Transylvania professor produces music score for award-winning film; filmmaker and director to give guest lecture Wednesday, Feb. 22, and film to be shown Feb. 21 and 22; all events free and open to the public
LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania music professor Larry Barnes spent the past summer composing a score for “Euphoria,” a full-length film that had already won the Gold Medal at the Houston Film Festival in 2005. “Filmmaker Lee Boot had heard me perform my music in Baltimore years back and he called me last spring and asked if I would review his film with the possibility of my adding a complete musical score,” said Barnes. “I was elated. I had wanted to compose for film for years and here was a work that had already won a Gold Medal in its original form.” After viewing the film, Barnes met Boot in Baltimore to discuss the scenes he would score. He then spent the summer and early fall composing the music and sending it to Boot as electronic e-mail attachments. Boot would respond after placing the music behind the film. The electronic dialogue continued until October when Barnes went back to Baltimore to meet with Boot, hire musicians and mix the music into the film. “Imagine your work being one-dimensional and suddenly being given another meaning—another life,” said Barnes. “In one high pressured week, my music was transformed.” Barnes said the film’s visuals are so striking that he was challenged from the beginning to write music with enough character to enhance but not overpower. “It was a bit intimidating, but a thrill from beginning to end,” he said. The feature-length documentary is an out-of-the-box art