The artistic underpinnings of the Linkwater Project came from several different sources. In lieu of attending film school I've taken to listening to the directors' commentaries on some of my favorite DVDs. (It's cheaper, for one thing.) A few of these included storyboards of scenes in the films or storyboarded alternate endings. I was taken in by the loose pencil sketches that offered a behind-the-scenes look at the film during its planning stages. After completing my audio-fiction the thought of creating a storyboarded fiction came to mind. I was lucky enough to find an artist (Steve Schwarts) who was able to frame a coherent story from a few sparse scene descriptions. Most of the time and energy of making the film went into the composition of the soundtrack. I've been a fan of Michel Legrande since I was a starving jazz musician in my early 20s. It wasn't until recently, however, that I came across a film that he scored that was the source of a few jazz standards, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It's filled with beautiful melodies that intertwine with the threads of the plot. For the soundtrack of the Linkwater Project I tried to incorporate lessons I took from that film, specifically around writing a melodic line which is interesting but short enough to be repeated and internalized over a short period while the viewer's attention is focused on the visual aspects of the film.
Fear on Film: THE LINKWATER PROJECT
by Andrew Felix
Last fall I sat down at my laptop to try out some open-source audio recording software. I strummed a few chords on guitar and unpacked the clarinet in my basement to fill out the melodies. I then started speaking into the cheap condenser microphone and smirked to myself as my clarinet tune was transformed from an etude to 'soundtrack.' The idea of creating a fiction came to mind. I electronically lowered the pitch of my voice an octave and began to think of a role for this sinister sounding antagonist in my short fiction. Over the next few weeks I began to try to shape a film-noir style narrative from my experience consulting for information technology projects and some ideas I had come across while reading a few books on stock option trading. It wasn't until later that I realized that the fiction was in many ways an amalgamation of phobias that I had accumulated during my years of consulting. These fears ranged from fear of success, to fear of authority, to fear of the invisible cars bearing down behind blinding headlights on windy darkened roads. In this fiction the protagonist is trying to get a handle on the a client relationship that's spinning out of control, and he's experiencing the stress of trying to fulfill unrealistic expectations.