Creating a musical identity for a film like The People's Jokeris no small feat. This bold and unconventional film follows a law-breaking comedian grappling with her gender identity, who forms a new anti-comedy troupe and finds herself battling a fascistic caped crusader.
In this interview, composers Justin Krol & Quinn Scharber share their journey of weaving intricate musical themes and motifs that breathe life into the characters and storyline. From exploring a wide array of genres—ranging from orchestral to psychedelic rock—to collaborating closely with director Vera Drew, they reveal the creative process that sets this score apart.
Join us as we delve into their techniques, challenges, and the unexpected moments that brought this unique soundtrack to life.
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Editor's note: the following interview is edited for length and clarity.
No Film School: What was your approach to creating musical themes for different characters or motifs in The People's Joker?
Justin Krol: A lot of the cues in the score feature an element of the main theme, “Theme to The People’s Joker.” Once we had that nailed, we looked to Vera’s guidance as to what part of the melody, instrumentation, or style she was after—which, in this case included everything from golden-era orchestral to hybrid synth to psychedelic rock.
Luckily, it somehow all translated and made sense... to us at least!
Quinn Scharber: Vera’s great at communicating what she’s after, so after her initial direction on a cue we were off. I think the three of us were all in the same realm as far as understanding what we were trying to accomplish.
NFS: How do you think the score contributes to the film's unique identity and sets it apart from other films in the same or similar genre?
Krol: There are really only a few nods to the classic superhero action score. Overall, we weren’t really weren’t tied into any overall aesthetic—often, just the melody was the only connecting factor.
Scharber: I think the main theme of the film and the variations on that theme compliment the story really well. It’s a coming-of-age story and I think the main theme reflects that feeling of adolescence with its simple and melancholy feel. It helps get you in the mindset and mood of the character.
NFS: Can you describe a moment when Vera Drew’s feedback led to a major breakthrough in the score?
Krol: To be honest, Vera’s feedback often led to breakthroughs, so it’s hard to narrow it down. But, the obvious one that set the tone for the whole project was bouncing the initial ideas back and forth for the main theme, which we revisit multiple times throughout the film in different cues.
She told us that she wanted it to be “circus-y” and at the time we didn’t know much about the film, so we probably went a little too far with that idea. Ultimately, we had to separate whatever initial preconceived notions we had about the sound of the harmonium and the pump organ. We got lucky right out the gates as we were given very unique parameters to stay in.
Scharber: Vera was great at communicating what she wanted so we were able to have a lot of fun within those guidelines she gave us. “UCB Live” and “Teenage Years” stand out to me because we had so much fun working on them.
Justin Krol & Quinn Scharber
NFS: What was the most technically challenging piece to compose for the film, and how did you address those challenges?
Krol: If memory serves me correctly, I’d say the cue titled “Batsy” that underscores the main fight sequence between Joker and Batman was probably the most challenging, due to the complexity of timing and overall instrumentation. I think we ended up with 200 plus tracks on that cue and about five tempo changes to accommodate the variation in action and climatic build all within a two minutes. We go from modular synths to orchestral and land on a hybrid of both by the end.
Scharber: “Make My Smile Real” was challenging because it’s really similar to a show tune with a lot of tempo changes and big orchestration. It also features two singers, whose voices we had to tether together separately because we were in the midst of the COVID pandemic lockdown at the time.
NFS: What strategies do you use to overcome creative blocks when working on a project as extensive as The People's Joker?
Krol: Sometimes our best strategy is to each start an idea for the same cue without discussing it, before swapping the session with each other to build off of. We might end up with two completely different ideas and usually one of them will make more sense.
Worst case scenario is having two great, fully fledged ideas.
Scharber: We’re good at using a sort of divide and conquer workflow. Each of us will start on an idea for a cue and then we’ll swap so it’s heard with fresh ears and perspective. This works great for us, but I could understand how it’s not for everyone.
NFS: Can you share an unexpected moment or happy accident that occurred while working on the score?
Krol: The original temp score had a number of needle-drop references from various 90’s-era Batman projects. We often ended up somewhere a million miles away from those original references, which is always the goal. I think the most surprising thing is to see where you ultimately end up in those situations.
Scharber: The whole project was sort of unexpected and came together as a happy accident in its own way. It was all put together during COVID so every aspect of the movie was pieced together in fits and starts at different points.
Hats off to Vera for keeping the whole project moving forward.
NFS: What are each of your favorite tracks off the soundtrack album and why?
Kroll: When we were listening to the final master of the score before it shipped off this summer for streaming, I think the “Theme from The People’s Joker” really got me again… like, who would have ever thought there could be so much emotional depth to the harmonium when paired with strings!
That said, I do think that “Teenage Years” really sums up what Quinn and I do.
Scharber: Yeah “Teenage Years” is probably my favorite. I grew up playing a lot of classic rock and that song is a real nod to '70s rock. So it was fun to get into that head space of the character when composing because I was recalling my own teenage years in a way.
NFS: Do you have advice for those just starting out in music composition or scoring for film and TV?
Kroll: I’m the type of person that will practice and study until the magic is gone, which ultimately led to me falling out of love with my primary instrument.
I spent over 25 years obsessing over the details and it killed the fun for me. One of the promises that I made to myself is that I would purposely leave room for the unknown and prevent myself from going too far down the wormhole when I shifted my focus to the composing world, in the spirit of keeping a beginner’s mind.
That said, it’s super important to learn as much as you can about the technical side of working with your DAW and to have a general foundation in recording and midi. But it’s been crucial for me to leave a little room for the magic and being totally okay with not understanding why something is working well.
Scharber: Sort of echoing what Justin said, I think it’s important to learn as much as you can with what you’ll be working with day to day. Your DAW setup, midi, basic recording knowledge etc.
Also, it’s a huge benefit to learn some music theory and become proficient on an instrument. A lot can be accomplished with editing these days, but I still think musicianship is huge. The more versatile you are and the more genres you’re comfortable with, the better.
