Orchestra records music for anti-bullying movie ‘Contest’

The harmony of the Saratoga Strings, the school’s highest level orchestra, will soon be heard in cinemas nationwide. On Jan. 31, 42 students skipped first, second and part of third period to record “mood music” in the McAfee Center for “Contest,” a film about bullying directed by Anthony Giunta.

Michael Boitz, SHS visual and performing arts department chair, was able to make this collaboration happen through the orchestra’s past projects.

“This composer named Robert Cornejo wrote a piece for the top string orchestra [of Saratoga] about six years ago and it eventually got published,” Boitz said. “Out of the blue he asked to meet and said that he was collaborating with a movie and doing all the background music and asked if we wanted to record it.”

“Contest,” to be released this summer, is a coming-of-age story that follows the lives of a bully and his victim who are forced to collaborate in a cooking contest. Since the plot is focused on high school bullying, the director wants to “involve as many high schoolers as possible.”

“It was a new experience for me, so I was excited about being featured in the film,” said senior violinist Brian Kim. “It had a completely different feel from the usual music we play.”

The Saratoga Strings orchestra worked diligently alongside music directors from the movie to record a suitable rendition of the music. Although the experience was exciting and the music was “really easy” for the advanced juniors and seniors, junior violin player Gloria Liou said the the experience was also laborious.

“The actual recording was super tedious because the microphones are sensitive and pick up every sound,” said Liou. “If somebody sneezed or moved their chair just a little bit, the mics would pick it up and we would have to start over, which is why we ran into third period.”

Boitz also admits he wasn’t used to recording in a professional setting. The orchestra, as well as himself, had a lot of trouble playing along to a “click track,” which is a audio track including a metronome and pre-recorded music such as piano or guitar.

“So we were listening to that and were supposed to play along exactly,” Boitz said. “I was tripping out because one time the click track had an error in the middle of the major and I thought it was me. I was like, ‘Oh God, is the whole day going to be like this? I’m not up to snuff.’”

However, the recording ended successfully, and Boitz expressed his appreciation of “out of the box” learning experiences.

“It was really exciting,” Liou said. “Even though it dragged on and I had to miss an APUSH test, I would love to do it again.”

According to Boitz, performing for the movie was a great learning experience for his orchestra players.

“Sometimes, an outside-of-the-box educational experience is the most meaningful and the one that resonates the most,” said Boitz. “We don’t have many opportunities to go outside the box, so when it happens randomly and unexpectedly, it’s really valuable.”