Inside Out 2 composer Andrea Datzman discusses how she kept Riley top of mind when scoring the Pixar film and how roller skating in Burbank helped her write the hockey scenes.
When creating the recurring melody in Inside Out 2, composer Andrea Datzman asked herself what the core belief system would sound like.
“What does it feel like in that cavernous space below?” says Datzman. “This is the space that creates the sense of self so it has to be connected to the sense of self theme at the top of the movie.”
While Inside Out 2 is a film about emotions, Datzman utilized her physicality during the composition process.
“With music, when you’re talking about trying to amplify emotions, it’s feeling the emotion, taking it back, interpreting it, intellectualizing it, but trying not to intellectualize it too much because where so much of this happens, it’s in a place you can’t say. Internally, it’s your emotional resonance with it and how it feels in your body. I put a ballet bar in my office because if I just sit there, my music will sound tense! I like to get up and move around.”
Finding Inspiration for Inside Out 2 with Roller Skating and Psychobilly
But not too much physicality! Unlike Riley, Datzman will not be picking up a hockey stick or putting on ice skates anytime soon to support her creativity (“It scares me!”). However, roller skating in Burbank definitely offered her some inspiration for the hockey scenes.
“They do this once-a-month-themed skate, and it was Barbie versus Barb Wire. The DJ was rocking my world because he was doing this mix of metal and punk and psychobilly, and as I was flying around, I really got that visceral sense that you can fly out but you can also check somebody. I tried to get as specific to the action as possible. Our drummer Bernie Dresel called it ‘buttering the bread,’ when you’re on the toms throwing your arms around.”
A lover of neuropsychology, Datzman studied how our brain works with anxiety and joy and says working on this film couldn’t have meant more to her, especially when composing for Riley’s Anxiety Attack scene.
“I wanted to show that the character Anxiety cares so deeply, and her job is to send you an alarm. Her theme is that alarm — that zing. Within the panic attack scene, all you have and all you can process is the alarm, so I broke that single note on repeat, like your alarm is stuck and you’re not even sure what it’s saying anymore. I ran that single note through 6 or 8 different processors so it’s still that single note, but the message is being distorted. If you get beyond the frenetic energy of the alarm, it’s just this message that wants to protect you, and she doesn’t allow. It’s a tender moment.”
Inside Out 2 Movie Score: Why Do Audiences Sometimes Respond More to Animated Scores?
Inside Out 2 marks Datzman’s first feature-length film she scored music for, and while she’s composed for live-action and animated projects, she thinks people might respond more to animated scores because of how they consume them.
“People can relate to animation and let themselves relate to it more. While I don’t approach scoring animation any differently, I think there’s a permission we give ourselves because it’s not a human form directly there on screen. You have these shortcuts and blocks. You can get right to the center of it in a certain way.”
Funnily enough, Datzman speaks of Riley like a parent, even though she loves asking people about their responses to the film and what — or who — it makes them think of.
“I related to Riley and what she was going through with 8th grade. I love asking people when they watch it, who do they think of? Do you think of an experience you went through? Your kids? A lot of times it’s kids. I think there is something to how Riley was with her friends, how deeply they think about how they affect each other and the sensitivity. Anytime she was on screen, I scored from the point of view of Riley. I was deeply affected watching her.”
Inside Out 2 is streaming on Disney+.
