Beyond the Screen with Marcel Vaid

This is the fifth time you’ve won the Swiss Film Award for the Best Film Score. Were you nevertheless a little nervous?

Yes, very, it’s something special every time. And being in the limelight is rather unusual for us film composers; we love to work in the background.

What fascinates the jury about your compositions?

Looking back, I’d say it was invariably courageous compositions that were honoured, music that sought its own language but was also close to the story. I am convinced that the intensive collaboration with the director can be felt in my music and that the film is given a musical equivalent that can offer a new perspective or a different experience for the story or the theme. At least I hope that’s the case.

You composed the music for Christian Frei's “BLAME”. It was the first time that the director had worked with a composer, right?

That’s right. But you have to realise that every project is actually always a new beginning for the artists involved. In that sense, I have to make a fresh start every time, start from scratch, as it were. Every film has its own DNA, a musical inner life that has yet to be discovered. That’s what I feel like a child in a sandbox every time.

Although it was the first time for Christian, he is probably the most musical filmmaker I have ever worked with. He has an incredible feel for unusual sounds, dissonances and musical dramaturgy. It’s more about respecting and supporting his artists – or challenging them. Christian’s films show a tremendous degree of humanism and respect for people and their talents, I learnt a lot in terms of dramaturgy, rhythm and how to talk about music.

At what point do you get involved in the projects?

It depends on the project. In one of my current works, THE BLIND FERRYMAN by Ali Al-Fatlawi, I was even present at the test recordings in Iraq. The director wanted me to get to know the unique atmosphere of the film location, as it has a major influence on the characters and their behaviour. And he was absolutely right. I read the script with new ears and eyes after this experience. I was also able to introduce new instruments made of different materials such as wood or reeds.

At the moment I’m sitting alone in the studio and trying things out. As soon as I have some initial drafts, I show them to the director so that we have a basis for further discussions to then be able to set sail together.

For DAVOS 1917, my co-composer Adrian Frutiger and I would receive rushes in the evenings from the actual film shoots during the day. This meant that we were able to try things out and explore. For the upcoming feature film WYLD by Ralph Etter, I received a finished edit and only got to work on it at the end of the post-production phase.

What projects are you currently working on?

During the next few weeks and months, I’ll be working on WYLD and THE BLIND FERRYMAN, the films I’ve just mentioned. After that, I’ll be working on the new documentary film HIGH NOON by David Sieveking and the documentary film HEAT by Jacqueline Zünd. But both are still in the filming phase.

I am particularly excited about working on the historical film EACH OF US, which is being directed by Stina Werenfels and others. The coproduction between Poland, Spain, Germany and Switzerland is set in the Ravensbrück extermination camp and tells the true story of four interned women. The leading roles are played by Carla Juri and Diane Kruger, among others. Researching music in the context of the Shoah deeply electrified and shook me. The questions I ask myself are comprehensive: What do violence, oppression, fascism, hope and courage sound like? What is possible, what is forbidden? Where does artistic freedom end, where does respect begin?

Was your path to becoming a film composer clear from the start?

No, not really. I always wanted to be a musician, but my teachers at primary and secondary school said it was just a fanciful dream. So because I couldn’t think of anything else, I started studying architecture at the ETH. I realised that it was not a good fit for me and started to concentrate on music and earned my living as a part-time night porter and translator.

I became involved in film rather by chance – and luckily. But I’ve always been a cinephile. A producer was at a concert by my experimental band Superterz and said I should give film a try. I had set a writer’s poems to music, which was pretty crazy and funny: the music had no metre or any kind of conventional structure at all, it just followed the dramaturgical content of the poetry – and the moment.

I love the cinema. I still have a DVD player in the kitchen and listen to a film once a day while cooking.

Are there any film composers that fascinate you?

As a film composer, I am very influenced by John McEntire’s diversity of sound, or by the transparency and restraint of the artistic duo Philip Miller and William Kentridge, who worked closely and intensively as musicians and directors for many years. Or I like the music of the late Jóhann Jóhannsson or The Nine Inch Nails, who come from industrial music. These composers have managed to develop – and establish – their own sound. Their compositions often feature musical distortions and tonal challenges.

How do you approach film themes and genres?

The genre is not really that important for me. It’s possible to produce a thriller or a feature film as a documentary – and vice versa. In contrast, the animated passages for the hybrid animated film CHRIS THE SWISS were more about the inner worlds of the main character – nightmares or fantasies. I asked the director Anja Kofmel what these passages should sound like. She simply said that she had no idea either, that she had never “heard” a nightmare before and that it was probably something different for everyone. So we had a broad range to work with.

What’s your favourite instrument to develop motifs on?

It’s most certainly the electric guitar, because I have more possibilities to explore my atmospheric world. I tend to use the piano for the harmonic structures – if I can manage any at all.

Who would you like to compose film scores with and for?

It was a great privilege for me to work with Christian Frei. Honestly, I have never really thought about it. That said, I would like to score a film by Michael Hanecke. As far as I know, he has never worked with composers. I would be very interested in the challenge. His films also have an incredible power and an inner pull, as in CACHÉ, for example. In my opinion, every film has a musical moment in it. Werner Herzog’s films have always been a great inspiration for me; somewhere and at some point, a new incident, a new twist emerges. Michael Mann is incredibly atmospheric, but so is Barbet Schroeder, who I had the pleasure of meeting at this year’s Swiss Film Awards.

Would you recommend other musicians to co-compose?

Definitely. I love working with great musicians. Every time, a new musical world or approach opens up to me, one that I didn’t know existed. It’s very enriching to work on a big whole as a team, to support and inspire each other. That’s the beauty of film music: you’re not alone.