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Interview with Louise Wadley, film director, creator of All About E movie
by Brianna Reynolds, journalist
Louise Wadley Talks, All About E
We spoke with the legendary female filmmaker Louise Wadley about her feature film All About E.
From the moment the narrative begins you can feel the wave of freshness and reality emitted from this positively Australian film. The narrative follows a young DJ who gets into a sticky situation with her boss and is forced to leave town. The film is reminiscent of an on the road journey engaging cultural expectations, friendships and queer relationships in both the city and outback Australia.
The element that beautifully marries the narrative is the use of music. The main character E’s past as a clarinet player is used as an element which confirms that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is juxtaposed with her battle to work out who she really is and what makes her truly happy.
A wonderful film that see’s E escape and take a road trip to seek refuge with a lover from her past. The film makes you take a look at the life you are living and also appreciate the beauty of element such as sound (music) and sight (the great outdoors).
by Brianna Reynolds, journalist
Louise Wadley Talks, All About E
We spoke with the legendary female filmmaker Louise Wadley about her feature film All About E.
From the moment the narrative begins you can feel the wave of freshness and reality emitted from this positively Australian film. The narrative follows a young DJ who gets into a sticky situation with her boss and is forced to leave town. The film is reminiscent of an on the road journey engaging cultural expectations, friendships and queer relationships in both the city and outback Australia.
The element that beautifully marries the narrative is the use of music. The main character E’s past as a clarinet player is used as an element which confirms that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is juxtaposed with her battle to work out who she really is and what makes her truly happy.
A wonderful film that see’s E escape and take a road trip to seek refuge with a lover from her past. The film makes you take a look at the life you are living and also appreciate the beauty of element such as sound (music) and sight (the great outdoors).
BR: It was refreshing to see an LGBT Australian film!
LW: We just played the film in Hobart and that was one of the exact reasons people loved it, It was fantastic.
BR: When watching there are parts that remind you of other films, but the thing that makes it special is that there isn’t one film just like it, its new!
What was the inspiration behind writing and directing this film? Was there something specifically?
LW: I use to be a DJ in London, and I really got fascinated by the fact that the DJ brings the crowd along with them. There was also the realisation that we are different people in different worlds. I think that’s true for everybody, who are we to our friends, family, colleagues and lovers. That’s the thing that E has to learn, how does she bring them all together. And also you can be in control in one part of your life and not another and I wanted to play with that.
I love the fact that the film is super relatable as an Australian and there was one scene in a café where you hear the horse racing being called in the background. How important was it to capture Australia in the film?
I really feel Australia is a complicated place, we don’t see the cultural diversity that we have on the screen. If you live in Melbourne or Sydney you see that it’s a multicultural place. I also wanted to bring the city and the country together in the story, such as a the outback and living off the land. It’s also very uniquely Australian with different ethnicities clashing and bumping up against each other all the time. We have backpackers, immigrants and I also wanted to show its more complex than what we see, its not one or the other. So I wanted to show Australia as it is and not what people think it is.
LW: We just played the film in Hobart and that was one of the exact reasons people loved it, It was fantastic.
BR: When watching there are parts that remind you of other films, but the thing that makes it special is that there isn’t one film just like it, its new!
What was the inspiration behind writing and directing this film? Was there something specifically?
LW: I use to be a DJ in London, and I really got fascinated by the fact that the DJ brings the crowd along with them. There was also the realisation that we are different people in different worlds. I think that’s true for everybody, who are we to our friends, family, colleagues and lovers. That’s the thing that E has to learn, how does she bring them all together. And also you can be in control in one part of your life and not another and I wanted to play with that.
I love the fact that the film is super relatable as an Australian and there was one scene in a café where you hear the horse racing being called in the background. How important was it to capture Australia in the film?
I really feel Australia is a complicated place, we don’t see the cultural diversity that we have on the screen. If you live in Melbourne or Sydney you see that it’s a multicultural place. I also wanted to bring the city and the country together in the story, such as a the outback and living off the land. It’s also very uniquely Australian with different ethnicities clashing and bumping up against each other all the time. We have backpackers, immigrants and I also wanted to show its more complex than what we see, its not one or the other. So I wanted to show Australia as it is and not what people think it is.
BR: There was a part of the film that reminded me of Thelma and Louise, were you inspired by the film and the culture of road films.
LW: Most Definitely! Thelma and Louise has always been a favourite of mine. I love road movies because they force the characters to face things, they are usually running away from something. And of course the road trip provides that journey where they are forced to deal with things. In Thelma and Louise they are both running away from something and that’s what is exciting about road movies, it’s the same with Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
BR: I loved how you had a whole range of music, pop music in the clubs, and of course E who plays the clarinet. Was that important to you?
