October marks the month of all things horror and this season is no different with projects such as Blumhouse’s Halloween, Warner Bros.’ The Nun and Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House already becoming hits. Another show definitely worth paying attention to is Hulu’s supernatural thriller/horror Light as a Feather which began streaming October 12th. The show follows five teenage girls as they deal with the supernatural fallout stemming from an innocent game of “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board.” When the girls start dying off in the exact way that was predicted, the survivors must figure out why they’re being targeted — and whether the evil force hunting them down is one of their own. Adding to the intrigue of the show is the score by composer Pieter Schlosser whose main goal was to use sounds that came from real sources versus using electronic sounds. In the below exclusive interview Pieter talks about everything from how he got involved with Light as a Feather to using wine glasses in the score.
How did you get connected with or approached to compose for Light as a Feather? What was the initial appeal of the project?
I had worked with Lee Fleming, Jr., the creator of the show on a previous series several years ago called The Lying Game for what is now Freeform. We kept in touch through the years and when I saw that Light as a Feather had been picked up to series, I sent him an e-mail to congratulate him and ask if they had hired a composer. To my luck, they had not! Because there were other executives involved on deciding on a composer, he asked me to put together a demo reel for them. I had a few phone conversations with the other producers, mainly Alexis Ostrander, to discuss the direction of the music. I sent them a second demo that was more focused on our discussions and a few weeks later, I got offered the job!
How would you describe your score for the show?
I wanted to write a distinct tune for the show. I wanted to keep the score very organic, meaning I wanted to use sounds that came from real sources versus using electronic sounds. Even if the sounds were electronic or from synthesizers, the goal was the same. I layered some traditional strings, mostly low strings along with some low organic pads. One of my favorite sounds to use was wine glasses. (The famous party trick of wetting your finger and rubbing it on the edge of a crystal wineglass). I used a lot of vocal samples, some very obvious and some that are processed to the point where you can’t tell what it really is! Finally, I created a sound for Violet that sounds a bit like a cicada that I used when she’s around or she’s being talked bout.
Is there a scene in Light as a Feather that you composed and are most proud? Why did it resonate with you?
Yes! This turned out to be a bit of a happy accident and came about really early on in the show. It’s a scene in episode 2 where Violet, our villain, is in her bedroom standing in front of her bay window. We see 4 black butterflies flying around in circles as she approaches them. One of them lands on her hand and she squashes it. This foreshadows the first death in the show. The cue I wrote here has some unusual sounds like wine glasses and an instrument called the Bazantar. It’s a really gorgeous stringed instrument that was custom made by a musician in San Francisco. This was then brilliantly sampled by one of my favorite sample developers and I used it all throughout the show. The producers really resonated with this cue and the melody ended up being the main title for the show!
When did you first begin working on the show? Were you scoring from completed episodes?
Well, you could say I started indirectly working on the show 6 years ago when I met Lee! I say this only half-jokingly. It takes a while to develop relationships with producers. I started working on LAAF at the end of July until about mid-September. On most episodes I would work on a finished cut. On occasion, I would have to start working on a cut of the episode which wasn’t locked but that didn’t happen too often, thankfully!
Season 1 of the show has 4 different directors, did they each give their input on how they thought the score should sound for their episode? How does that work making sure all the episodes sound cohesive?
They did not. The only director I spoke with was Alexis Ostrander who directed the first 2 and the last 2 episodes of the show. The initial conversation we had about tone and direction set us up for the whole season which made it cohesive. We were able to hone in on the sound palette very quickly and having the theme helped keep things cohesive. I got feedback from the other producers as we were working on the episodes during the spotting and as I was scoring each episode.
Some of your other credits include The Client List, The Lying Game and You, Me and the Apocalypse. How would you say Light As A Feather is different from those other projects, musically?
Light as a Feather was different because the palette I used was not as traditional as the other projects. Not to mention, it was a lot darker and a lot spookier as well. As mentioned before, I go to play around a lot with vocal samples as well as a cicada-like sound which I used for Violet throughout the show.
If there were to be a season 2 of the show what would you like to see happen (story wise) and would you do anything different with the score?
I would absolutely love to do a second, maybe even 3rd and 4th season of this show! It would be interesting to see where the story goes to determine where the score can go sonically as well. The challenge is always to keep things familiar but add some new elements to keep the audience engaged whether they are aware of it or not. I would love to write some new recurring themes and introduce some live elements as well.
You can learn more about Pieter here: http://www.pieterschlosser.com/
Many thanks to Pieter Schlosser for taking the time for this interview.
