BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
In her last trimester of pregnancy, Herdís Stefánsdóttir was exhausted. She was having trouble walking. She was feeling emotional.
Oh, and she scored a feature film, too.
The New York University graduate landed a gig scoring The Sun is Also a Star, produced by MGM and Warner Bros. Even though the opportunity arrived at what may sound like a challenging time, Herdís went for it — and she tells us the experience was “awesome”.
Herdís had previously composed the music for a number of short films, some of which premiered at Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival. But The Sun is Also a Star was her second feature. To the score, she brought an impressive range of experiences: academia, her time interning for Oscar-nominated composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, and her music with electro-pop group East of My Youth.
We wanted to know how this Iceland-born, Berlin-based, Hollywood-famed composer does it. She shares her story about working on this 2019 film release, and offers plenty of advice for emerging composers — pregnant or otherwise.
Herdís, tell us how you arrived at the opportunity to score your second feature film.
The first feature film opportunity I got was the indie film South Mountain directed by Hilary Brougher. Hilary is the chair of the film department at Columbia University. I scored a couple of short films for Columbia students, and one of her students directed a music video for my band, so that’s how she heard my music!
I have always been active writing my own music and music for my band, and open to all projects that have come my way — everything from dance to visual arts. So over the years, I have collected a lot of music I have written. My agent suggested I should send a portfolio with my music for The Sun is Also a Star.
At the time I did that, I still hadn’t scored a feature film. So we knew it was a long shot to get hired having no prior experience in feature films. As we expected, nothing happened and we didn’t hear back from them. A few months later, however, my agent got a phone call from Warner Bros. that asked if I was available to score The Sun is Also a Star!
It’s certainly an enormous (and deserved) achievement. What were some of the biggest pressures you felt when you first started working on the score?
I knew that I had to nail the right vibe from the start, since the timeframe for writing the score wasn’t long. And it’s important to feel that you are on the same page with the director to gain trust and be able to dig into the scoring process.
I also knew that, since this project was of a bigger scale, everything would have to sound really good from the start. So it was definitely pressure on the production side of things!
The first feature score I did, I recorded and mixed everything myself. But for The Sun is Also a Star, I had an awesome team helping me take the sound to the next level!
At what point during the creative process did you feel like you’d really connected with the film? When did your creative confidence peak?
The writing process actually started out really well, and I had a nice creative flow the whole time. That was partly because I felt I had a good musical connection with the director Ry Russo-Young, which helped me feel confident we were moving in the right direction.
I was really happy when I wrote the theme that ended up being the love theme of the film (four-minute stare), since I felt it captured the core emotion of the film and Daniel’s and Natasha’s story. It’s a delicate and emotional piece. When I listened to the draft that I had written, it brought me to tears [laughs]! But bear in mind that I was eight-months pregnant at the time, and a little extra emotional.
You’ve chosen to speak out about this side of your personal life during your composition, which you started during pregnancy. What was the composition process like for you on a practical level during this incredible time?
The last trimester of my pregnancy was quite physically challenging for me, and I had a hard time even walking too much. So having the film project was in a way a blessing for me, since if there was anything I could do at that time, it was sitting down and pressing some keys!
I was more tired than usual, so I had to be very focused and use the hours I had. I woke up every morning, had a cup of coffee, and sat down in my living room to write; I set up a little home studio. I only had endurance to write about six to eight hours a day, so I was surprised how quickly I was able to write due to the limited time I had! But I also had a very literal deadline of giving birth eight weeks later, which definitely pushed me into a laser-focused zone!
There’s been an enormous amount of dialogue pushing for better representation of women in composition. What message would you like to share with those who might assume it’s “too hard” for a woman to take on a big project during their pregnancy, as you have done so successfully?
Every woman is different when it comes to pregnancy, and what is right for one person might not work for another. But for me, it was an incredible time to write music and be creative. Being pregnant is both a physical and spiritual journey, and I think it can bring a whole other perspective to whatever you are doing.
So, I’d say if you are feeling okay during your pregnancy, go for it! It’s quite awesome indeed!
At the end of the day, what has the scoring experience of The Sun is Also a Star taught you?
This scoring experience taught me a lot; especially on being organised, which is definitely one of my weaknesses. I tend to be pretty chaotic in my creative process, but when working on a bigger project, I learnt how incredibly important it is to be super detailed and organised. Otherwise, you pay for it with a possible meltdown, or a whole lot of extra unnecessary work, which I did not completely avoid during this process, but could have been worse!
This tip about being organised and creating a good system for your scoring process is a tip I got from an experienced film composer, and for that I am forever grateful!
Keep up to date on The Sun is Also a Star film online, and visit the composer’s website to learn more about her work. The soundtrack to this feature is released via Sony Music and is available to stream on Spotify.
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Images supplied. Movie stills feature Yara Shahidi as Natasha Kingsley and Charles Melton as Daniel Bae in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures’ romantic drama The Sun is Also a Star a Warner Bros. Pictures release, photos by Atsushi Nishijima.
