Chris Miller
Tom Daley’s new documentary Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds was just released and is giving audiences a glimpse into the life of the diving legend. Not everything was a bed of roses during Tom’s Olympic quest, he reveals he was never able to fully grieve his father’s death and developed body dysmorphia after being told that he was ‘fat’ before the 2012 Olympics. Vaughan Sivell, who has directed numerous documentaries including Gazza, Mr Calzaghe and Pistorius, does a great job of reminding us that athletes are human beings facing everyday obstacles like everyone else, not just Gold medal machines.
Giving the doc a musical voice was award-winning composer Ceiri Torjussen (Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever, Jack Goes Home). Ceiri has scored numerous documentaries and collaborated with Vaughan on three other projects, so their partnership came very naturally and allowed him to try things he normally wouldn’t. On this subject Ceiri says, “I think it’s definitely true that collaborating with the same director more than once means that a certain level of trust has been established between us. This means that perhaps I might feel a little less apprehensive about trying something really ‘off the wall’.”
Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds produced for Warner Bros. Discovery and the Olympic Channel – the digital broadcast service of the International Olympic Committee – by Sivell and Tom Wood for Western Edge Pictures. 1.6 Seconds is named after the 10m diving event time between platform exit and pool entry. You can watch Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds at Olympics.com in the U.S. You can also listen to Ceiri’s score here.
Read our full interview with Ceiri Torjussen below.
When you sign on to score a film, what are some of the first things that you do?
Generally, I start in discussions with the director and filmmakers (editors, producers, etc). These discussions might be extensive, or quite spare, depending on several factors. If we’ve collaborated previously and there’s a lot of trust (like with Vaughan, my director on 1.6 Seconds), then there’s often not much we need to discuss, outside some basic parameters. If we’re newly collaborating then it tends to be more important that we understand each other as people first, and then where the filmmakers are hoping to take their project creatively. The ‘music spotting’ process, which can be quite detailed (down to the frame), or quite broad, depending on how the director likes to approach things, and how confident I feel about what I think he/she wants. We’ll often break down every scene and talk about what the score needs to do (and where indeed music should lay out). Detailed ‘spotting’ like this is more common in narrative rather than documentary projects, but I’ve also spotted docs many times.
You have collaborated with Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds director Vaughan Sivell on a few projects now. Because of this, do you get to experiment more with different sounds?
It’s definitely not the case that I “get to experiment more” only with filmmakers I’ve worked with previously. I’m experimenting with sounds on every project I score. With that said, I think it’s definitely true that collaborating with the same director more than once means that a certain level of trust has been established between us. This means that perhaps I might feel a little less apprehensive about trying something really ‘off the wall’, and conversely, they might be more open to me experimenting for a longer time, and trying unusual approaches.
How would you say working with Vaughan on Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds has been different than your previous projects with him?
In many ways it was quite similar since it’s the third documentary project we’ve worked on together (the first was a horror film called The Canal, which Vaughan produced, not directed). The project we collaborated on prior to 1.6 Seconds was a 4-part docuseries called Pistorius, about the Paralympic athlete and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius. This couldn’t have been more different to 1.6 Seconds for many reasons, the most obvious of which is that three quarters of the Pistorius series is essentially a true crime story.
I suppose 1.6 Seconds is most similar to Vaughan’s first documentary, Mr. Calzaghe, about Welsh boxer Joe Calzaghe. Like 1.6 Seconds it’s a fairly intimate biographical film about a successful athlete. However, Calzaghe has quite different themes, and obviously it’s a completely contrasting sport. But despite their obvious differences they actually have aesthetic similarities, especially in our approach to the graceful, almost balletic qualities of both high diving and boxing. I found myself thinking about these sports in quite similar ways, for instance during sections of extreme, nervous tension, or climactic slo-mo gracefulness.
How did you decide what sound world Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds would live in? Is it a lot of just trial and error?
