Live orchestra brings fresh perspective on an old classic film

Music and movie buffs in Moncton, N.B., got a special opportunity Sunday with a unique take on an old classic.

A screening of the horror-thriller film "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock was playing at the Capitol Theatre, but these showings were accompanied by a live orchestra.

“If you’ve ever seen it you might realize or have noticed that there’s no musical soundtrack so I composed a brand new musical sound track for this film,” said composer and performer, Andrew Reed Miller.

The performance was a collaboration between the Capitol Theatre, Resonance New Music and Symphony New Brunswick.

“This is actually the seventh film that we’ve done such like this,” added Reed Miller.

“The first few were silent films so they lend themselves more naturally to having live music, but this is the third talking film that we’ve done and it’s the most modern and it’s the first one we’ve done that’s in colour.”

He says he created his soundtrack last summer after watching the film once, imagining how he wanted it to sound and then ignoring the movie for several months until he had several ideas worked out.

While not all of them were the perfect fit, he was able to come up with a brand new take on an old classic.

“The film has obviously a lot of exciting kind of action in it. It also has kind of romantic comedy stuff at the beginning, but there are a lot of times in this film that there’s not a lot of sound going on so the music really captures the emotions of what’s going on at the time and I think it just gives it a really fresh feeling for the audience,” said Reed Miller.

Hundreds of people filed into Moncton’s Capitol Theatre Sunday afternoon for the Pay What You Will show. The idea is to give people the chance to pay based on their own experience after the show wraps up.

Around 500 people were expected at both performances and ready to see the film from a new perspective.

Janette Tummon was at the theatre with two of her friends. While she was the only one who had seen the movie before, she was excited for what the orchestra would add.

“I’m sure on the parts where there’s the scary parts that happen or unexpected things, I think that’s when the music is going to make you jump a little bit and stuff so I suspect that is what it will do – just make it a little more real, a little bit more you feel that tension building,” she said.

Moncton was the orchestra’s third and final New Brunswick stop this weekend and Reed Miller was ready to finish strong and bring the performance to a whole new audience.

“Reaction has be fantastic. Over the years our audience has grown every year and this is by far the biggest audience in all three cities that we’ve had so far,” he said.

In total there are eight members in the orchestra and this performance not only gives people a chance to experience The Birds in a new light, but also see first hand what instruments create the track.

As for what’s next for Reed Miller, he says people will have to wait and see, but he imagines that a new announcement will be coming out next summer regarding next year's show.

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