Minah Jung

June's Atonement

Original Sound & Music Score category

Composer Joel Berger

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Could you tell us here in a few sentences about the music or sound design of this film ?   How did you interpret the narrative of the film ?  What is the collaboration like between yourself and the director. 

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The director is Minah Jung, a female director. She worked on a documentary that was about my life and we became great friends since then. That documentary was about how my family were human trafficked slaves and how we gained our freedom.

The director and I trust each other very much and share the same vision of increasing Asian representation in media.

This is the Composer Joel Berger's statement about writing the score for June's Atonement:

"When approaching the score, the first step was to establish a theme for each character. I believe that a character’s theme is the best way for a composer to tell a story through the audio in an attempt to deepen the connection between the audience and the character.

 

I was given the characters initially and learned their traits, and from that I established themes and basic instrumentation. For example, I saw June as innocent and chose a flute to give an atmosphere of purity. At more sensitive moments, her theme is only embellished by light strings and an oboe, but at more dramatic moments, I felt that a larger string section and a choir would give her more power and strength, while still preserving her innocence and purity with the 
flute.

 

Clayton is represented by a more foreboding piece that we hear first played by a bass and a music box to build intimidation and suspense, and later as a fuller, more frantic ensemble as he reacts in turn. All the music serves to enhance what is happening on screen and add new dimensions to the story through sound. Movement on film is mirrored by movement in the music, which to me is the key difference between music and a score."