July 16, 1969. NASA's space program was in full swing. A moon landing was about to become a reality. Astronauts, Neil Armstrong, "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins headed up the historic mission. That's what you do know...
What you don't know is that FLY ME TO THE MOON is the story of how three ordinary flies, NAT, I.Q. and SCOOTER managed to sneak aboard the Apollo 11 and forever changed the course of history! Not to mention, gain heroic confidence, overcome a few death-defying challenges and just maybe put an end to the notion that "dreamers get swatted."
In the "us against them" Cold War tradition, FLY ME TO THE MOON tosses in Russian flies hell-bent on stopping us, Nat's "never-too-old-to dream," Grandfather, a Russian operative everyone loves to hate along with one incredible thrill ride to the moon. FLY ME TO THE MOON pulls at your heart strings, fills you with pride as you share the positive worldwide moment of such a wonderous achievement and makes you feel good to be alive and a fly! Okay, maybe not a fly, but everything else!

Fly Me To The Moon est le premier long métrage d'animation en 3D belge. D'autre part, c'est le premier long métrage en 3D en relief au monde. En effet, sa projection nécessite des salles de cinéma adaptées et des lunettes spécifiques pour voir l'animation en relief (bien que la technologie actuelle soit plus évoluée, on pourrait rapprocher ces lunettes de celles ayant un verre rouge et l'autre cyan, mieux connues par tout un chacun).

C'est un compositeur qui sait garder les pieds sur terre qui a été choisi pour nous accompagner dans ce voyage spatial. Et l'on peut pourtant bien dire que Ramin Djawadi a réussi à nous mettre en apesanteur!

 

During a previous interview we did on Prison Break, you told us about your score for Fly Me To The Moon. Why did you accept to do that? What was interesting for you in that project?
Ramin DJAWADI - It was very exciting to hear about the idea of a full feature length 3-D only animation movie. Many animation movies have been converted from 2-D to 3-D. But this movie being created only for 3-D seemed so different. Additionally, the story was very moving. Seeing a historic moment through the eyes of three little houseflies. The story had to be appealing for a broad audience.

 

Generally speaking, how would you describe your score? The score is mostly traditional and melodic orchestra with very few synth elements for the space moments only. A few solo instruments were used and a female vocalist.
 

Did the fact that the film is the first 3D-only animated movie affect your way of approaching it? Was it different from Open Season, that was just CG animation?
Not really. In fact, I was “only” scoring to the 2-D version. Fortunately, we had screenings in LA where I could see updated final animation material in full 3-D. It was very inspiring. One interesting fact that I had to get used to was that watching the scenes in 2-D gave you a feeling that the movements were slow. But seeing it in 3-D it felt normal again. The eye couldn’t have followed it the movements had been any faster. Seeing it in 3-D was simply jaw dropping.

 

 

How much time did you have for this work?
We actually had less time than anticipated. The reason was that the recording hall in Brussels was only available for a limited amount of days. So we scheduled the scoring sessions around that. That pushed the sessions forward a bit. I still had about 6 weeks to write for an almost 70 min score.

With whom and how did you worked?
The director traveled back and forth from Brussels. We had only very few meetings in person. We had one meeting where I just played theme ideas. Once I started scoring to picture I met with the producers at my studio in LA and upload new cues to the director in Belgium. Then we would talk on the phone or email about the music. Of course, it is always nicer to have everybody in the room with you, but the internet made this long distance work very easy.

 

What kind of instruments did you use for that? Why? What was the size of the orchestra? Did you appeal to synth? How and why?
Most of the score is traditional orchestra of about 65 players. Except for our space theme. The idea was to make it sound quite different than the rest as our heroes were exploring a new world. I spent a lot of time to create a certain synth palette that would be used for space. I also used a female voice for special moments. Then there was also the Russian theme which had some authentic instruments like Akkordion and Cimbalom.

 

What were the requests from the director? Did they appeal to a temp track to guide you or not? What kind of a temp track?
Ben suggested to categorize the music into three different categories: The flies, the humans and space. We then decided to be fairly small for flies, play more grand and powerful for the humans, which mostly was the big NASA scenes and then a total different style for space as discussed before. We tried to stick to those guidelines as much as we can. There was no temp track in the movie. In fact, it hardly had any sound effects. I tried to be careful not to overscore. When the picture is that quiet, the danger is to write too much.

 

How did you work, between Belgium and USA?
Besides a couple of meetings I would upload new cues every couple of days. NWave would upload updated animated picture to me as it became available. At the end I flew over the Belgium to score with the Flemish symphony orchestra. It was a wonderful experience.

For budgetary reasons, Olivier Saive told us that they couldn't use the original Frank Sinatra version of the title song. Did you make any reference to the song within your score, and how? Or reference to swing?
No, there is no reference of the song or style. We were only allowed to use the song in the main titles and then possibly one more time at the end of the movie.
 

 

Do you know if there will be a cd soundtrack of your score?
- I’m not sure. The movie is released in Februrary 2008. Maybe there will be a score then. I would be very excited if there was CD release.
 

Will there be a videogame? And if yes, will you do the music of it, too?
I don’t know. The subject certainly could be a great adventure game. It all depends on the schedule. It certainly would make sense if I was at least involved as the themes are already written.

It's difficult to get 3D movie outside theaters, but do you know if they intend to release a dvd?

I’m not sure. I think there is talks about it.

 

 

Please, may you take one of your most interesting scenes in that film and describe how you put it into music?
The moonwalk. It was the longest and probably most important cue in the movie. What must have gone through our astronaut’s head when they were walking the moon and then also everybody else on earth. It needed to be joyfull and also emotional, but yet also some tension and hesitation before the first touch on the moon. Also, every movement certainly is slow and so floaty. I tried do the same musically. I didn’t want to counter the movements by having music that’s too fast. Moments like this are any composer’s dream. There was hardly any dialog and sound effects that the music had to go up against to. Just lots of room for music. This is the only time where the space theme plays in its entire form.

 

Can you tell me about the thematic aspect of your score?
This score is very thematic. The main ones are the adventure and a dream theme for our three little flies, the big NASA theme, the Russian theme with an additional Igor part and the space theme. Then there are some other themes that only happen a few times in the movie. There is one for grandpa’s flashback and his love theme.

How does the music help the storytelling?
I think it comes back to the consistent use of the themes. Everytime you see NASA, you want to associate the theme with it. We don’t hear the space theme until we are in space and finally fully plays out on the moon. The story telling in this movie is so beautiful and made my job easy in way that I never need to force anything with music. The music just accompanies the journey.

 

Did you appeal to mickey mousing or did you score the film the way you would have if it were just live action?
I prefer to approach an animation movie like it was live action, which worked for most part of the film. There are only a few scenes that are a bit cartoony. But even with those I tried to do as little mickey mousing as possible. That technique is a little bit too traditional for my taste.
 

What will you keep, personally and professionally, of this experience?
I learn something new on every project. We scored with an orchestra that I had never worked with before. I worked in a country that I had never been to before. It was such a wonderful experience with everybody involved.
 

Merci à Cedric Igodt nWave Distribution

Merci à Guilhem, pour son aide précieuse!