FEATURE:
Pink + Black(ish)
ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Rafael Caban
Bringing the Music Universe Into the Film World
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STARTING with that image above….
PHOTO CREDIT: Luis Quintero/Pexels
it was created by Rafael Caban. It shows Margot Robbie’s Barbie together with Cillian Murphy’s J. Robert Oppenheimer. The two films – Barbie, and Oppenheimer -, went up against each other in cinemas on 21st July. They have both won rave reviews and huge takings at the box office! I was taken by the image – the same graphic artist also mocked up Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here with Barbie and Oppenheimer in – and this cinema world coming into a musical universe. Of course, the main image at the top of this feature is a parody of the Abbey Road cover. Many people have emulated and copied that famous walk that The Beatles did for the 1969 album. Here, with Barbie in Paul McCartney’s position and Oppenheimer in Ringo Starr’s place, the two surviving Beatles are represented by film characters with vastly different personalities. I think Barbie is much closer to McCartney than Oppenheimer is to Starr – in fact, I could see Ringo being closer to Ken to McCartney’s Barbie…and maybe John Lennon is a little closer to Oppenheimer?! Regardless, I liked the way Rafael Caban detailed his images so that we see married 1960s London together with Barbie Land and 1940s America. I wanted to use this feature to discuss a couple of things that relate to the mingling of music and film.
As I have said many times, there is a close and long-running bond and interaction between these disciplines. My first point relates to album covers. Even if Rafael Caban has transported Barbie and Oppenheimer into some classic album covers, it got me wondering whether A.I. could be used beneficially. It has its uses but, with artists fearing it may take over, it seems creating these kind of striking images would be beneficial. Having album covers that are iconic and original because you can mix in actors and elements of the film world into music. It is a shame that Abbey Road already exists, because if an artist released an album with Barbie and Oppenheimer strolling across a crossing outsider the Abbey Road Studios, it would be raved about! It is curious whether Caban considered making Barbie barefooted. Paul McCartney was barefooted for Abbey Road, so that could have happened here maybe – and, like we got with Macca, rumours that ‘Barbie is dead’…or Oppenheimer blew her up! So vivid and eye-catching is that new mock-up and loving tribute to a classic album and two massive films, it reignited my desire to see more bold and brilliant album covers. With that thought came the notion that film could be brought into music more. It does happen at the moment – biopics and music videos are examples -, but I am talking about more music-based films.
ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Rafael Caban
Seeing two disparate characters in massive films right now calmly alone in London in the 1960s sparked my imagination. I have written about how I feel there is not enough cinema where music is the focus. Either concentrating on a specific genre or movement or having a film where an artist’s music is the main focus. We have biopics of course and the odd musical, but there isn’t really a lot that blends together cinema and music in this symbiotic quality. There are so many artists whose soundtrack could fit into a film with an amazing story. Looking again at those amazing images with Barbie and Oppenheimer in them, I get a combination of Disco and some rather Gothic music style. Barbie representing the passion and frivolity of Disco. A film I have pitched before revisiting Studio 54 and the Disco era has not been updated or thought about. That possibility has a filmic quality that would translate with evocative power to the screen. Similarly, a darker film with horror and tense drama could be beautifully brought to life with music. I admire film scores immensely. But what I am talking about is representing various periods of music in film more. Having these flicks where a great album or artist scores the thing. Their songs very much influencing and impacting scenes’ direction and feel!
PHOTO CREDIT: Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels
I am going to explore this theme more in the coming months. I have been inspired by a very recent clash of heavyweight film and the attention they have garnered. From their promotional campaigns to the trailers, that sense of the grand and cinematic should come to music! Also, integrating music more into cinema. Away from scores and soundtracks and even biopics, I don’t think there is quite enough exploration and investigation of music worlds. Take Hip-Hop for example. That genre turns fifty next month. There are artists who catalogue could be brought to the big screen. From Blondie to Steely Dan to Kate Bush, some evocative and wonderfully rich films could be made where you have this phenomenal run of songs alongside the action. It is going to be a while before the dust settles on the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon, as both of the films (Barbie and Oppenheimer) have take huge receipts and wowed audiences. The fabulous images that were created by Rafael Caban made me think more deeply about the interconnection between film and music. How it would also be for cinematic and historic figures coming into the music universe. Just a general though compelled by some interesting artwork and concepts. Less than a week after two of the biggest films in recent years have opened, I am thinking about film and possibilities (presuming the writers’ strike ends fairly and there is not too much delay regarding productions resuming once a deal has been brokered). Music has always had a role in films, and yet I keep seeing gaps and ideas that have not yet been explored and exposed. I hope that, when things are calmer and resolved in Hollywood with everything going on, that filmmakers are excited about and open to…
NEW possibilities.