Killer Aloe – die Rache der Heilpflanzen (which means something like “the vengeance of the medical plants”) is a short super-8 movie by Daniel “Analoge Widerstandsfront” Mahlknecht and Silvana Zancolò. I was asked to create a soundtrack for it a long time ago (probably more than 2 years) but only now I find some time to work on it. I’m still sketching out the intro, which I’ve been using to define the overall style of the soundtrack, and I think I’m starting to get somewhere here, at least that’s my feeling with it.
And now some info for the technically inclined: The theremin style sound, comes from the Novation Bass Station, and there is a bit of C64, which I’ve added to the low end of the composition. A Gakken SX-150 was used to add some FX and weirdness here and there. I had added some Atari Punk Console sounds, but have removed them here, they will appear further on in the score.
(the picture above is an actual frame from the movie of course)
The circus tent came down. The clown returned the poodle to its cage with a treat. Back in his caravan he sat down at the mirror. The show had been a success; the dog had made every hoop. A success, until, amidst the laughter, he’d seen that boy in the front row: pulling a grimace. He pulled off his wig, but his face, he left on. As a schoolboy it had always been grimacing boys, grimacing girls… Soon the bearded lady would come over; she liked to after a show; only tonight, he would let her have it her way.
Aveva bussato alla porta della vicina, quella nuova, quella sempre veloce ed estranea. La vicina aveva aperto, che era già un buon primo passo.
“Buongiorno,” aveva detto Sonia, “ho finito il sale.”
La vicina aveva fatto una strana faccia. Era chiaro che stava pensando che Sonia cercava una scusa per farsi gli affari suoi.
“Mi dispiace, non ne ho,” aveva risposto.
Sonia aveva fatto spallucce. “Grazie lo stesso.”
Ma da quel giorno, chissà come, qualsiasi cosa la nuova vicina mangiasse le sembrava sciocca. Non importava quanto sale usasse, da quel momento in poi tutto il cibo, per lei, fu insipido.
Notes
Not much to say today, apart from that I’m really pleased with these two illustrations. This is probably, I’d say even certainly, due to the fact that we have two really inspiring stories here. Ryan has been sending me tweaked and corrected versions of Grimace ever since this project started, so this is kind of a small milestone, to have it finally illustrated here.
