Featured Instrumentalist – Bleu Interview #NeverbeastBloggers

My final coverage for my February LA trip is here! Today I’m sharing behind the scenes details about the music making process with Featured Instrumentalist – Bleu!

Bleu shares that Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast is his very first film he’s worked on, ever! Talk about catapulting a career! Bleu told us that the movie director, Steve Loter, was a big fan of his artist career for years, and after a show Steve approached him and mentioned he was working on a project and wanted to see if Bleu had interest in meeting with him to learn more. Bleu was shocked when he showed up at Disney studios. 

Bleu mentions that Steve wanted something unique for this film, new sounds, especially for the Neverbeast, Gruff. “So the challenge for me was to come up with this unique sound palette for him and all the other characters in the film. So I’ll talk briefly about the instruments that we used for Gruff.” He shows us how he incorporated planters that he turned upside down and how they fit perfectly on cymbal stands. He mentions they got dozens of pots, all different kinds, because they have their own unique pitches. Yes, most of the instruments he used for the film came from the hardware store!

Bleu said that during the eerie scenes with Gruff, the planters’ sounds were often used. Other unique items that were used for different sounds in the film include toms and whirly tubes, that are actually a kids toy. He illustrates the sound of the whirly tubes by waving it in a circle over his head. He used these during the forest scenes because “they sound like whistling through the trees,” Bleu shares.

Bleu adds that he knew he wanted to use acoustic stringed instruments in the film so he created a unique sound with a guitar and dulcimer hammers, which requires two people to work the instrument. “It creates a percussive yet melodic affect.” They call the instrument a dulcetar, which is a combination of the two instruments used. This sound was used a lot for Fawn’s character.

For Nyx, the scout fairy, Bleu stringed up different copper and chrome pipes to use when identifying with her character. He also demonstrated some of those sounds for us.

It was really neat to see and hear about the creation process behind the music of the film. Although Bleu was originally hired on to choreograph one song, shortly after working on that piece he was hired on for several other songs and the score for the movie. 

Want to know other behind the scenes details about the newest Tinkerbell film? Check out our interview with Animation Team and Ginnifer Goodwin who voice roles Fawn in the film.

I hope you enjoyed hearing all the fun details about Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast, which is now available in stores!

 

I was invited as media to cover this press event. All opinions are mine alone.