It can sometimes be trial and error, however for 1.6 Seconds Vaughan had fairly strong ideas about how he wanted the score to sound. He loved piano and strings, and he wanted the approach to be somewhat symphonic sounding, while still having a feeling of intimacy throughout. I decided to feature solo violin in the score, which you can hear playing “Tom’s Theme” throughout the film. I also explored the sound of rubbed glass as a texture, especially in the quieter cues. Those featured instruments, along with an ensemble of strings, a very closely-mic’d piano, and a collection of ambient synths form the core of my sound in this score.
There are some pretty emotional scenes in the doc. How do you decide when to bring in your score or just let the scene play out?
Vaughan wanted a lot of music in the film, so the question wasn’t “when to bring in score” but rather “when do we have silence?” The places where the score lays out in the film are pretty few and far between. However, when that does happen, it does so intentionally and I think those moments are very powerful.
Did you gravitate towards one instrument more than others for this doc?
As mentioned above, solo violin and acoustic piano are featured instruments throughout the film.
Did you score the film in chronological order or did you wait and score the more important musical moments at the end of the creative process?
My general approach in the film was chronological, which is my preferred way of working. However, due to the post schedule, the locked picture wasn’t ready when I started scoring, so I worked on the section about Tom’s father’s illness first. This was the emotional core of the film and quite a daunting place to start. Vaughan liked what I’d produced but had a few reservations. Once I’d received locked picture and scored the rest of the film (two months later), we revisited the Tom’s father section. Something had happened after I’d composed ‘around’ this central section of the film that meant that we needed to rethink how to approach this emotionally crucial section. I took another crack at it, and we got there in the end. It turned out that it needed to be more minimal. The music here needed to have the sense of ‘almost failing’, but carrying on nonetheless: mirroring the father’s struggle with cancer. It was a great note from Vaughan, which helped clarify for me what this part of the film needed.
I imagine you pay close attention to the music every time you are watching a film. Has there been a score recently that has really stuck out to you?
I actually try not to focus too much on a score when watching since it can spoil the narrative experience for me. However, if the music really stands out and I can’t ignore it I then go and listen to the score independently of picture. Some recent examples of great scoring for me have been in TV – White Lotus and Severance are good examples. Both are highly original scores but working so well to picture. My friend Marco Beltrami’s score to Jon Woo’s action film The Killer is excellent and perfectly nail-biting. Going back a bit, I did love the originality and sheer wackiness of Jerskin Fendrix’s score to Yorgos Lanthimos’ film Poor Things. What fun it must have been to score that movie!..
Are there any composers or artists that have significantly influenced your work?
Yes. Off the top of my head, here’s a short (roughly chronological) list:
The ancient folk music of many cultures, Machaut, Solage, Gesualdo, Bach, Beethoven, Bruckner, Mahler, Scriabin, Javanese Gamelan, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Berg, Bartok, Ligeti, Berio, traditional Bulgarian vocal music, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Sofia Gubaidulina, Ravi Shankar, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Ugandan Royal Court music, Nancarrow, Reich, Lachenmann, Morricone, Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Guthrie, The Beatles, John Williams, Glenn Gould, Bob Dylan, Jerry Goldsmith, Jerry Fielding, Jobim, Kraftwerk, James Brown, Kaija Saariaho, Stevie Wonder, Bee Gees, Pet Shop Boys, The Arditti Quartet, Jonathan Harvey, Kenny Wheeler, Toru Takemitsu, Zakir Hussain, Cliff Martinez, Nine Inch Nails, Marco Beltrami, Stephen Hartke, Aphex Twin, Ryoji Ikeda, Squarepusher, Radiohead, Adès, Autechre, Matmos, Jonny Greenwood, Leafcutter John, Brad Mehldau, Colin Stetson, Vulfpeck, Osian Roberts, FKA Twigs.
Anything else you would like us to know about your score to the film?
It’s available now on most major music streamers! (Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, etc.)
