Blind Visions

Dir. Olivier Bernier

“There are two very important factors in the complex equation of filmmaking. Naturally, the first is how talented the core artists are. More importantly though is the second element: how willing the artists are to allow their ideas collide with each other’s and create a new brand of art. Working with Austin I found both an amazing composer but more importantly someone who was always ready and willing to collaborate.”
- Director Olivier Bernier (2004), on Blind Visions

I met Olivier, remarkably, over the internet in a total cold call. He had posted that he needed a composer, and by luck I'd spotted it within a few hours. I sent him a CD, and nearly a month later he wrote and said that he'd loved the music and wanted to collaborate. Given the hundreds of discs he received, it felt like a miracle from the beginning.

The film is almost entirely a dream sequence, playing through the inevitable life changes of a man who, after twenty-five years of blindness, regains his sight. The film is overall pretty dark and very emotionally driven. The score was to try and capture the essence of this world without pushing it over the top into melodrama.

Scored for a small group of strings, winds and piano (augmented by electronics), the score is rather Debussy-like in sound. It lightly and impressionistically floats around the hypothetical world of the lead character John, only sparingly dipping into the darker sides of his new-found sight.