"A Friend Indeed: The Bill Sackter Story"

Description

Availability

Sound Clips

Description of CDThis is the Soundtrack CD of the music I wrote for an inspirational documentary film entitled "A Friend Indeed: The Bill Sackter Story."  This CD is not yet released, but you can hear excerpts from the film score, below. 

 

ABOUT THE FILM

This feature-length documentary film reveals the "true" Bill Sackter, the mentally challenged man who was portrayed by Mickey Rooney in the now-famous made-for-TV movies that aired on CBS in the early 1980's ("Bill" and "Bill: On His Own").  This new documentary portrays Bill's inspiring qualities of love, goodness, and integrity. 

The film had its world premiere on June 7, 2008, at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City, Iowa.  For more information about the film, please visit the official website for the film:  billsactker.com.

 

ABOUT THE MUSIC

To enhance the stirring emotional journey of Bill's struggles and triumphs as they're portrayed in this film, the producer asked me to create a music score that is rich-sounding, emotionally nuanced, and deeply moving.  

In order to create this "filmic" sound, the producer and I agreed on the use of a fairly large orchestra — something that is rather unusual in the world of documentary film scores, but something the producer and I felt was highly appropriate for this project.  

I recently recorded this film score, and you can hear excerpts from the score, below.  The Soundtrack CD will be released some time in the near future.

 

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FILM

To learn more about this film project, please visit the "Bill Sackter" Film Project page of this website, and also the official website for the Bill Sackter documentary: billsackter.com.  

Availability

This Soundtrack CD is not yet available.  However, you can hear excerpts from the score, below. 

If you'd like to be notified when this CD is released, please let me know, and I will notify you at the appropriate time.  

Hear Sound Clips

From the entire film score, I've chosen 12 cues (i.e., musical scenes) to share with you.  Most of this music is gentle and subdued, befitting the story of Bill Sackter, who was a humble and gentle person.

(Please note: These sound clips are being presented for demo purposes only, and all music on this website is copyright by Peter Bloesch, with all rights reserved.  Any unauthorized use or duplication of this music is prohibited.)

All of the following sound clips were composed and orchestrated by Peter Bloesch:

• End Credits  (I'm sharing the End Credits here, rather than the Main Titles, because the End Credits music is shorter, and also because it contains more of the musical themes that I used throughout the film score.)

 

• "Barry Leaves for Iowa"  (In this scene, Bill is feeling sad and lonely because his best friend in the world, Barry Morrow, has decided to move from Minnesota to Iowa, and Bill is staying behind.)
  

 

• "Bill Moves to Iowa"  (This music underscores a reenactment of Bill's car trip to Iowa City, and depicts his feelings of hope and joy as he anticipates becoming a member of Barry's family.)
  

 

• "Bill Is Employed"  (The gentleness and dignity of this music matches the narrator's description of how Bill got his first job.)

 

• "Zoey's Coma"  (This is an extended scene with varying moods:  First, we hear Barry Morrow describe how his young daughter, Zoey, fell suddenly into a coma.  Next, we hear Bill saying a heartfelt prayer for Zoey (this is when the strings appear in the music).  After that, the music shifts back to a feeling of uncertainty, as Barry describes how he thanked Bill for coming to the hospital, but wasn't sure Bill's prayer would be answered.  And finally, when the music shifts to the major key, this is when Barry tells us that Zoey had come out of her coma soon after Bill had prayed for her.)

 

• "Bill's Trip to Toronto"  (In this scene, we learn how exciting it was for Bill to be experiencing all the joys and wonders of the "outside world" after having been released from the institution.  Simple things that most of us take for granted — like seeing birds and hearing the laughter of children — were completely new experiences for Bill, and this music seeks to capture that sense of childlike wonder.)

 

• "Haunted by Memories"  (This is the place in the film where Bill shares with Barry one of his worst memories from his years in the institution.  The scene starts as we see a porch swing and hear nighttime sounds.  Bill describes to Barry how he was pulled down a flight of stairs by an ruthless employee of the institution.  However, the music shifts dramatically to a feeling of dignity and affirmation, as the scene ends with the narrator describing how Bill's inspirational story was quickly spreading across the country.)

 

• "Bill Is a Success"  (This music underscores a scene in which Barry and Tom explain that even though Bill and his story had become quite famous, he remained a humble person, completely unspoiled by all the attention he was receiving.  The music ends on a playful note as Tom states that even though Bill didn't understand the attention he was getting from people, he loved it.)

 

• "Bill's Legacy"  (In this final scene of the film, the music starts solemnly as Barry describes how Bill — a simple man who worked in a coffee shop — was nevertheless a person who had touched many people's lives in a powerful and positive way.  The music ends with a big crescendo, serving to emphasize the triumphant ending of Bill's story.)

 

• Movie Trailer (excerpt)  (Movie trailers are always fast-paced, since they're compressing an entire story into just a couple of minutes.  The music for the "Bill Sackter" trailer starts with a somber feeling, as we see a reenactment of a young Bill Sackter realizing he's going to be institutionalized, but the mood of the music changes quickly to one of bittersweet triumph, as we discover that Bill's story will have a positive ending.)

 

• DVD Menu  (When you pop a DVD into your player, you've probably noticed that there is music playing behind the DVD menu.  Usually, the company who makes the DVD simply pulls some of the existing film score and uses it for this purpose.  However, I wanted to write a separate piece of music that would be used expressly for the DVD menu.)

 

• Film Company Logo  (The producer of this film asked me to create music for the new logo of his film company, and I enjoyed the experience of writing my first-ever film logo music!)