Mélanie Lalande: Assistant director, post-production supervisor and production coordinator in Ottawa, Canada.

Is it an imperceivable moment early on when writing the screenplay? Is it when typing the script or fleshing out a character’s motives? When DOES a musical element appear in the consciousness of those creatively involved in a project whose role ISN’T the composer? Does it happen? For me, as a composer still learning ones craft and trying to build relationships with those whom I could potentially collaborate with, musical inspiration comes every day. And I don’t have to be working on a project to feel the spark of inspiration either. Walking the dog, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve needed to grab my phone and hum into it for a moment to try and capture what is playing in my head. I’ll probably speak the instrumentation, perhaps adding a second hummed line to represent a bass line or harmonic progression. If we’re very lucky, we’re brought into a project early and the script can start to reveal audible secrets just waiting to be told. Sometimes as whispers, a storyline or character starts a ball in motion, a process, that offers up something musical. Otherwise the visuals of a scene inspire. Initially it can be a feeling, an emotion. Other times it will be a pace and speed. But composing original music is always to me a gift from some place that I can never fathom.

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