POD is the new horror film from Mickey Keating, director of RITUAL. It is available now on VOD and I highly recommend you check it out. It is a solid and nihilistic thriller that will get in your head and under your skin. One of the reasons for this is the music by composer Giona Ostinelli, who has scored over 25 films including Mickey Keating’s RITUAL. We caught up with Ostinelli recently for a one on one about the process of making the fantastic retro score for POD.

The film has a very 1970’s TV movie vibe. Was that intentional?

Yes. It was something that Mickey and I discovered was working very well. We talked about sound design and an ambient score and then I started working on it and I was like “Let’s try something else, something different.” And I started playing around with vibes and orchestra, with that 70’s Sci-Fi feel. I played it for Mickey and he LOVED it!

It really works…

Yeah. We found out it works really well for specific scenes as well. Like when they’re drinking coffee, for Agent Smith it’s perfect. It really helps with this conspiracy feel the film has.

Did you write any of the music beforehand or did you have the luxury of scoring the film once it was completed?

Everything once it was completed. With Mickey, it’s hard to do it before hand because you have to see it. I always look at the scripts but writing music just from the script is very hard because there are so many other cool elements to the film that you need to see like how the actors talk and how they’re dressed. The lighting, the mood. The landscape. It all affects the music.

As far as building the tension, was that all organic or was it a trial and error?

Funny enough, with Mickey, there isn’t a lot of trial and error, I usually follow my guts. That is usually the basis then we build from there. For example, the whole scene when Ed is holding the door and Lyla is running out, the percussion is the first idea that came to mind. Then we worked for a couple of more weeks on it just adding and adding. The Harvest scene where it was down in the basement which people might think is the easiest one because there is nothing but there is a lot of sound design and also you have to create sounds that won’t get in the way.

Where there any particular influences on the soundtrack for you?

I’m a huge film score buff but I don’t listen to soundtracks I try to replicate that feel for a film I’m working on. I used to do that early in my career but it never works because that soundtrack works for that film. The film you work on is a different one. So I do listen to scores but for the weird unexpected things the composers do then thinking about it and trying to apply that to my work. Like everyone right now is doing synthesizers. I’m like “Let’s do something different.”

Since you read the script first, would you say you are dialogue or emotion driven?

Both. But it depends on the piece. I read the scripts so I understand the dynamics between the characters. Sometimes when you read the scripts you read about things that you wouldn’t see in the film. Thematic material that you won’t see in the film because maybe it’s hard to see. Then I start thinking about the character that is driving that scene. I try to combine emotions and see how I can make that work. Because when I work on a film, emotion has to be carried away but the dialogue has to be at the forefront. That means that the music has to be behind, supporting that.