Supreme Music Asks Anthony Frattolillo: And What About Music?
This time for our interview series 'And what about music?' we caught up with Anthony Frattolillo, a multifaceted storyteller with deep musical roots. Writer, director, editor, and founder of One Free Play - Anthony approaches narrative with a composer's ear and a director's eye. Today, Anthony shares how music has shaped his creative path and continues to influence how he crafts stories that resonate.
Q> Please tell us your name and what you do professionally.
Anthony> Anthony Frattolillo. Writer. Director. Editor. Musician. Founder, One Free Play and The Herbert Bail Orchestra.
Q> Is there a piece of music that changed the trajectory of your creative thinking? How did it reshape your approach to your work?
Anthony> I remember when I was ten or eleven years old and my father put on 'Mr. Tambourine Man.' It was the first Dylan song I listened to, and one of the first songs I learned on guitar. I remember thinking how different it was from what I usually heard. There was a lot to unpack for my young mind… Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free. It expanded the way I think about music, lyricism, wordsmithing, what a song can be. How stripped down and seemingly simple it is: just a guitar, a voice and a harp, and also how nuanced, layered and visual it is. That’s where I come from.
Q> Is there a song or piece of music you wish you had created or used in your work? What makes it special to you?
Anthony> Carl Orff’s 'Gassenhauer' or Maurice Ravel’s 'Bolero' are two compositions that haunt and inspire me. These symphonic poems take you on a journey the way they start sparsely, build and resolve. They give you a sense of wonderment, how the individual parts relate to the whole, it makes you feel like you’re part of something bigger. I wish I could find or create something as big as those songs and integrate it in the way Terrence Mallick used 'Gassenhauer' to score Badlands, reprising a one movement orchestral piece at different key points in a narrative to add to the emotional tenor of the film itself.
Q> How has your relationship with music evolved throughout your career? Has your approach to selecting or incorporating music changed over time?
Anthony> Well, I use to stay up late when I was a kid listening to the likes of Dave Von Ronk, Joni Mitchell, The Pixies, drinking from Muddy Waters, picking out each note by ear and imitating each syllable spoken. Music was a very private, personal endeavour. Years later, I started a band. We released three albums over six years, live tracking straight to tape. I’ve also created original compositions for a few pieces I’ve directed.
Even though I have this musical background, it took me a while to understand how to make music work for me in an edit, rather than making the film just work around a piece of music. When I don’t have the amazing opportunity to create an original composition in collaboration with creative folks like the people at Supreme, I will listen to a hundred tracks or more to find the perfect one, and then pull apart the stems (the isolated layers in the track) to mold the song to my liking, to modify the rise or fall as needed in an edit. Or I’ll use more than one track to shift the mood and tone and help create a stronger narrative arc with the music.
Q> When you're stuck creatively, are there musical and/or listening practices which help you break through?
Anthony> Turn off the computer. Turn off your phone. Go outside! Everything has a key: the howling wind, buzzing cicadas. The farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka reflected on how all natural sounds are like music. The heart can be filled with song without listening to “music” as we traditionally think of it. “When a variety of disturbing noises enter and confuse the ear, our pure, direct appreciation of music degenerates.” Fukuoka explains, “If left to continue along that path, [we] will be unable to hear the call of a bird or the sound of the wind as songs. The [one] who is raised with an ear pure and clear may not be able to play the popular tunes on the violin or piano, but I do not think this has anything to do with the ability to hear true music or to sing. It is when the heart is filled with song that the child can be said to be musically gifted.” That’s what I think about when I’m stuck.
Q> Is there a musical approach or trend in advertising that you believe is overdone or misunderstood? What would you like to see more of instead?
Anthony> There was a great feature in LBB recently about director Scott Ballew and Squeak E. Clean’s 'holistic audio approach' to a Tecovas campaign. I’m going to use that next time clients ask me what my approach to the music will be. It’s holistic! I’d love to see more work like that where the music is considered upfront – not an afterthought - so that it’s interwoven as a part of the creative process.
Q> How do you navigate the balance between a client's musical preferences and what you believe will best serve the story?
Anthony> I don’t treat a scratch track like a scratch track. That’s my opportunity to put a score in people’s heads and make it stick, enrol the agency to enrol the client, and if it’s an earworm, then they won’t want to replace it afterwards. Especially if you take on that holistic audio approach, where the music is discussed in tandem with the casting, locations, and shot list, so that by the time you hit the edit you can’t parcel the music from the story because everyone already knew that was where you were going. Of course, sometimes you get those notes and must pivot, but some restraints can also spur on good ideas. I also always have a backup option that I feel is just as good as my first choice and that also serves the story.
Q> Is there a question about music and creativity you've always wanted to answer but have never been asked?
Anthony> If there’s life on other planets, do you think they make music?
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