Q&A with Michael Price – the composer of The Mountain Within

First of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself – where are you from and what was your role in TMW?

I’m Michael Price, and was the composer of the score for The Mountain Within. I’ve been involved in film music for more years than I care to remember now, as a composer, arranger, music editor, you name it, and have been lucky enough to work on some amazing films. And now I’ve worked on another one!

When and how did you get involved in TMW?

Kyle Portbury, the Director, called me up in Spring 2008 with what I first thought was a spoof job. “So, how do you feel about climbing up Kilimanjaro, writing music as you go, while we all make a film?” I presumed he’d gone a little mad.

Had you worked with any of the crew before?

I’d worked with Kyle, Gregory the producer and Kate the editor before on a short film, shot in Cornwall, where I’d spent the week with them on set. It seemed like such a different way to work, and I felt much more involved in the project than I often do, being with the whole crew for the shoot, so I was very keen to try again.

What did your role involve?

As the composer you’re responsible for writing, conducting and recording all the music that’s heard in the film. I’m very lucky to work with an amazing group of people, from the superb orchestral players, through the engineers at Abbey Road, especially Andrew Dudman, then the people that work closely with me on the writing of the score; Anthony Weeden who orchestrated it, and Rael Jones who produces everything with me, and plays all instruments known to man. I guess my job is to make sure that all those amazingly talented people have some reasonable tunes to work on!

For this project, some crew members took on different and/or extra roles to those they would normally take on – what were some of the strangest things you had to do on TMW?

In theory I was supposed to be helping record production sound on the mountain, but I turned out to be the most useless sound guy ever. I was also enormously inept with a camera, so mostly I ended up sorting out the video diaries we were sending back to people who were following our progress. There are pictures somewhere of me sitting freezing on a rock at 13,000 feet with a laptop on my knees trying to connect to the internet with a solar-powered satellite dish. I’ll never be rude about BT Broadband again.

What were your thoughts about Kilimanjaro and the climb before you arrived in Tanzania?

I found it very hard to imagine how difficult it was going to be, as going up and down a few climbs in the Lake District was the most I’d ever done. I imagined it would be bigger than the Lake District. And it was.

How did you feel when you arrived at the base of the mountain?

I think we were all so stressed and focused on trying to make the best film we could that I often forgot to look up at the mountain. It didn’t really dawn on me for a few days what a crazy thing we were doing.

Had you been on Kilimanjaro or to altitude before?

No. I usually avoid going to places where there isn’t enough oxygen . . .

Had you met any of the climbers before the climb?

I’d been on a couple of training walks, including one on Snowdon where I’d met many of the team. There was already an amazing bond of humour between the climbers and their buddies, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted how much everyone’s characters would have been tested.

Was there a particular event on the mountain that sticks out in your memory?

I’d love to say being on the summit, but I can barely remember staggering there. I think there were hundreds of tiny moments of humanity, humour and courage, and whenever I see the film now, I remember new ones.

How did you find working at altitude?

Like trying to work after ten pints of Yorkshire bitter. People aren’t meant to be that high up – it’s unnatural.

How do you feel that the crew as a group handled the extremes of Kilimanjaro?

I think we were often inexperienced, under-prepared, out of our depth, and yet everybody in the crew found something very special inside them and we were able to support each other through it. I think we’re all better people for having been made so vulnerable by the climb, but still helping each other to make a beautiful film that I’m very proud of.

Tell us about reaching the summit?

I was effectively carried there by one of the absolutely amazing porters, who even held my hand on the way down. I wouldn’t have got there without him. It seemed to be one of the reasons why the porters were so supportive and encouraging of Jamie Magee – they have such courage and strength themselves, and they recognise that courage in other people.

If you had to summarise the summit attempt in one word, which word would you use?

Extra-terrestrial.

Do you feel more of a connection to the film (because you took part in the climb), compared to other films you have worked on?

Hugely so. I’m now a slightly scarily passionate advocate of the film, and the whole experience, and being able to express some of that in the score with all my favourite players and colleagues is too good to be true.

What is the most important lesson you have learned from making TMW?

That we constantly limit ourselves, and we limit other people when we pre-judge what they can do. Sometimes it takes a special group of people with unselfconscious courage to show us what everyone is capable of.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 3:54 pm. It is filed under blog and tagged with brag, charity, crew, documentary, drama, film, kilimanjaro, michael price, Q&A, the mountain within. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.