A good score is vital to the emotional impact of a film. Conversely, an unpolished soundtrack can easily derail the audience from the story. At its core, I Will Not Fear is an illustration of music's ability to change the heart. For this reason, Director Nick Lindsay chose to work with Australian composer Blake Robinson to craft an original score for the film.
Blake Robinson uses his home studio to compose music for film, TV, and games.
An accomplished composer, Blake's rendition of Howard Shore's themes were used during the marketing campaign for The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies. (Read more about this story on Blake's blog here)
Director Nick Lindsay collaborated with Blake to determine the unique blend of instruments found in the score. "I wanted the music to start out with tension and self confidence," said Nick. Guitars add a distorted feel to the orchestra in the beginning. But as focus turns away from Ed's personal effort, clean strings take over. These two themes jockey back and forth, symbolizing the struggle between human and supernatural. During composition, Blake referenced a list of cues determined earlier by Nick on when to use which theme.
The song Always by Christian pop singer Kristian Stanfill is key to Ed Rusk's testimony and likewise plays an important role in the score. However, getting permission to use themes and portions of the song in I Will Not Fear was a difficult task. Music Supervisor Dominique Preyer was brought onto the project to negotiate an appropriate license for the film. Preyer's previous experience on projects such as Old Fashioned and Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter was vital to the success of I Will Not Fear.
“I will not fear, his promise is true. My God will come through, Always.”
Even the film's title draws from the score. I Will Not Fear was chosen as the final title for the film from a portion of lyrics found in Always. This key phrase works as a declamatory statement. "I really wanted to leave the audience empowered and I think the decision to use I Will Not Fear goes a long way towards that goal," said Producer Mark Comberiate.
A full breakdown of the lyrics can be found here.
