2015 Sundance Trading Card Series: #47. Turner Ross (Western)

Jordan M. Smith: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries”…
Turner Ross: Zipolite, Oaxaca. Dorothy Jean’s first word (Dada). Letters of John Steinbeck.

Smith: Western was part of the Music and Sound Design Labs at Sundance — was wondering if you phished through the film history vault/have any preconceived ideas with regards to the soundtrack prior to shooting and did you change your approach during filming?
T. Ross: The music and sound design of ‘Western’, came about as an organic, in-the-moment process, whose sound design and music came about through the editing process, where layers were slowly built upon other layers, eventually creating a film where we feel the sound and music play as strong a role as the imagery. We have a great pal in new Orleans who does our scores. We usually meet in dark bars and we’ll say something like “I hear violins in a small church in southwest Texas in the late 1800s’ and he somehow interprets that.

Smith: You’ve been collaborating with a great many wonderful non-fiction filmmakers, including Robert Greene and AJ Schnack on their own films Actress and Caucus respectfully. Do you have anyone helping you on your own film this time around?
T. Ross: We’re fortunate to have an incredible group of friends, peers, and collaborators, that so often during our projects and filming come to our aid to lend their spirits, efforts, critiques, and overall incredible energy. It can get pretty out of hand but that’s kinda what you want. Lots of weirdos running around having good times.