LW: Yeah, It is very important to me and I wanted something to provide another layer. I wanted E to be made up of many different parts, so there is classical music which is her journey as a clarinet player. She would have been a very good girl and played in an orchestra and trained hard and tried to please her parents. The music you hear throughout the film has many different parts. It’s a fusion of music that E at the end brings all the parts together and plays the type of music that she wants. She is a great DJ because she is a great musician and she knows how to do performance. In the club scenes I really wanted for your chest to move. You know that kind of excitement. I wanted to marry the Australian landscape.
We just released a soundtrack and it has all the music on it. The soundtrack is wonderful to play with the landscape.
LW: Most Definitely! Thelma and Louise has always been a favourite of mine. I love road movies because they force the characters to face things, they are usually running away from something. And of course the road trip provides that journey where they are forced to deal with things. In Thelma and Louise they are both running away from something and that’s what is exciting about road movies, it’s the same with Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
BR: I loved how you had a whole range of music, pop music in the clubs, and of course E who plays the clarinet. Was that important to you?
LW: Yeah, It is very important to me and I wanted something to provide another layer. I wanted E to be made up of many different parts, so there is classical music which is her journey as a clarinet player. She would have been a very good girl and played in an orchestra and trained hard and tried to please her parents. The music you hear throughout the film has many different parts. It’s a fusion of music that E at the end brings all the parts together and plays the type of music that she wants. She is a great DJ because she is a great musician and she knows how to do performance. In the club scenes I really wanted for your chest to move. You know that kind of excitement. I wanted to marry the Australian landscape.
We just released a soundtrack and it has all the music on it. The soundtrack is wonderful to play with the landscape.
BR: Was there a reason you chose the clarinet as the instrument E plays?
LW: First of all the clarinet is probably closest to the human voice. E’s mother was a singer who gave it up when she was born, so I wanted that link. The clarinet is really daggy and I thought what an interesting combination to have a sexy girl who plays this instrument that’s not really. That’s where I had Matt (E’s best friend) saying in the film, “oh that’s so boring and dire, why do we have to listen to this”. The truth is the clarinet is beautiful, but it’s not groovy and that’s part of E’s journey.
Its one of those things when your trying to work out who you are, you think. Its like the clarinet she threw it away, its too hard, I’m not good enough to be what I wanted to be. Its just because she doesn’t yet know who she is really in a complete way. That’s why it’s important for her to play her music.
Its important to note the story wasn’t about coming out; it was about a whole range of things. Like with E she is Arabic but this isn’t all she is.
As a woman I watch films all the time where men are the main characters and I have to see myself in them. What I’m loving is that with E’s journey people are seeing themselves in her even though she is Arabic, queer and Australian.
I had a farmer come up to me and say you really made me think about the expectations my parents had of me and what I was trying to do as a young adult. This was a sheep farmer identifying with this young woman character.
BR: That must be so exciting to hear that as the director and writer of the film!
LW: A lot of people have come up to me and said you really captured Australia and what it was like growing up for me in the outback. That’s really satisfying as a filmmaker to hear that.
LW: First of all the clarinet is probably closest to the human voice. E’s mother was a singer who gave it up when she was born, so I wanted that link. The clarinet is really daggy and I thought what an interesting combination to have a sexy girl who plays this instrument that’s not really. That’s where I had Matt (E’s best friend) saying in the film, “oh that’s so boring and dire, why do we have to listen to this”. The truth is the clarinet is beautiful, but it’s not groovy and that’s part of E’s journey.
Its one of those things when your trying to work out who you are, you think. Its like the clarinet she threw it away, its too hard, I’m not good enough to be what I wanted to be. Its just because she doesn’t yet know who she is really in a complete way. That’s why it’s important for her to play her music.
Its important to note the story wasn’t about coming out; it was about a whole range of things. Like with E she is Arabic but this isn’t all she is.
As a woman I watch films all the time where men are the main characters and I have to see myself in them. What I’m loving is that with E’s journey people are seeing themselves in her even though she is Arabic, queer and Australian.
I had a farmer come up to me and say you really made me think about the expectations my parents had of me and what I was trying to do as a young adult. This was a sheep farmer identifying with this young woman character.
BR: That must be so exciting to hear that as the director and writer of the film!
LW: A lot of people have come up to me and said you really captured Australia and what it was like growing up for me in the outback. That’s really satisfying as a filmmaker to hear that.
Louise Wadley MCU headshot
Thank you Louise Wadley for exclusively sharing the most beautiful knowledge of her journey in creating a fresh Australian film.
