In the PBS Frontline documentary
A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro’s Venezuela, the filmmakers and exiled Venezuelan journalists investigate problem with a government food program. The film also tells the inside story of Alex Saab – a figure at the heart of the scandal - detailing his capture and then release by the US in a controversial prisoner swap.
Composers Elias Serpa and Saul Guanipa created original music for the documentary, originally leaning into organic instrumentation and authentic Venezuelan acoustic instruments before revisiting their work with a more electronic vision. Here, the composers share insight into the process of creating the project's soundtrack.
Tell us a bit about the process of creating original music for this documentary?
Saul Guanipa: "Since I didn’t have the full documentary to work with (it was still being filmed), I could freely play around with musical concepts with the few scenes I had. The score was eventually working well, but a year later, when the full documentary was finally shot and an edit was drafted, the director and producer felt it was better to lean into a more electronic and pulsating score to help drive the narrative and emotional tone."
Elias Serpa (pictured): “This is when Saul approached me to collaborate in the documentary and add synths and electronics to pump up the grit and highlight the dangerous side of investigative journalism. I personally wrote music that was not to picture for the most part, and that allowed me to be more concerned with the music and tone, and not so much landing in specific beats.”
How did you collaborate with the filmmakers and investigative team to develop the film’s musical tone?
Saul Guanipa: “I worked exclusively with the director, Juan Ravell, and co-composer Elias Serpa. It was a highly collaborative and communicative process. Musical references were consistently shared for specific scenes, or the overall musical tone of the documentary. Revisions were always easy to understand from Juan. Once the full film was edited as a first draft, we could now see and hear how the music needed to work.”
Elias Serpa: “Both Juan and (editor) Pedro (Álvarez Gales) had a wonderful music sensitivity when approaching the pacing and editing of the documentary. They were the ones in charge with editing and placing our score throughout the film, and that, in turn, helped with the pacing and on-going editing, since the story continued to develop even as we were finishing the first cut.”
Talk about the specific themes or emotions you were trying to cover.
Saul Guanipa: “The main tones that the film toggled between were always ranging from neutral to highly tense, and at times, emotionally somber. But because the film was profiling an ongoing investigation with peaks and valleys, there is predominantly a driving tension musically throughout.”
Elias Serpa: “We wanted to emphasize the risks involved in this investigation but also keep a sense of wonder as we unravel the facts.”
What was the timeframe for composing the score, and how did that impact your creative process?
Saul Guanipa: “The timeframe was challenging. At first, I was only supplied with the first 20 minutes of the documentary. Once that was completed, my son was then born, and it would be another year until a full edit was shot and completed as a first draft, with no other footage supplied until then. Once that full edit was completed, there was a rush to complete the film for film festival submissions. To help with these ongoing deadlines and the pressures of life, asking Elias to join the project was essential. He helped bring the score to the finish line.”
Elias Serpa: “After I joined Saul, I had about one month to write all the cues we needed. I had so much fun in the studio with all the synths and with the sound design, and I think you can hear that in the score.”
What were some of the unique challenges of this project?
Saul Guanipa: “A musical challenge that presented itself was how to deliver music to a project that was continuously being edited and revised. A proper score to picture was not working, and so we settled on creating three-minute long isolated musical tracks that fit a specific vibe and tempo. These cues could be easily stemmed out, each stem further providing more musical variations if used in isolation. We found that this was very useful for the editor to work with in his timeline.”
Elias Serpa: “I’ve worked on several projects where the music was written prior to editing, I enjoy this way of working because it allows me to focus on the music exclusively. I also like writing the cues thinking of each breakout track as a standalone element and could be a cue on its own with a couple other elements.”
Tell us about the instrumentation and gear that you called on?
Saul Guanipa: “Elias used various analogue synths and modular synthesizers. These electronic instruments were the exact sound the director was looking for in the film’s tone. Elias skillfully created effective synth patches that fit the film’s vibe exactly.”
Elias Serpa: “I think we both used electronic elements and some solo acoustic instruments, especially cello in some of the cues, to provide a more organic and human touch to the synths and electronics.”
Given the film’s investigative and journalistic nature, did you face a challenge balancing the music without interfering with the storytelling?
Saul Guanipa: “The tension in the music may linger as a musical bed, but given the right moment in the film, the music rises in intensity to help raise the emotional moment. There are various climaxes like this throughout the documentary that help create excitement in the storytelling.”
Elias Serpa: “Coming back to the modular nature of writing music before picture, I think many of our compositions had different levels of intensity that could be easily scaled down or up depending on the layers that were used. I think Pepe’s editing and Juan’s vision really helped strike the right balance.”
Having worked on projects across different genres, how does your approach differ when scoring an investigative documentary?
Saul Guanipa: “It’s difficult balancing the right tone without creating too much melodrama in the music, or revealing too much emotionally. Striking that balance between neutral and tension can be difficult. It’s easy to get carried away in another emotional direction if you’re starting to get bored with your musical cue, so it was always important to always get feedback from the director. After a while you know exactly how it should sound and feel.”