Community News
Vancouver International Film Festival takes steps forward to include women and people of colour on panels
BY SELINA MCCALLUM
Who gets to pick or make the music that goes behind a scene in a movie or television show? Toronto Caribbean interviewed two women of colour who do just that.
Vancouver International Film Festival announced the first-round of speakers to take the stage at this year’s VIFF Amp Music in Film Summit, which will take place in Vancouver from October 6th – 8th, 2022 as part of the 41st annual festival (September 29th – October 9th).
“Emerging professionals have the extraordinary opportunity to meet and learn from internationally acclaimed creators while forming new connections through inclusion, mentorship, and endless opportunity,” said Rob Calder, VIFF Amp Co-curator and Founder of Secret Study.
Entering its sixth year, VIFF Amp is a three-day annual summit dedicated to exploring every aspect of music in visual media, from composition to song placement for film, television, advertising and video games. The program is designed to develop the knowledge, skills and connections needed to excel in a career in film and television, with a focus of providing opportunities to music professionals from marginalized communities.
Attendance to the VIFF Amp summit is by application, with a cohort of 100 songwriters, composers, music supervisors, managers, and filmmakers to be selected by a committee of industry members. The selected cohort is given free entry to the summit and a $150 professional development stipend.
Yvette Metoyer is a Music Supervisor who has selected music for: Better Call Saul, Sistas, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, The Boys, Spiderhead, and The Cleaning Lady.
“I started roughly about 13 years ago,” said Metoyer. “But it wasn’t a career that I knew existed when I was in college. I majored in Communications at Cal State Long Beach, and with the idea that I would go into public relations at the time. And once I graduated, I interned at NBC Studios, which is a local studio in Los Angeles.”
At the time Metoyer may have not known it yet, but she was already good at selecting and creating a playlist.
“My brother was a DJ, and so I got a lot of my musical knowledge just from listening to him spin records at home. One of the perks of having a brother, as a DJ, is that I had access to a lot of the unreleased songs or music that you wouldn’t hear on the radio, when radio was basically the source of new music. I was sort of the cool kid in the neighbourhood, because I had all these remixes and bootlegs, and I just had such pleasure with putting together mixes for friends.” Said Metoyer.
Music supervision is becoming very popular due to the change in technology.
“The popularity of music supervision, as a craft, has just blown up. Shows like Breaking Bad, which was the first show that I came onboard for season two, with shows like Euphoria, where music is so integral to the story, and that it resonates with the audience, people want to do that role. The other big factor that has sort of shifted over the years is just technology,” said Metoyer.
Metoyer gives advice to anyone interested in Music Supervision.
“If there’s a show or film that you love the music for, or you love the film or the show in general, try a few different scenes on your own and practice with songs that you’re into, and just see how they play. I would certainly look into internships. It’s a niche career that I know it’s a challenge to tap into, but if you stick with it, opportunities will pop up, don’t give up.” said Metoyer.
Amritha Vaz is a Composer who has made music for Home, Mira: Royal Detective, Cam Girls, Bhawani Junction, and Pomegranates & Myrrh.
“I fell in love with music through my family. I was very lucky to have my grandfather play the drum kit in India in a jazz band. He was part of one of the biggest jazz bands in Bombay at the time, called the Teetotallers dance band. He ended up joining Bollywood and being part of the musicians who helped create Bollywood music back in the 50s and the 60s in India.” said Vaz.
Vaz’s parents supported her when she started to show an interest in music.
“In terms of musical training, my parents saved money, and they gave us musical lessons. So I got to learn piano and violin. I think, certainly for my dad, there was a hope that I would do something other than music, like music is a great hobby, it was a great thing to have, as part of your culture. As many immigrant stories are, they want you to be successful and financially secure,” said Vaz. “For me, it wasn’t the traditional immigrant parent story, they were still supportive of me, and they did invest in my career.”
Vaz speaks about working on the new show by Disney, Mira: Royal Detective and why it’s one of her favourite projects.
“It was so impactful because it was four years of my life. As far as a woman of South Asian background, growing up in Canada, I never saw myself represented on cartoons or any of the stories like eating a samosa or saying Hindi words, that was never in a mainstream TV show. And here it is for kids, seeing themselves represented, hearing people talk about their aunties, the importance of chai, the songs, the festivals, seeing Eid, and Diwali, all these things that are important that you celebrate with your friends and family in a beautiful, lovely way.”
Vaz shares advice and insight for other young music composers of colour.
“Continue to be really good at what you do. Believe in yourself, find your voice, know you have something to bring to the table, make alliances with other like-minded people who are going to make sure your credits are as big as they can be. I think the Composer’s Diversity Collective is doing a really great job of being a voice for people of colour. I think that studios are really taking a lot of steps forward to try and include women on panels, to include people of colour on panels, to include more people of colour when hiring,” said Vaz.