Chapman musician honors grandmother through orchestral piece and short film
Chapman student and aspiring film composer Logyn Okuda talked to The Panther about his upcoming score-focused short film “Elegy for a Flower” and how collaboration played a big role in bringing it to life. Photos courtesy of Logyn Okuda.jpg
Logyn Okuda’s grandmother always associated herself with flowers. This was showcased greatly through her enjoyment of nature and even her username for the game Words with Friends.
After his grandmother’s passing, the sophomore music composition major felt isolated as the rest of his family grieved together in his home state of Hawaii. Unsure of what to do, Okuda turned to the one thing that brought him comfort: writing music. Okuda spent a few all-nighters encapsulating a goodbye letter to her, an “Elegy for a Flower.”
“I needed to turn to music so I wrote a symphonic piece, and I wanted to add visual elements to turn it into a film. So, I gathered a team of filmmakers from Dodge (College of Film and Media Arts) that I worked with in the past, and then a grant came in front of me.”
By sharing his story in an application for Chapman’s “2023 Fall Chapman Career for Undergraduate Excellence Grant,” Okuda was able to earn the money and use it to make his project come to life. This meant the opportunity to have his piece professionally recorded by Budapest Scoring, an orchestra known for their scores in films like “Get Out” and “Parasite.”
“They're a very talented cohort of musicians, but their mission is to make a session recording affordable because if you try to book a session in Los Angeles, you have to purchase the musicians, you have to purchase the recording engineer, the space to record, et cetera,” Okuda said. “(They) just completed that recording session. Now we're adding the visual elements.”
Crafting an entire symphonic piece for an orchestra to play was a new experience for Okuda, but he refused to see it as a challenge; rather, he saw it as an opportunity. Musicians playing his piece are required to “sight read,” which meant Okuda was responsible for articulating every aspect of the music very clearly.
“There's a score preparation that the conductor will look at to guide the musicians,” Okuda said. “And then there's part preparation, which is for the individual musicians, and so, I had to prepare parts for all the musicians. I think it was close to like a 50-piece orchestra.”
Typically, scores are made to accompany a movie after filming. Okuda and his creative team are flipping the process and must now create the visual element to accompany the musical piece. Determined to keep the music at the center of this story, this project aims to ask if audiences can appreciate a film focused more on score, similar to Disney’s “Fantasia.”
Okuda told The Panther that watching his written music piece come to life felt the same as watching your child be born — or so he assumes.
“I think every time that a piece of music comes to life, or a piece of art comes to life, and you see it fully realized, it’s just a magical feeling. To see all these musicians that have had years and decades of training and their own instrument coming together, bringing all of the experience and stories that they have from the past and to this piece of music… I think that is the most rewarding feeling. And it’s a feeling that composers chase.”
Although this project represents a personal story to Okuda, the most important aspect of being a part of this project was the collaboration it brought. Bella Bandol, Graham Ros and Rowdy Stephens, all sophomores majoring in film and television production, joined Okuda to take on this project, and now that the musical aspect has been completed, the team of aspiring filmmakers must use their sound editing, directorial and even drone video skills to complete their masterpiece.
“I like to sort of pride myself as the dumbest person in the room when it comes to filmmaking and so to be able to rely on my peers and friends that have all this experience and knowledge and to acknowledge the fact that I don't know much about this side of it,” Okuda said.
Okuda continued: “Of course, you'll get your fair share of great knowledge (in a classroom), but the best way to get experience is through practical application. The fact that Chapman, on the creative side, really champions it and is not afraid to allow you to explore those ambitions is, I think, the best part.”
Stephens spoke to The Panther about “changing up the norm” and the importance of a project like theirs that expands the boundaries of medium.
“In the world we live today where we consume so much media, but a lot of it is the same stuff over and over, it’s really important to innovate how we tell stories and how we entertain to keep that medium evolving. So being able to spread emotions in this new way, as well as collaborating on a project in this new way is very exciting to say the least.”
While the group is in the process of completing the visuals for the project, a video of the Budapest Scoring orchestra playing Okuda’s piece can be found here.
