I am listening to songs that accompany scenes unwitnessed.
Yet, it’s easy for me to picture the scene, thanks to an ingenious device called “Transmedia Arti(fiction)“.
What?
Here’s Rick Liebling, a marketing professional who writes insightful blog named eyecube.com, by way of explanation:
Foundtracks is a creative mash-up, appropriating from the worlds of literature, music and film to create a tangible object from a ‘what if?’ alternative universe. For the academically inclined, I call this Transmedia Arti(fiction).
His first project: A sequel to The Catcher in the Rye, as Liebling imagined, directed by Wes Anderson.
Anderson, as far as I know, doesn’t plan to make such a film (at least, yet). Nor any sequel to J.D. Salinger’s masterpiece has been written, by Salinger or otherwise, or at least published. Liebling just skipped over these facts, and made his own soundtrack to the movie.
And you know what? It works.
I am listening to such gems of 70s music as “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” by Steely Dan, The Stones’ “She’s a Rainbow”, and “Lido Shuffle” by Boz Scaggs, and following the rough plot provided by Liebling, set some twenty-five years later in California. It’s a testament to the strengths of the original book’s characters, Anderson’s filmmaking style, and the ingenuity, on behalf of Liebling, of matching them up in California in the 70’s, that it all feels natural, and somehow real. It’s as though you already saw the preview, or it’s a film that you’ve been meaning to get from Netflix.
The review copy of Chatsworth, as Liebling titled this project, came in the mail (thanks Rick!), with its stylish burgundy cover and the liner notes inside. Liebling went so far to suggest Mark Mothersbaugh supply orignial scores to nudge the plot line along, and provided evocative, creative titles for them (”Olvera Street Revolucion”, “Little Shirley Beans”, “Incident at the Knowlwood Country Club”, etc.). So, in addition to imagining the movie, you get to play the songs written for it in your head!
A head trip? Sure, a very enjoyable one. Of course, I am a fan of Anderson films and The Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorite American fictions, so that helps fuel my imagination.
I asked how Liebling picked the songs and titles, and here’s what he had to say:
I think what I was looking for first was a mood. What mood do Wes Anderson films and Catcher in the Rye evoke in me? What musical artists or songs fit into that ‘world’? Then, along the way I kept imagining the plot of the ‘movie’. At some point I then decided I would use a Wes Anderson trope, original Mark Mothersbaugh music, to move the plot forward. I didn’t have actual original Mothersbaugh tunes, so I just made up song titles that describe action in the ‘movie.’
Reportedly, Liebling is working on the next project at Foundtracks. I am looking forward to more of this!
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