Meet The Crew: Jennifer Rowekamp
Jennifer Rowekamp, Composer for “Little t“
How did you come up with a theme for the film?
I wanted to come up with two themes for the film based on how Masha had described the interactions between Alexis and each of her counterparts: her inner critic and her inner child. With the critic, the relationship is a tense kind of tango, a constant push and pull around who's making the decisions. With the child, the relationship is innocent, naive, and tinged with a bit of melancholy; her theme essentially becomes a kind of "lullaby."
With so many characters and emotional beats, was there something in particular that influenced the main theme of the film?:
I saw this film essentially in three sections: the initial conflict, the confrontation, and the resolution. The first section belongs to the critic (who's running things) and the third to the child (who tells her story). The second section is where the shift between them occurs; Alexis finally confronts her critic, and that's where the two themes drive us forward from anxiety and tension into vulnerability, understanding, and ultimately acceptance.
What was it like exploring the musical language of the film?
Given the emotional arc of the story, I really wanted to explore how I could best use the instrumentation and range to support the different beats. I had settled on the general sound pretty early; since it's an intimate story, I wanted to use a smaller ensemble of versatile instruments that could play both thematic styles. I experimented with how to build the tension without overpowering the action, playing with the themes and different layers to grow or shrink the music under the emotional arc. The credits music was the most fun to explore because I used both themes in a more uplifting (yet still slightly bittersweet) way.
What’s your favorite comfort food or desert?
My comfort food is homemade banana bread with butter. I don't have it often, but it always reminds me of my childhood.
