Podcast - Soundtracking with Bruce Springsteen

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“We’re always trying to find someone whose broken pieces fit with our broken pieces.”

Last Autumn I spent a quiet afternoon hiding out at the cinema watching Bruce Springsteen’s film Western Stars. I have to confess I don’t know his music too well but the movie, well, the movie is just beautiful. It’s a sweeping meditation. A performance film intercut with stories about the songs and stunning footage of the American landscape. It makes you feel like you’re out on the open road, under an endless starry sky and in a bar with your best friends at the same time. The songs are accompanied by a 30 piece orchestra and Springsteen’s unmistakable vocal.

This gorgeous interview digs deeper into why he made the movie. Springsteen talks about how he wanted to immerse himself in thoughts about “love and difficulty of love” and asks “how do you move from being an individual into a life that’s filled with… communal experience.” The discussion is dotted with clips of music from the film and it’s just lovely. A perfect listen for a walk out in the fresh air.

Episode 177: Bruce Springsteen & Thom Zimny On The Music Of Western Stars

It's been a very good week for Soundtracking, with our little film music podcast nominated for two gongs at the UK's premier audio industry awards, the ARIAs. And who better to celebrate with than one of the biggest names in the music business, Bruce Springsteen.

Monday Movie - Emma

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I went to see the wonderful Emma at the cinema last week. Snuggled on a sofa with coffee and popcorn, it was the perfect way to while away an afternoon. The director Autumn De Wilde has previously directed music videos and is an award-winning photography and I loved her artistic telling of the story. The cinematography is absolutely beautiful. I love this interview with the actors. They talk about how Autumn asked them to study screwball comedies to give the film the feel of classics like Bringing Up Baby. There are so many little details in the film, the team behind it has taken such care with it. Such a treat.

Autumn de Wilde's new take on Jane Austen's Emma seems intent on disproving the stereotype that all period pieces are "stiff" or "stuffy." From its eye-poppi...

Monday Movie - Moonstruck

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“Love don’t make things nice, it ruins everything. It breaks your heart, it makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things perfect… We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people...”

I watched 1987 classic Moonstruck for the first time this week. I’ve been watching romcoms while I work on my film script, trying to feel what works and what doesn’t. Moonstruck caught me off guard. It’s off kilter, somehow managing to be melodramatic and sweet at the same time. The plot is simple and almost too easily resolved but it’s still really absorbing. I feel like I need to watch it again to make some sort of sense of it. I loved Nicolas Cage’s over the top tortured soul, declaring his love like an operatic hero. The quote above is from his speech to Cher’s character. It feels like you wouldn’t be able to get away with this dialogue in a movie these days. The 80s teenager in me misses those days.

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Movie - A Star Is Born

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“And there's one reason we're supposed to be here is to say something so people want to hear. So you got to grab it, and you don't apologise, and you don't worry about why they're listening, or how long they're going to be listening for, you just tell them what you want to say.”

I had several friends who had seen this film and couldn’t stop talking about it. I finally saw it this weekend. Wow. What a movie. There are very few films that come together so perfectly as this one does. The chemistry between the actors, the script, the direction, the passion, the pure artistry. In the interview below, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga discuss their creative connection and the collaborative experience. Bradley talks about how he couldn’t direct until he had something to say and how he wanted so much for the film to connect and heal.

I loved the movie. But what I really loved was the creativity, the story telling and the total commitment the actors have to the whole process.

Inspiration - Dan Mace

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This guy is new to me. He's teamed up with Casey Neistat for a brilliant new creative project called 368 and Casey's videos have led me to Dan's channel. This video reminds me of how I started creating. My sister and I used to create movies on a massive old VHS camera with me filming while she presented. We loved it. We even filmed our own version of an old programme called Star Test. I then went on to study Media & Cultural Studies, purely because I wanted to run around with a camcorder. Somehow life has led me to events, writing and illustration but watching this really speaks to that initial spark in me and now my mind is racing.

Movie - Lady Bird

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I went to see the brilliant new movie Lady Bird today. It's written and directed by Greta Gerwig and stars Saoirse Ronan and I loved it. I've been thinking a lot about the brilliance of being young lately and how hindsight makes you wish you could do it all again, whilst at the same time being glad you don't have to. The writing, acting and directing come together perfectly to create something so utterly relatable. It inspired me to draw and made me want to get back to writing. Wonderful.

Inspiration - The Power of Creativity

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A day of touring Harry Potter world with the little ones left me feeling so inspired to keep creating. Over 4,000 people were involved in making the film series, collaborating to create something quite phenomenal. Such passion, creative energy and attention to detail triggered by a single idea that JK Rowling had on a train journey. Amazing.

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Monday Movie - Man Up

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I confess I've watched this film three times. It's so difficult to get a romcom right which makes it all the more impressive that this one is writer Tess Morris' first feature (after years of script reading and writing for a British teen soap). It took four years of development to come to the screen but was worth the wait. The pace is perfect and Simon Pegg and Lake Bell have great chemistry. It's also a great one to study as a scriptwriter as the dialogue is convincing, light and real. A perfect Monday treat.

A Night In With Netflix - Chef

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Sometimes there's nothing better than curling up on the sofa for a night in with Netflix. And sometimes you find a real treat hidden amongst the recommendations. This week I realised that Chef was squirrelled among the thumbnails. I've seen it several times already but it's one of my favourite go-to movies. If you can watch it without wanting to go to New Orleans and eat an entire block of cheese melted on toast, let me know.