The end credits of Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11 included an intriguing note that all the music was recorded only on instruments contemporary to the film's 1969 setting.
I was so intrigued by this that I reached out the composer, Matt Morton, and asked if we could do an interview about this decision, and how he managed to pull it all off.
For more on the process of making the interview visit my blog.
April 2019
Apollo 11: Crafting the Score
Composer Matt Morton discusses the process of crafting the score for Apollo 11. He discusses the origins of the music, the instruments he used, and the labourious process of recording, and he breaks down the elements of a cue.
Directed by Todd Douglas Miller (Dinosaur 13), Apollo 11 recounts the momentous days and hours when humankind took a giant leap into the future. Miller's frequent collaborator Matt Morton wrote, orchestrated, performed, recorded, and mixed all of the music for the film and its trailers using instruments available at the time of the 1969 mission, including the Moog Synthesizer IIIc, the Binson Echorec 2 (tube echo), and the Mellotron (keyboard).
Crafted from a newly discovered trove of audio recordings and 65mm footage — including shots of the launch, the inside of NASA's Mission Control, and recovery and post-mission activities — Miller’s immersive documentary yields surprising moments of humour and camaraderie, along with remarkable new insights into key events of the celebrated 1969 lunar voyage.
Client: TIFF
Producer/Editor: Adam Schoales
Now available on the UK Blu-ray release from Dogwoof.