Welcome to Alan-Parker.org, a fansite for the talented English Director Alan Parker and his movies. Alan Parker is best known for being the director of Evita, Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning and The Life of David Gale... Take a look around the site and look through the extensive photo gallery.
Site Name: Alan-Parker.org
Launched: Dec 14, 2006
Owner: Cliodhna
Site Layout: Cliodhna
Gallery Header: Wholly Lalala Design
Hits:
Alan-Parker.org, the graphics and content are © Cliodhna, unless stated otherwise. All photos are © to their respective owners, and no copyright infringement is intended.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More about the soundtrack and Alex and Jake Parker

Over the years, I have worked with my two sons, Alex and Jake, on the music for many of my films. Often they have helped me, uncredited, with temp scores, and on COME SEE THE PARADIES they provided the main theme. Both are very different in their musical backgrounds. Jake is classically trained, having earned his Masters degree in composition at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Alex, who trained in audio engineering, and who plays many instruments, has mainly been involved in contemporary music. However, my films in recent years have involved different musical situations - with THE COMMITMENTS (soul music), EVITA (Andrew Lloyd Webber) and ANGELA'S ASHES (John Williams) there had been little opportunity for Alex, Jake and I to work together since.

During the preparation and shoot of THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE I asked Alex to experiment for me in areas where I thought the score might go. I wanted a primarily modern, rhythm-driven score to serve the thriller aspect of the movie and I also wanted it to echo the themes within it. I sent Alex a pile of research materials relevant to the political heart of the film and included some biblical quotations that had been often used both for and against the death penalty. He sent me many demos in Austin, which were very promising.

When I had completed the shoot and returned to London to edit the film I showed Alex and Jake the scenes that we had already cut and the hours of footage that we were still working on.

The first thing that we completed musically was the song that Alex had been working on - "Another bleeding heart" - and wich he then took into studio. Jake wrote the string sections for the song and we were suddenly off on a musical experiment. Alex and Jake would immediately work on each scene as it was hot off the Moviola. Jake took the scenes that needed more traditional, orchestral pieces and Alex worked on the rhythmically driven 'thriller' scenes. It was completely organic process - the music was created simultaneously with the cutting of the scenes, wich I had never been able to do before.There came a point when the film required the two of them to work together - someting they hadn't donefor some time. Alex's contemporary multi-tracks had to fuse with Jake's classical themes. They named the cues from the script, so Jake's "Lacan" theme (named for the French philosopher in Gale's first lecture) suddenly became musically and nominated "Ominous Lacan" as Jake's ensemble cello pieces fused with Alex's less elegantly entitled cues, i.e. "Ominous House Vibe". The very titles themselves are a reflection of their different musical background. The two of them worked through the night to work and rework their music for my film. Frankly, I doubt that any director ever got so much work out of his comosers, especially as they hadn't been paid a cent at this point - another advantage of keeping it in the family. Finally, Universal saw and approved the film and the score, which we then recorded at Abbey Road. Needless to say that, family connections aside, I am immensely proud of them and the score they did for my film.

Alan Parker