With the rise of the internet, texting and social media and a sense of impersonality has overwhelmed communication. Even most cellphone users are more keen on texting than answering calls, which most often hit voicemail rather than being answered by a person. Tony Shaff’s documentary “Hotline” looks at this shift in communication through the still prevalent and important tool of help hotlines, where a personal, intimate touch is everything. The film screened at DOC NYC recently and is now available on iTunes and VOD, Shaff and his composer Jess Stroup (“Camp X-Ray”) got together for The Playlist to talk about the doc and their approach to music as such. Their conversation is below.
The Inspiration
Tony Shaff: After years of production on “Hotline,” being immersed in the relationships that people have with talking with strangers on the telephone, I knew that the score would be so important because of the emphasis on the power of the voice —and sound in general— we...