You can find out more through the official Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/AllAboutEmovie/
GIRLS OWN website
Bryanna
You can find out more through the official Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/AllAboutEmovie/
GIRLS OWN website
Bryanna
interview by Bryanna Reynolds
ELENA METLENKO, the Melbourne ambassador of Russian Resurrection Film Festival commented on the soundtrack to the ALL ABOUT E movie:
Listening to the soundtrack for All About E was a pleasurable experience. My husband & I listened to it in the car whilst driving to and from the city over the past few days, We found the music very pleasant to the ear and non-obtrusive or agitating. We were able to listen, then chat for a couple of minutes and then continue listening without having to raise our voices or feel the need to turn down the volume or turn it off because the music seemed to "get in the way" as some music does. Moreover, the soundtrack gave us the sense that the movie itself would be one to enjoy without extremes of emotion that arouse the response to fight or flee. Looking forward to watching what now promises to be a good movie one can simply relax to & enjoy!
Listening to the soundtrack for All About E was a pleasurable experience. My husband & I listened to it in the car whilst driving to and from the city over the past few days, We found the music very pleasant to the ear and non-obtrusive or agitating. We were able to listen, then chat for a couple of minutes and then continue listening without having to raise our voices or feel the need to turn down the volume or turn it off because the music seemed to "get in the way" as some music does. Moreover, the soundtrack gave us the sense that the movie itself would be one to enjoy without extremes of emotion that arouse the response to fight or flee. Looking forward to watching what now promises to be a good movie one can simply relax to & enjoy!
We also had an opportunity to interview one of the composer of the movie soundtrack, Australian composer Basil Hogios multi award winner (AFI nomination for Romulus, My Father)
BR (Bryanna Reynolds): How important was it to capture the Australian landscape as a (character) when it came to the narrative and story telling?
BH (Basil Hogios): For me, it's very important to capture the mood and atmosphere of a place in the music score, in fact it's as important as reflecting the drama of characters and the story. The film begins in a urban nightclub environment, and the story progressively takes our lead characters to the final showdown in the Australian rural landscape. That shift is reflected in the choices of existing music (the sound track) and my original score. The instrumentation of the score follows this movement, with synth/electronic sounds disappearing as E drives away from the city, to a more sparse arrangement with acoustic instruments. With the city so far away, there is more space and silence, so we can then hear the breath of the clarinet, the bow of the cello, the skin of the hand drum. In addition I introduced acoustic guitar for the country scenes, which triggers audiences associations to rural Australia. The lonely solo clarinet in the vast expanse is such a contrast to the thumping club music at the beginning.
BR: Was composing something you always wanted to do, or was it something that just seemed to naturally happen?
BH: I guess it was a natural progression, a combination of a few things. My musical path began with classical piano from a young age, which was a great foundation. I had a fantastic drama teacher in high school which sparked my interest in dramatic story telling.. I was completely into Shakespeare's tragedies and also the Gothic power and imagery of Wuthering Heights. I was also interested in visual arts and making things, and eventually became an architect. In stark contrast, my nerdy fascination with science and technology put me on a path of playing with music tech and sound recording, including pulling apart my parents Hi Fi system when I was 11. When I was at uni I was asked to perform in the Architecture Revues, and I think the interaction of lights, stage and audience sealed the deal, I was to start making music for stage and screen. People just started asking me to make music and sound for their projects, and I loved collaborating. So in a way, as a film composer, I was self taught, and seemed to have a natural instinct of music and dramatic storytelling. I eventually got a masters in film at the AFTRS, which put me on the path as full time composer.
BR: What came first with the composing of the soundtrack for All About E?
BH: When I joined the project, Louise had already started compiling a fantastic evocative list of tracks she wanted to use in the film. There was an eclectic range of styles but they all served an important purpose in the film, and for setting the scenes. She had written the main character as a DJ and clarinetist so there were already strong musical elements in the story. I think she has a great musical instinct and also knew that the world sounds of Joseph Tawadros would feature in the film (which work brilliantly). One of my favourite moments was the initial couple of days, sitting in a room with Louise and talking about the music, listening to the tracks, drinking tea, discussing what the score needed to do. This existing musical world Louise was creating, her song choices, and the story and characters essentially set the framework for me to write the new music. It also became clear that I would have a role in editing, mixing and placing the music of the other artists also, not just writing the original score. So before I even composed a note of the original score, the soundtrack album was taking shape. Those early sessions before the music is written are so important. For me once I map out the structure and the music cue list, it almost becomes an automatic process.. it kind of writes itself.
I always try to find a bespoke quality for the music of film, a sound that suits that film and no other. I also wanted my score to connect all the contrasting musical styles of the existing pieces, bringing it all together rather than just adding yet another kind of sound. I even worked with some musicians that also play with Joseph, further cementing the links between my original score and his existing tracks. I sent music back to Louise for her comments, which I always thought were so spot on. The to-ing and fro-ing eventually end up with sketches which are then ready for the musicians to record on. Thats when they really come to life. In this particular case I also mixed my original music score, which gave me even more scope to sculpt the sound, and I mixed Joseph's tracks to make them sound more cinematic for the big screen, making them sound more like a score.
