What Jennifer Did - Netflix
ABOUT:
It was a violent crime that shook a quiet Canadian town: Mysterious intruders break into the home of Vietnamese immigrants, terrorize the family, & leave a traumatized daughter as the only witness. Neighbors & friends describe the family as hospitable, generous, & hard-working – how could they be targets? This feature-length documentary from director Jenny Popplewell (American Murder: The Family Next Door), uses police interrogation footage and testimony from those involved to unravel a web of complexities that no one saw coming.
Netflix: 2024
Producers: Raw TV, Marian Edusei, Louise Norman
Director: Jenny Popplewell
Written By: Jenny Popplewell
THE MAKING OF THE SCORE
The score for WHAT JENNIFER DID plays an integral part of the dark tone of the film.
I wanted to bring to life the unsettling nature of the themes explored in the film, while avoiding musical cliches that unravel this dark twisted story.
The essence of Jennifer’s broken personality is represented by the use of the fractured cello and twisted string playing techniques throughout the score.
A pivotal moment in the film revolves around the break in to the family home with the twist of the door handle.
The recurring sound of this door handle features as a menacing percussive and rhythmic mnemonic across the film and score.
I wrestled with cold synthetic synth textures and melded visceral edgy strings to enhance the gripping and jaw dropping story line with it’s twists and turns.
To contrast this darkness, Jennifer studied the piano and bringing in prepared piano into the score as a minimalist, emotive but piercing element, introduced something human and terrifying to these moments with a chilling effect.
We start off with what seems like a random home invasion with Jennifer and family as victims morphs into something ominous and I wanted to take the audience on a gripping, jaw dropping shocker of a journey.