Many people attended the cult NZ digital feature film Woodenhead in the 2003 NZ and Melbourne International Film Festivals. Those that did couldn't help but notice a tight integration between visuals and the soundtrack. Many people attended the cult NZ digital feature film Woodenhead in the 2003 NZ and Melbourne International Film Festivals. Those that did couldn't help but notice a tight integration between visuals and the soundtrack.There was good reason for this. The soundtrack [dialogue, music and atmos] was created prior to shooting any visuals. This was a collaborative process between writer/director Florian Habicht and composer Marc Chesterman, both sharing the sound design.

As Habicht wrote the script, Chesterman created samples and wrote music. Habicht also wrote lyrics for the three main characters songs'. Cellist Edward Hanfling, accordionist Angel and trumpeter Richard Noble all contributed their talents, adding a wonderful layer of acoustic instrumentation to the backbone of Chesterman's sampled sounds and music.

With a finished script, and music completed with guide vocal tracks Woodenhead went into the studio to record all voices and vocals. An unusual feature of Woodenhead is that the films characters speak their lines without opening their mouths-they 'think' dialogue or go telepathic. Dialogue is overdubbed, evoking a European/spaghetti western sonic tradition. Initially disorientating, audiences quickly learn this audio/visual convention and are then pulled deeper into the Woodenhead world.

After recording voices and vocals [with the superb talents of Steve Abel as Gert, Mardi Potter as Plum, Warwick Broadhead as Hugo, Margaret-Mary Hollins as the narrator, and also including Matthew Sunderland, Lutz Halbhubner, Henry Lee, Vanessa Rhodes] the entire sound version of the film was assembled and roughly mixed before being cut into 'scene sized' pieces that Habicht and crew could finally shoot visuals to. Scripting and creating the sound version of the film took about two years to complete.

Thankfully the cast and crew liked the music, they got to hear it repeatedly as they performed and acted to it [on a small portable cd player] over 2-3 months of shooting in Northland, New Zealand. Editing and final sound mix took place between mid 2002 and May 2003.

Woodenhead had always wanted a soundtrack album. After almost releasing a radio play version of the film on CD [it still might happen?] we stripped it right back to focus primarily on the music of Woodenhead. It is sequenced in the same order as the film and is dispersed with short bites of dialogue and atmos. Musically, Chesterman combines elements of pop, jazz and opera into a melding of acoustic [carnival accordion/cello/trumpet] and sampled sounds. Tempo is mellow, mostly. Characters and places each have theme songs.

Also featured is the Killer Ray track , "Hi De Hi De Ho", Steve Abel's "Hospice for Destitute Lovers", and Mardi Potter's vocal on her track "Nothing Sensible".

CD artwork by Teresa Peters includes the very popular Woodenhead film poster.

WOODENHEAD CD SOUNDTRACK ALBUM, NOW AVAILABLE IN SHOPS.

Distribution: Global Routes Music
PH+64 9 3761808
FAX +64 9 529 9086

Woodenhead correspondence: PO Box 68052, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand
m.chest@angelfire.com florianh@paradise.net.nz
PH +64 21 046 1370
For additional articles, reviews, images: www.woodenhead.co.nz