. I mean really she’s fought against all odds. And her parents are
like salt of the earth. They go, ‘We cannot see it. We cannot see it when you’re up on stage.’
And really, seriously when she’s up there performing all you see is this artist.
Chris: Exactly right.
Mark: She transcends all that. So her challenge is that she injures her leg for this
competition, and this girl is strong. I mean, she is the equivalent of Venus Williams.
Chris: Exactly. That’s a great parallel.
Mark: And in ballet, I mean, she is really, really strong. So this is called “Testing Her Injury.”
So what can we listen for in this clip?
Chris: You know what I create as the film escalates, and this is toward the end of the film, is
they’re all gearing up for this competition and every one of them has something to overcome
and to prove, so this is just a real, what I would like to call, a kind of sensitive intensity in this
cue, and people were very moved by this, they really get drawn into it and at one point she
just lifts one leg up and she balances herself on just one leg and she’s holding it for about 20
seconds.
Mark: And this is the original soundtrack recording to First Position.
…
Mark: And that was a little music from the original soundtrack recording of First Position
and joining us on the line coincidentally we have the director, Bess Kargman. Good evening
and welcome.
Bess: Thank you so much.
Chris: Hi Bess.
Bess: Hi Chris!
Mark: So we’ve got Chris, we’ve got the full creative team here. We are firing on all cylinders. Now Bess, this is your first film and the thing that I love is that you went back to something that you know very, very well because you studied ballet, and I love that in the press notes, it says that you have the bruises to show for it. So those bruises just don’t go away, do they?
Continued…
Bess: Well I have very strong memories of tying my legs to the posts of my bed to try and
stretch while I was sleeping. I kid you not.
Mark: Well it’s kind of like the kid in your film, in the very beginning he shows the bb gun
and then he shows this is to stretch so you can point your feet. You did something like that
as well?
Bess: That device, physically I didn’t have, but we made do with other medieval devices.
[Mark and Chris laugh]
Mark: Yeah, ballet is a very brutal sport. Your feet get all tweaked and all that stuff. Now tell
me about the process. What led you to making your first film?
Bess: Well, I thought maybe to compensate for my lack of years in the industry, at least if I
chose a topic that was near and dear to me, and I’d lived for a number of years, it might
compensate for that. And I knew that this film hadn’t existed before and it was always a film I
wished had been made and I was sort of tired of waiting for someone else to make it. I don’t
mean a competition film, because actually I never competed growing up, and that didn’t
appeal to me. I mean a film that takes you so far beyond just the stage and the studio, and
you really see what it takes to make it as a dancer.
Mark: I think that it’s beautifully shot. I mean, I really loved your film. And also there’s
another film, Wim Wender’s Pina. They’re like these two really beautiful dance films,
obviously Pina’s about these older professional dancers, but I think what is so impressive
about your film, it’s not about the competition, but it’s about the heart of these kids, and what
they do, what they go through, and the challenges. Just the spirit, you know, the kid from
Columbia that leaves his home and comes to America and just the struggle. Or like the
Israeli girl that dances well beyond her age. Then you have the family where the girl is really
into it but her brother isn’t, but it’s as if the dream for the mother is to have them both be
ballet stars. Tell me about that experience for you growing up. I mean, did you get a lot
pressure to a ballerina star?
Bess: Well, one thing that I knew growing up is that the stereotypes that exist about the
dance world, they’re not so true. I thought it would be interesting to prove them wrong one
by one. So, you’ll meet a stage mother in this film, but you’ll quickly learn that not all stage
parents are psycho. And you’ll meet the skinniest of skinny girls, and then see ‘well if I spent
six hours a day in the studio, I could eat like a linebacker too and still look like a rail.’ And
there are jocks, these boys they’re straight, they love sports, and yet they’re extremely
dedicated to ballet. There are so many stereotypes that exist. Not all ballet dancers are
white. Not all ballet dancers are rich.
Continued…
Mark: What is kind of interesting is, I used to kind of work with a lot of dancers and there
were some issues of anorexia. I mean, I knew this one girl who struggled with it because
she had to keep her weight down. So there are those things, but you talk about, these are
just kind of normal kids that have chosen to be dancers. And I like the families that you
focus on. The one father who just supports his son, he doesn’t really understand ballet. You
know that must be really tough for a kid that age to then go to school, because I’m sure
there’s the issue of being teased and ridiculed by his friends, you know?
Bess: Some boys, they’re strong enough in their sense of self to overcome the bullying.
Some boys, they decide to home-school if the bullying gets really bad and they are so
driven to make it as dancers, and unfortunately some give up. But when you’re really, really
talented I feel like you figure out a way to continue because there is no other option. With
these kids, what’s so incredible about them, is that there’s literally nothing else they want to
do. You are so unbelievably inspired because they’re mini adults. They’re just the most
focused, incredibly inspiring individuals and yet some of them are ten years old.
Mark: What was the process like working with Chris, the composer of the music, and what
I find what you said about that passion, that’s all they want to do, because here you are,
and some would say against all odds, you put your film together. And then also with Chris, I
mean both of you are kind of at this really the early stages of your career but I’m sure
you’ve been really working at this for such a long time and you’ve created an artful
documentary. So tell me a little bit about that passion and what the creative process means
to you.
Bess: Well I did not make things easy on Chris.
[Mark and Chris laugh]
Mark: You’re like the professor at first semester.
