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Q&A with Composer Alex Heffes

Do you know of any plans to release the soundtrack?

Unfortunately there's no plan to release a soundtrack album. In today's climate many smaller films such as
this just can't raise the interest from record labels.

You’re asked to score IMAY... so are you given the script or do you wait till the movie is finished and you see it to begin? What is the process that happened when you were asked to score IMAY ?

I came onto IM&Y quite late in the process. The film had already been shot and partly edited. The first thing I did was to sit down and watch the film in it's temporary state with an audience (which is essential with a comedy). There was such a great audience reaction to the picture even in its rough state that I new I was going to enjoy working on it. The rapport between Lena and Piper really came across immediately. I'm always left with a warm glow after watching IM&Y even now (and I must have seen it a hundred times!)

Did you have any voice in the decision of the choices of the mainstream/popular songs used in the film? How do the choice of those songs effect the scoring of the film?

Many of the songs were already in the picture when I joined. The style of the songs though did point me towards using the acoustic guitar in the score, and the style of lyrical theme that you first hear after Rachel's
wedding speech. I wanted the score to blend with the songs which meant not making it too orchestral or classical sounding. Actually, some of my own music from another picture called DEAR FRANKIE had been used by Alex Mackie, the editor, as 'temp score' at that stage. It was quite hard to get that out
of my mind when it came to writing the 'real' score, although strangely interesting to hear familiar music from one movie in another!

What input did Ol Parker, as director, have with the scoring of the film? What was it like working with him?

Ol is really one of the nicest guys I've worked with. I'm sure he's sick of being called a nice guy - everyone does - but he really is!
He was very inspiring to work with, especially as he had written the script also. Anyone who comes up with that many good one-liners has to be good towork with. He was very keen to get the tone of the score to match the characters on screen. We were aiming for something 'likeable' that conjures up the warm and likeable sprits of Luce and Rachel. I hope we achieved this with their theme that comes back in many guises. You can spot it in all sorts of places here and there if you listen hard.

Did you visit the set of IMAY during filming? Any stories/pictures to share??

Actually filming was already over when I started. I can tell you though that one of Ol's first questions to me when we started work was a tough one:"Which girl is the better looking" he asked me! What a mean one. (Apparently everyone gets asked that question.) Obviously they are both lovely ladies,so I stuttered something about Lena probably being a little tall for me, at which point Ol whipped out his cell phone and called Lena to ask how tall she was and whether she's be too tall for me - how embarrassing was that!

For more information about Alex Heffes work, check out his website at: www.alexheffes.com

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