Sometimes when the right people congregate in the right place at the right time and the right societal circumstances emerge, magic can happen. In the past, these ingredients have led to cultural movements, revolutions and some of the best art ever created by man. These moments are fleeting, but when they occur, their impact can resonate for years to come.
San Francisco was one such locale that birthed an era in music near-unparalleled in its importance and creative power. The years from 1965 to 1975 in the Bay Area witnessed the birth of an iconic musical era. The singers, bands, songs and albums that emerged from that time and place have chronicled in a new docuseries titled San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time.
Out now on the MGM+ streaming platform, the short series delves into the creative explosion in SF with a blend of on-camera interviews and some of the best archival footage and audio in the music world. The series features recorded interviews with beloved figures from the ’60s and ’70s, including members of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Steve Miller and Santana.
Making such a show presented a significant challenge due to the age and availability of these iconic figures. Everyone wants to hear them and hear from them, but getting them all to sit for interviews, if even possible, is a herculean task. So, those creating San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time went another way.
“Seeing people looking so much older, it’s kind of jarring sometimes,” explained director Alison Ellwood during a recent interview. “Sometimes it can work and be great, but when you have so many people, it just seems like the best thing would be audio only and just really live in the footage.”
To address this, the creative team behind the docuseries decided to combine audio with video that didn’t necessarily match, allowing audiences to hear the voices of legends like Joplin while watching San Francisco’s historical footage.
This technique, while not novel, is used remarkably effectively in San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time. Fellow director Annosh Tertzakian noted, “There’s a sort of personal baton-passing of these stories that happens that you can only do with audio.” It creates a sense that these artists are recounting their heyday, even though many of the interviews were recorded decades ago.
The docuseries also features interviews with individuals who weren’t musicians themselves but who were part of the San Francisco scene and are still around to share their insights. A radio DJ, a lighting designer, a poster artist and others provide a broader perspective on the era, emphasizing that a music scene isn’t solely comprised of musicians. When asked about this choice, Ellwood shared that “we wanted to be more encompassing” because in making the series, “we were covering the other arts and not just the musicians.”
Unearthing video footage from rallies, concerts and studio sessions dating back over half a century is no small feat, and what appears in San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time is nothing short of astonishing. “A lot of the people from the time, and from San Francisco, who were actually there are surprised that there is actually footage and material to show and to illustrate what was going on” said Tertzakian about the archival footage they were able to get their hands on, which apparently came from hundreds of different sources.
For those who witnessed the special time in San Francisco firsthand, watching the series is a unique and emotional experience. Ellwood opined that “It allows them to feel like they’re experiencing their own memories in a new way and we’re just refreshing them and reminding them what it’s all about.”
The team got to work on San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time shortly after their last project, Laurel Canyon. That series follows a very similar format, discussing the music that came out of one place in a short span via not only footage from then and audio of the stars who people still love and remember, but also those associated with the scene who weren’t musicians themselves. That project earned several Emmy nominations and rave reviews, so a second installment was quickly brought up.
Executive producer Frank Marshall, known as much for his documentary work as for his scripted films like The Color Purple, The Sixth Sense, and several movies in the Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park franchises, said that after Laurel Canyon’s success, “We started thinking about, well, where’s the next place and time that we’d like to look at?” He then said because of the city’s history and the links everyone on the team had to the locale, “San Francisco was kind of a natural.”
He also shared that they considered other spots, like Nashville and New York City’s Greenwich Village, which could be the focus of the next series, should there be one.
The juxtaposition between current-day interviews and the imagery from the past was not the only challenge in creating the series. The early days of the San Francisco scene did not produce many hits or successful bands, as those came a bit later, but it remained an integral part of the story. So, how does one make the show truthful, but also interesting? How does a filmmaker find that balance?
“We don’t want to lose people because they’re going to be expecting certain things,” Ellwood stated, explaining how fans of the scene would certainly need to hear and see names and songs they remember. “But part two is obviously where you have much more recognizable music because they have become successful at that point.”
So, how did it all come together? Through a lot of trial and error and jumping around from year to year, person to person—though not so much that audiences will be confused. While this is a look at history, and the facts are plain for all to see, there’s still an element of storytelling in shows like San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time, and figuring out how to put it all together in an interesting way is “the fun part,” according to Marshall.
“It’s a lot of learning and picking out bits and pieces that feel emotionally resonant,” says Tertzakian. She also added, “Alison and I both really work in this way where we try to find the stories that sing to us first, and then you start to string them together and figure out what the glue is between the whole thing.” Ellwood concurred, saying “You start with what sticks first and you work around that, and you just keep going and you just hold on for the ride.”
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