Bess: I gave him the most crushing deadlines. We had just gotten into the Toronto
International Film Festival, which was a dream come true, to be selected for that festival
and honestly I didn’t expect that, so I basically said to Chris, ‘Let’s go in the studio and pull
some all-nighters’ and you know what, he did that. It was that terrible hurricane, which
everyone was talking about and Chris and I spent the entire time in his studio. He has the
most incredible work ethic. But even more importantly than that, what you have to be
careful about when you’re composing is to not manipulate the audience, because
audiences are much smarter than we give them credit for and they become very resentful
of what they’re watching if they feel like they’ve been manipulated. And I feel like Chris has
this perfect balance between enhancing the scene, getting emotion out of the very tender
moments and the drama, but at the same time it’s never heavy-handed, which, I think, is
every director’s worst nightmare is if the composer comes back with something and it’s like
Schindler’s List, you know, it’s inappropriate.
[Chris laughs]
Continued…
Mark: He stubbed his toe.
Bess: This is a kid’s ballet film and Chris always managed to have that perfect balance.
Mark: Well Chris, what question, what would you like to ask Bess?
Chris: Oh boy.
Mark: Something that you thought about, but that you never asked her about? The process
of working with her. And Bess, I’m going to throw that back at you too, what would you like
to ask Chris. So Chris, go ahead and ask her.
Chris: You know I would like to ask Bess, first of all thank you for, you know I have about
20 years on Bess, so thank you for making it like we’re the same age. I appreciate that.
[laughs]
Mark: That sounds like she’s 13. You read very young on the air.
Chris: Bess is, I cannot say enough about her as a collaborator and she’s going to be one
of my dear friends for the rest of my life. And I hope to work with her 100 more times. But I
would like to ask Bess, Bess I know we’re proud of the whole score, of course. What scene
when you watch the movie over and over again, musically you say ‘my God that one I just
love’? What scene sticks out to you as your favorite, musically?
Bess: What part of the film?
Chris: Yeah.
Bess: Oh wow. I mean that’s like asking me to choose who my favorite kid is.
Mark: Sophie’s Choice.
Bess: Certain moments that I find very emotional and then there are certain moments the
audience…Okay there are some tracks in the film that I get emailed on a constant basis
from fans asking me ‘who did that’, ‘where can they buy that’, they’re in love with whatever
music that was, so of course those pieces in the film, especially the intro to the entire
movie is just an amazing song. I love those, because those get the audience amped up.
Chris and I struggled with this one piece in the film. Michaela’s dancing to a particular song
and we decided to strip that song out and do something that was a lot more powerful, and
everyone who comments on her dancing says that they got so emotional, and then so
happy with the way that song was a perfect blend with her dancing. You know exactly what
I’m talking about, Michaela at the finals.
Continued…
Chris: I do. And the one we were just talking about before about collaboration, the one that
still strikes me, I remember because how we worked in the studio is, Bess has in the film,
these interstitials, these kinds of montage segments of the rigors of dancing in different
ones, but that one scene, where you’re seeing all the injuries and all the stuff they have to
deal with. Musically, I had constructed how it was and Bess came in and she really loved it,
but she had some really specific notes on moving some of the phrases on different places
and it just got better and better. And it was so beautiful to see that relationship work that
well.
Mark: So Bess, what would you ask Chris after the process.
[Chris laughs]
Bess: I want to ask Chris how he…so Chris has scored a ton of films, and I want to ask
him how does he deal with the challenge of a director being very connected and having
trouble detaching from the temp music.
[Mark and Chris laugh]
Mark: I talk to composers and they call it ‘temp death’. Did that happen here?
Chris: Well, yeah I mean, it’s a necessity of temp because we’re defining the cut. I’ll give
the short answer. It’s not always bad, but where it can become problematic, is what I would
say to a director is, ‘we have to create something unique for your film. This is not about me
giving you a rip off of another score of another film’. And what I’ve said to directors is ‘tell
me specifically about the temp. What one thing is it doing that you love’ and once you can
get through that I can still do that in my own way. Kind of slowly. It’s not like ripping a band-
aid off quickly from a wound. I go slowly. So then we talk about trust, and then once you
start trusting each other more, you realize something beautifully original is happening.
Mark: You mentioned that you’re older than her, and was there any point where you’re
thinking, ‘just trust me.’ ‘Just let it go. You hired me because of my ability.’
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Continued…
Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
Chris: I mean ultimately I do feel like, not from the age perspective, my whole thing is that
every director, I honor and trust them so much. They know what that film is, and I need that
guidance. Every composer needs that guidance because we don’t want to stray either. But
I’m trying to make them as comfortable with me, and I’m trying to let them enjoy this process
because a composer is brought it at the end of this long process and I really look at it as the
last big creative input that a director can have, and with that it carries a lot of weight. All the
things that you might have gotten up to this point, something maybe a certain shot you didn’t
get or a certain thing you didn’t want and you want the music now to help you there. That’s a
big amount of pressure to put on a composer and a big amount of pressure to put on that
collaboration so I always understand that and I always try to look at it as a partnership. I
know what those stakes are like and I can only imagine if I was a director and I handed
somebody something and said ‘please give me exactly what I want that will help this film’
and that’s what they’re doing.
Mark: Well listen, congratulations on First Position and Chris, beautiful score.
Chris: Thank you.
Mark: And what an excellent job. It’s very, very heart-filled and it’s beautifully shot. Once
again the name is First Position and it’s a really, really beautiful journey. Thank you for the
inside look into what it means to go through the process of being a dancer and competing in
this international competition and we’ve been talking with Chris Hajian and Bess Kargman.
And best of luck with First Position. Thanks Bess.
Bess: Thank you.
Chris: Thanks Mark.
Mark: And we’re going to close out with another track. This is track 19, “Epilogue.” Is that a
good one?
Chris: Yeah!
…
… During the segment Chris’ music can be
heard at 00:28, 01:30, 02:25, 03:00, and
03:30. Press Contact:
CW3PR
Emilie Chan-Erskine
Zach Peters
… During the interview Chris’ music
can be heard at 1:08, 3:25, and
4:18.
Prepared by CW3PR
May 31, 2012