Music

For some filmmakers, music is a very important part of a movie. While some think it is good solely for helping the viewer feel the emotions. Kevin McMullin, the writer/director/editor for Exit 117 felt as though the music would help evoke emotions and support the story. He wanted the movie to be similar to a music video, with music strung throughout its entirety.

Usually, filmmakers find music during the editing phase. However, Kevin was driven by music and wanted to find musical selections prior to shooting. He told me a little bit about what he wanted and played a few samples of songs that he liked. All of the artists he played for me had deals and were signed artists. If he wanted to use these artists, it would cost a lot of money to gain the rights to the songs. So, I played a song for him by Jonah Delso, a friend and fellow student at Drexel University. Kevin loved it. I played him a few more of his songs and we found our artist. While some movies have soundtracks of various artists, Kevin wanted all Jonah Delso music for our soundtrack. With the exception of one other original piece, all of the music was done for free by Jonah. As an aspiring musician, Jonah was excited and eager to let us use his music in the movie.

So my advice to you, find a musician that is unsigned and whose music matches the tone of the movie. For us, Jonah Delso was the perfect choice for us.

I encourage you to check out his website for more!


Jonah on Myspace