The film’s use of complex jazz tracks is part of the director’s larger vision of introducing audiences to the cutthroat and high-pressure world of big jazz bands. The film’s namesake track, “Whiplash,” is an actual track composed by Hank Levy and first released in a 1973 jazz album by Don Ellis. In fact, Chazelle made it a point to catch close-ups of the band members in particularly tense scenes involving Simmons’ Terence Fletcher to get their authentic reactions to the latter’s domineering presence.įinally, the music school seen in the film is fictional but appears to have similarities with The Juilliard School in New York. Most of the characters that form the rest of the band in the film are musicians and had never been on screen before. However, since he had played only rock and never underwent formal music education, he had to undergo intense training to play a convincing jazz musician, and a visual double was also used for a few shots. Actor Miles Teller has played the drums since his teens, and about forty percent of the soundtracks used in the movie are his own drumming. It was a pretty narrowly focused life.”Īpart from drawing on the director’s experiences, the film’s protagonist gets another layer of authenticity by being essayed by a drummer. There was nothing I thought about other than drums and tempo and studying Buddy Rich and Joe Jones. A particular excerpt from Chazelle’s interview reveals just how similar to the film his own life was - “…it’s a testament to how influential and intimidating my conductor was that something that beforehand had been a kind of side hobby for me became, for four years, absolutely my life and an obsession. Understandably, there are a few similarities between the director’s experiences and what Andrew goes through in the film. Just dread,” he said.” And not being able to eat meals before rehearsals and losing sleep and sweating my ass off. “That was my overall emotion during those years. The director revealed that Fletcher was inspired by his harsh high school music instructor but also drew from the likes of Buddy Rich and “other famously tyrannical band leaders in jazz history.” Chazelle further described how he remembered being terrified while playing the drums in high school because of the pressure. One of the film’s most notable aspects is the antagonist band instructor, Terence Fletcher, who becomes the protagonist’s main obstacle. The short film was received favorably, and soon he made the feature-length version of the script. After finishing the script for ‘Whiplash,’ Chazelle used 15 pages of the script to make an 18-minute short film with the same name to raise funds for the feature film. The director revealed in an interview that he wrote the script while he was going through a “frustrating” experience trying to get his musical, ‘ La La Land‘ off the ground. Though the film follows a fictional narrative, set in the make-believe Schaffer Conservatory in New York City, the director attempted to imbibe it with the dread he felt while playing in the band. He was part of a very competitive jazz band in high school and spent a few years completely immersed in playing the drums. The film, written and directed by Damien Chazelle, draws from his experiences while attending Princeton High School. ‘Whiplash’ is partially based on a true story. To answer this lingering question, we decided to find out whether ‘Whiplash’ is actually based on a true story or not. Andrew’s journey and encounter with the belligerent instructor feel quite authentic, and the narrative shows signs of being entrenched in reality. Directed by Damien Chazelle, the film explores the lesser-known brutal competitive side of jazz bands.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |