The Power of Music in Creativity with Holly Mazur

Holly Mazur is a talented filmmaker whose work aims to capture the beauty and uniqueness of people.  Through her work Holly creates what she describes as heartfelt films: films that use emotion and narrative to place her audience in the feelings of a moment.

One of the ways that Holly is able take her audience to this place with her films, is through music. As a Cinematographer, I always hate to admit it but when it comes to serving the story, music and sound design trumps visuals (though as a director I make great use of music for my stories). Holly was kind enough to share some of how she works with music in her projects, the importance of music in her life as an artist, and how music inspires her on a daily basis.

Feel free to check out some of her work and then hop on down into the interview!

1. How does music inspire you with your work as a filmmaker?

One of the things I love about music is it’s ability to transport you somewhere else, like taking you back to a feeling, or memory. I adore how we all have these certain songs that can instantly take us back to a time in our lives, or a very specific feeling.

Because of this power, I find that this is a great place to start when you're trying to visualize a film. Sometimes picking a song is the first thing I'll do when starting a project, because it helps to put me in the mood of the project. When you start with a good piece of music, you can use it as a blueprint to envision what shots go where and start to build your film with the soundtrack. This also makes technical choices, like lighting and editing, easier to decide on because you already have a framework.

2. Why is it important to find the right music for a project?

The right music really can make or break a project. Music is often one of the strongest guides throughout a film. The visuals may paint the picture but the music is the real train that pushes along the story. If the music doesn't fit, the viewers will feel like your train is falling off the tracks. It's one of those things that audiences might not even notice if the music works well. It’s that subtle. But, they will definitely notice if it doesn't fit.

3. Filmmaking aside, how can other artists embrace music to amplify their work?

Like I mentioned before, music is a great tool to help you practice visualizing an idea. Whether that's a new idea, or an old memory, when you close our eyes and listen to a song, you can almost imagine a scene playing along in your head. In fact it’s hard not to picture something that goes along with music. So even if you don’t have any ideas, you can start listening to music and writing out some of the images that come to mind. It’s great for when you’re stuck trying to come up with an idea.

Music is also a helpful way to set your mood. It's pretty magical how music can tap into our brains and help us regulate how we're feeling. This is a great tool when you're setting yourself up for a calm afternoon of creating, or even getting hyped up for a big shoot. So music can be helpful to you the artist, just as much as it can for an audience.

4. Do you listen to music while you work? If so, what kind, and why?

I love listening to lo-fi channels while I work. I think I have one saved for almost every mood at this point, haha.

Lo-fi is great because it gently leads you into a world or feeling and you get to just bask in it. I find I really connect with how these playlists try to sit in a vibe, and paint a world with the music. It mirrors what I try to do in my own films, which is to transport audiences to a specific place and feeling.

Here is a sample of some of my favourite playlists:

For psyching myself up to go work…

For a rainy day…

For a sleepy afternoon…

5. Where can artists go to find music for their projects?

I love working directly with musicians but obviously that’s impossible for every project, so there’s a few go-to music services I buy from for projects.

Soundstripe* or Music Vine are usually the first places I'll look for purchasing a music license. I find they have a good mix of polished tracks for commercial projects, as well as atmospheric indie music that I love. For example, I've been eyeing this track for creating, say, a nice outdoorsy video.

I also really like Musicbed, which tends to be higher priced tracks, but worth it, if possible.

We recently created a project with this song, which I absolutely loved (even after listening to it 1000+ times in editing)! Open up the tab and listen to this song with your eyes closed. To me, you can just feel the sentimentality of it, and it resonates with wedding vibes. You can already start to picture the film before it was even made!

It ended up working out perfectly for the final film which you can watch below.

*Myles here. Full transparency, this my affiliate link for Soundstripe. I love their service!

Hopefully now you can see the role that music can play in your work and how you can use it to take things to the next level. If you made it this far, any questions or thoughts you have feel free to ask in the comments and we’ll get back to you. As a small blog it means the world to us! :) And if you’d like to hang out with us longer, check out Holly’s work using the links below.

Website: www.hollymazurproductions.com

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/hollymazur

Instagram @holly.mazur 

Go get that 🍞