The Hawai‘i Youth Symphony has performed a music score for a short film about Micronesian kids in Kalihi, which will screen at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival this month.
“The Arrangements,” written and directed by Sonny Ganaden, is a 15-minute film that follows the story of a group of friends from the Kamehameha IV apartments preparing for their friend's funeral.
While the film already has music, Michael-Thomas Foumai of the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra composed a film score to capture the emotions in the storyline.
“There's such emotion in this film where there’s a loss of a brother,” Foumai said. “Immediately that reminds me of music that is timeless. It doesn't really have a melody at all but something that is static. I wanted music to do that but also give a sense of healing, of moving forward, of hope.”
Foumai, a director of artistic engagement and a composer in residence for the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra, is an alumnus of the Hawai‘i Youth Symphony.
When he heard that the film needed a score from the HYS’s director and CEO, Randy Wong, his ears immediately perked up.
His idea was to give the film what he called a musical identity.
But he had two requests before writing the music: to watch the film without music and to watch it with no sound at all.
“The process of film scoring is really in different passes,” Foumai said. "So I watched it through one time, and I have an idea where the music should go. There are also moments where I ask, ‘Well, music could go there too.’ It’s a trial and error process, and really getting down to the soul of the story.”
The youth orchestra was made up of eight high school students. They played the violin, viola, cello, string bass, flute, clarinet and vibraphone. They recorded in HPR's Atherton Performing Arts Studio in Honolulu.
Wong of HYS said Foumai and the students recorded the film scores on Aug. 31 but rehearsed prior.
Wong also said the students got to meet with the film's director to get a sense of the story and help connect the music to it.
“It's something that the way Michael scores it and the way the kids play it, it just takes your breath away,” Wong said.
Sevastyan Swan, 17, has played the violin since he was three. He said it was his first time performing a film score.
“I zone in a little bit too much, to the point where I just don't pay attention to anything else that's going on,” Swan said. “If a door was slamming shut, if a car went past and it was making a loud noise, I just wouldn't pay attention to it. It's almost like I have blinders on the sides of my head,”
Foumai said he was impressed with how the young musicians performed.
“There's something about having a microphone right in front of you that makes you nervous, but they were amazing,” Foumai said. “They were not impacted by that stress and they performed perfectly.”
Also, the students got to watch the film to connect to the story and the music.
Swan said he watched the film a couple of times while playing his violin.
”As I got that feeling of emotion towards the fight scene, where the bullying occurred, and then later on, as they prepared for the funeral, I felt a feeling of sadness for the young boys,” Swan said. “It's a very deep storyline, so a lot of pain to occur at such a young age. But towards the end of the film, I felt a sense of peace.”
The cast and musicians will meet for the first time at HIFF. Swan said he's excited to meet them.
“It just opens a completely new lens into the perspectives of what it's like to live as a young person here in Hawai‘i, the things that people go through in general, and how we can work together to get past those difficulties,” Swan said.
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