The One For Me is a short musical film parody of typical rom-coms. The leads believe that if they follow the patterns they see in the movies, their love life will work out. Despite their friends in a healthy relationship warning them about the work good relationships take, they seem set in their ways.
The film is still being edited.
I wrote the music for the short film. The major ballad song that I am most proud of is Written By Those Stars. The PDF of the sheet music is below. Below the PDF is an explanation of some of the authorial intent that went into the lyrics and/or music of the song.
Written By Those Stars
Authorial Intent
Starting with the very first few measures. The flute motif is meant to mimic fluttering hearts (much like how the CW show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend utilized a similar flute motif), however the notes of the motif are a nod to the Dies Irae. This is an ancient chant associated with death and dying. The intervals are altered–instead of a half step and then a whole step interval it is a 2 whole step and 1 whole step interval. Additionally, instead of the same 1st and 3rd note, this note is made the 2nd and 4th note of the phrase. By changing these things, I ensured that it would not be too obvious but may contribute to a sense that this seemingly happy motif is not all that it seems–something sinister lies under the surface.
For this song, the director tasked me with recreating the feel of a Disney Channel song, and so I strove to make it bouncy and light, with nothing too complicated musically.
In measure 9, the octave hit on the and of beat 1 is meant to coincide with the two actors’ eyes meeting in the film, adding to the feeling of “fate”.
The chorus! Let’s talk about the title of the number! This is obviously a play on “written by the stars”, already a phrase associated with fate. By changing “the” to “those” I wanted to emphasize that they aren’t even following “fate”, the characters are following what they think to be fate based on different romantic comedies they have seen. They are following those writers’ ideas of fate. I had also recommended to the director that I had envisioned this number taking place in a hallway where there are different (parodied because of copyright) romantic comedy movie posters in the background to emphasize this point, but this had to be cut due to a lack of time and money.
Starting at measure 37, the line “I know we just met / but my one regret/ is how long it took me to see / that we were / written by those stars” is obviously poking fun at how quickly couples in romantic comedies move. However, it is also a reference to a similar parody line from the amazing musical Twisted, where during a couple’s love song (after they just met), the man proposes and the woman says “Took you long enough!”
Beginning at measure 69, the line “All we have to do is follow our hearts” was meant to be staged as such: during the scene, there are always subtle hearts in the background in front of the path of the actors. Maybe heart decals on the wall, or heart tiles on the floor, or even cartoon hearts. This is meant to emphasize that they are not following their flesh and blood hearts but instead are following the cartoonish, unrealistic path that has been set for them by movies.
Additionally, in the reprise (linked below), there is a line about “each note, each line each key change playing its part”–I personally am a huge fan of when characters in musicals–especially parody/self-aware musicals–reference what the music is doing to heighten the emotion. Since this is the reprise and a heightening of the emotion, it of course also comes with a key change.
Changing Weather
Changing Weather is the other big song of the show, although calling it a “big” song seems disingenous since despite its long run time, it is quite a “small” song. It only has voice, piano, guitar, and some violins, as opposed to Written By Those Stars, which is written to include drums, trombone, and trumpet (in reality we were unfortunately unable to find a trumpet player for our budget).
This song is written for the couple that serve as a foil to Girl and Guy (no, they never get names). Noah and Antoine (we ended up changing their names as we changed them from a gay couple to a lesbian couple). It serves to chronicle their love story, how they share their life together and how they continued to choose to love one another. This is inspired by a post I saw a while ago on tumblr that discussed how love is a choice rather than an emotion.
Authorial Intent
The beginning of the song starts with, well, the beginning. Before they were lovers, they were friends. The line “A daffodil path” references how daffodils are supposed to represent a new love/relationship. Two other flowers are used throughout the song to represent different phases in their relationship.
The beginning chronicles how they were both hesitant to make a move because they did not know the other liked them back. “A question, stolen daffodils, and a choice that we had to make” references how–in my version of the song–the two are shown in flashback walking along a path, before one plucks daffodils and presents them to the other. While the song plays, we would be able to see her mouthing “Would you like to go out with me?” or something similar–this is the choice that they have to make, whether to attempt a relationship or stay friends.
“It started to rain / We paid it no mind” Unlike Guy and Girl who interpret everything as a sign of it being “fate”, this couple don’t interpret immediate rain as a sign that their relationship shouldn’t happen. Instead, they make the most of it and dance with each other (badly, again they are not made for the romance musical genre). Instead of focusing on fate, they focus on each other and ignore the rain.
The bolded portions during the choruses mark which person has the melody during sections that are not in unison. I decided to have the two switch off having the melody, since they are equal partners in their relationship and therefore equal partners in the song.
“The daffodils wilted / but we stayed the same” Even though the ephemeral, worldly form of their love (the flowers) have died, they continue on. While Guy and Girl are entirely concerned with how their love appears, this couple is not. Instead they continue to “grow” (much like flowers) and choose to stay together, not having the decision made by some outside force (for instance, the weather).
In the second verse, one describes how the other would sing in broken French each night to her. I have always found the idea of someone singing love songs out of tune to their lover but their lover loving it even more that way extremely romantic. It is the love that is important, again it is not the appearance of it. While Guy and Girl’s song is overproduced and they sing well, this couple does not necessarily have to, they can rely on the love inside.
A note on the bad French: the director is a native French speaker so I put this in not only for the idea of “perfection in imperfection”, but also to get at him. The line “her own chansonner” is when this person is trying to use the French “chanson” meaning “song” and use the English suffix “-er” to make the word for “singer”, even though this is incorrect. There is another Bad French-ism when she mispronounces “et notre chat” as “ɛt nowtɹɛ ʃæt” because her pronunciation of “chat” is slang for female genitalia.
The second verse details how one person attempted a sweet gesture by giving the other a rose (which represents strong love, by the way) because her favorite song is “La vie en rose”, but her partner laughs at her. Her laughter is described as “thunderous” and there is a reference to a “storm in her eyes”, indicating how the weather has once again changed in their relationship, this time through a fight, or at least the beginnings of one. However, instead, they hold each other and talk it through in order to stay together. They don’t make rash decisions, they work to care for one another.
In the bridge, the line “I learned she liked love letters/She didn’t like love letters” sung at the same time is meant to represent how even partners with different love languages can learn to love each other in a way that makes each other feel loved if they talk about it. They are willing to put in the work.
The third verse references a pot of dahlias. Dahlias represent long-lasting love. Additionally, they are in a gardening pot, not pulled out of the ground or gifted as a one-time flower. Instead, even the flowers are staying around longer, since they have learned how to care for one another and cultivate a lasting relationship.
“We can hide from outside / with her by my side” They have created a life where they don’t have to worry about what the outside world thinks of them (this is emphasized by the fact that they are a queer couple while the main couple is straight), instead they can focus on each other inside.
The 6/8 time signature I chose because it has a very cyclical feeling, which suits this couple, as they go through cycles but always stay together.