BR: How long does it take to create from start to finish an album for a feature film, Is it different depending on the type of film it is ?
BH: Usually I don't have a say in how long it takes! And it varies wildly from project to project. It totally depends on the project timeline, and the nature of the score.. but generally there never is enough time! In All About E, there is a lot of music, not just my score but all the existing music. There was limited time, so it was a very intense process, but very productive and enjoyable. Some films have much less music in them (or none) and others only have score so there is less work to do. We don't necessarily aim to make an album, we do what the film needs. But in this case, the soundtrack album was a natural reflection of the film, to the point that the track order is chronological, it almost tells the story if you listen to it from start to finish.
BH (Basil Hogios): For me, it's very important to capture the mood and atmosphere of a place in the music score, in fact it's as important as reflecting the drama of characters and the story. The film begins in a urban nightclub environment, and the story progressively takes our lead characters to the final showdown in the Australian rural landscape. That shift is reflected in the choices of existing music (the sound track) and my original score. The instrumentation of the score follows this movement, with synth/electronic sounds disappearing as E drives away from the city, to a more sparse arrangement with acoustic instruments. With the city so far away, there is more space and silence, so we can then hear the breath of the clarinet, the bow of the cello, the skin of the hand drum. In addition I introduced acoustic guitar for the country scenes, which triggers audiences associations to rural Australia. The lonely solo clarinet in the vast expanse is such a contrast to the thumping club music at the beginning.
BR: Was composing something you always wanted to do, or was it something that just seemed to naturally happen?
BH: I guess it was a natural progression, a combination of a few things. My musical path began with classical piano from a young age, which was a great foundation. I had a fantastic drama teacher in high school which sparked my interest in dramatic story telling.. I was completely into Shakespeare's tragedies and also the Gothic power and imagery of Wuthering Heights. I was also interested in visual arts and making things, and eventually became an architect. In stark contrast, my nerdy fascination with science and technology put me on a path of playing with music tech and sound recording, including pulling apart my parents Hi Fi system when I was 11. When I was at uni I was asked to perform in the Architecture Revues, and I think the interaction of lights, stage and audience sealed the deal, I was to start making music for stage and screen. People just started asking me to make music and sound for their projects, and I loved collaborating. So in a way, as a film composer, I was self taught, and seemed to have a natural instinct of music and dramatic storytelling. I eventually got a masters in film at the AFTRS, which put me on the path as full time composer.
BR: What came first with the composing of the soundtrack for All About E?
BH: When I joined the project, Louise had already started compiling a fantastic evocative list of tracks she wanted to use in the film. There was an eclectic range of styles but they all served an important purpose in the film, and for setting the scenes. She had written the main character as a DJ and clarinetist so there were already strong musical elements in the story. I think she has a great musical instinct and also knew that the world sounds of Joseph Tawadros would feature in the film (which work brilliantly). One of my favourite moments was the initial couple of days, sitting in a room with Louise and talking about the music, listening to the tracks, drinking tea, discussing what the score needed to do. This existing musical world Louise was creating, her song choices, and the story and characters essentially set the framework for me to write the new music. It also became clear that I would have a role in editing, mixing and placing the music of the other artists also, not just writing the original score. So before I even composed a note of the original score, the soundtrack album was taking shape. Those early sessions before the music is written are so important. For me once I map out the structure and the music cue list, it almost becomes an automatic process.. it kind of writes itself.
I always try to find a bespoke quality for the music of film, a sound that suits that film and no other. I also wanted my score to connect all the contrasting musical styles of the existing pieces, bringing it all together rather than just adding yet another kind of sound. I even worked with some musicians that also play with Joseph, further cementing the links between my original score and his existing tracks. I sent music back to Louise for her comments, which I always thought were so spot on. The to-ing and fro-ing eventually end up with sketches which are then ready for the musicians to record on. Thats when they really come to life. In this particular case I also mixed my original music score, which gave me even more scope to sculpt the sound, and I mixed Joseph's tracks to make them sound more cinematic for the big screen, making them sound more like a score.
BR: How long does it take to create from start to finish an album for a feature film, Is it different depending on the type of film it is ?
BH: Usually I don't have a say in how long it takes! And it varies wildly from project to project. It totally depends on the project timeline, and the nature of the score.. but generally there never is enough time! In All About E, there is a lot of music, not just my score but all the existing music. There was limited time, so it was a very intense process, but very productive and enjoyable. Some films have much less music in them (or none) and others only have score so there is less work to do. We don't necessarily aim to make an album, we do what the film needs. But in this case, the soundtrack album was a natural reflection of the film, to the point that the track order is chronological, it almost tells the story if you listen to it from start to finish.
Basil Hogios
Bohemian Rhapsody Club is very grateful to MBPublicity Sharon Flynn and Linda Airey from La Publicity for the opportunity to interview Louise and Basil.
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