I’m not quite sure when it first started,

but at some point I started visualizing music.

– Kevin Pike

Three Musicians emerged out of a chance encounter between singer-songwriter Kristy Kruger and documentary editor James Pike in 2002.  After bumping into each other at a party in Los Angeles, James sat riveted for six hours listening to Kristy spin yarns about her travels across the country, her odd assortment of friends and family, and the process by which she transformed these life experiences into memorable music.  The following day, James began sketching out concepts for a visually-stylized documentary that would explore the creative process behind three little-known American musicians.

The filming process began that summer when James convinced his friend Melissa Mills to let him film her doing laundry.  This silly but important exercise was used to develop a unique look for each musician that matched their artistic tastes.

Kristy loved the written word.  She loved stories that twisted in time and slowly revealed truths about human behavior.  The key to Kristy’s sections became figuring out how to film a simple act in such a way that it would convey a sense of character through shot composition, jumps in time, and minimalist editing.

Devon Hughes, a techno musician that James met in college, was fascinated by the collision of disparate ideas and styles.  How can architectural patterns become driving bass grooves?  How can machine-made sounds express human desires?  Fusing these ideas in the same visual space became the trick to capturing Devon’s frenetic thought process on screen.

Kevin Pike, James’ older brother, had the unique ability to extract music from his environment.  An idea for a song would emerge out of play time with his daughter.  The sound of a household item could become an audio track in a jazz recording.  Looking at everyday life through a lens that was fresh and slightly off-beat was the solution to expressing how Kevin managed to constantly discover new sources of musical inspiration.

These techniques were tested for a period of nine months until mid-2003.  That summer, James visited Kristy in New Orleans and started filming.

There’s no end, there’s no break,

I just try to stay awake.

– Kristy Kruger

The first step in the filmmaking process was to collect original material from each musician.  Kristy provided over two-thousand photographs, over 50 hours of home video recordings, and more than twenty years of journal entries.  Devon granted access to several hundred pages of sketches and writings and over 250 hours of home video recordings.  Kevin handed over 400 hours of home video recordings and over 300 hours of audio recordings.  Over the next five years, an additional 200 hours of interviews and 150 hours of original footage were also collected.  This mass of material was then worked and reworked in the editing room from 2004 to 2009.  In the final 18 months, 15 hour days and 100 hour weeks were not uncommon.  Though this editorial process was long and time-consuming, it was never dull or lacking for enthusiasm.

That’s the best thing ever

to lose yourself in the music.

– Devon Hughes

Three Musicians is scheduled for release in 2010.  It is the first feature-length project from Cut and Spliced Productions.