Paul tonks film music pocket essentials

Paul Tonks The Pocket Essential FILM MUSIC www.pocketessentials.com First published in Great Britain 2001, revised 2003 by Pocket Essentials, P O Box 394, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 1XJ, UK Distributed in the USA by Trafalgar Square Publishing, PO Box 257, Howe Hill Road, N orth Pomfret, Vermont 05053 Copyright © Paul Tonks 2001, 2003 Series Editor: David Mathew The right of Paul Tonks to be identified as the author of this w ork has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of the publisher Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages The book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated, without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form or binding or cover other than in which it is published, and without similar conditions, including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publication A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 1-903047-63-3 10 Book typeset by Wordsmith Solutions Ltd Printed and bound by Cox & Wyman For Rebecca, my ‘confoundedly attractive woman’ Acknowledgements Glen Aitken, Steve Bartek, Jonathan Broxton, James Cox, Paul Duncan, Keiron Earnshaw, Robin Esterhammer, Michael Giacchino, Rudy Koppl, Ian Lace, Geoff Leonard, Paul Lewis, Dick Lewzey, Carl Ogawa, Matthew Peerless, Steve Race, Deanne Scott, Elliot Thorpe, Robert Townson, Michael Voigt, Mark Walker, Debbie Wiseman, the British Academy Of Composers And Songwriters, Garrett Axford Public Relations And Marketing, Mum, Dad, and all the directors/composers who have inspired my writing ‘As much to the crew of the Enterprise, I owe you my thanks.’ CONTENTS You Ain’t Heard Nothing Yet The Golden Age 11 Anything Goes 21 Commercial Instincts .36 Romance Ain’t Dead 53 Millennium Falcons 75 Hitting The Right Note 88 Reference 92 You Ain’t Heard Nothing Yet Wheth er yo u’re someone who has just d iscovered film mu sic, someone ob lig ed to learn more for educational p urpos es , or a lo ng-stan din g geek fan, th is book is res pectfully y ours Compiled h ere is an intro duction to the film compos er’s craft in chro nolo gical order E ach chapter tak es a perio d in h isto ry and namechecks the writers who made a d ifference, and observes what was happening in th e in dustry to make differences warranted and po ssible Th e names go by fast, but ho pefully with cro ss-referencin g and albu m recommen datio ns at the end, the most important ones stay in the memory Whenever music is w ritten to s uppo rt so meth ing else it is called ‘applied’ as oppo sed to ‘p ure’ So its categorization as ‘applied music’ help s give a literal answer For ou r purpos es , a more specific d efinition is that it’s music applied to su pport th e actio n of a theatrically released film New so ngs are written, old ones are re-us ed , classical pieces are qu oted from, and so metimes the so und effects th emselv es are deemed mu sic All of these will be mention ed in context, but it’s the wo rk of the film compo ser th at’s concentrated o n Beg in b y as kin g you rs elf the following ques tio ns: w hat makes the title scroll o f a Star War s movie exciting? Wh y is th e tin y d ot o f a camel in v as t desert sand s s o beau tiful in La wrence O f A rabia ? Wh at’s so frig htening abou t a deliv ery van appearing on the horizon at the en d o f Se7en ? Wh y is Scarlett O ’Hara’s sun set s ilh ouette so heartbreak ing in Gone With The Wind? Wh y we ju mp at Syd ney opening an empty clo set or in Scream? In Ver tig o, h ow d o we kn ow that M adelin e is goin g to th row herself out the to wer wind ow and that Scotty wo n’t be able to sav e h er? The ans wer to each is the music The composers manip ulate ou r emotions By whatever method it is realised, film music is th e uns een narrative vo ice communicating everyth ing we need to feel It can dup licate, contradict, or even act regardless of the actio n and dialogu e Take it away, and it is miss ed That said, it’s a curious fact that mos t audiences are n ev er aware of a film’s mus ic L ight may trav el faster than sou nd, but es th at excus e people’s general reaction o f n ot recallin g any music? Th is is the main reas on for an ongo ing dis reg ard for the film comp oser’s art To th is can be ad ded d isdain fro m the clas sical realm fo r it no t bein g ‘pure’ Also a refusal to acknow ledge its unchang ing orchestral form by the ever-changin g p op music world With s o much combined ignorance, it’s a wo nder it s tayed po pular in the ind ustry Yet there are more orchestral scores being written and b eing released today than ever Ano ther curiou s fact about co ntemporary audien ces is that 90 % leave the cinema (or stop the vid eo/DVD ) as soo n as the end credits beg in to roll Unless there’s a rare tin uatio n o f footage or so me b loo pers , no on e’s in teres ted in a list of names w ith mus ical backin g It us ed to be th at comp osers w ere g iven this time for a score su ite This time is now generally given to s ong placemen t Fo r Titan ic (19 97), the big gest ever cin ematic and film music s ucces s story, that time went to ‘M y Heart Will Go On’ Its album so ld over 25 million co pies world wide, an d th e son g s tayed at Number in US charts for sixteen week s T he dis crepancies here are, how could a score be so popu lar if it wasn ’t generally no ticed, and h ow could a song so w ell if few stayed in their seats to hear Celine Dion? Sin ce a larg e propo rtion of sales accrued prior to the film’s releas e, the an swer comes down to how the mark eting -o riented indus try wo rk s to day To understan d that properly, we have to jo urney back b efore th e real-life ocean lin er s et sail The Rest Is Silents Uncertain ty abo ut app lying so und to film dates back to th e beginn ing s of cinema, b efore the technology was availab le to make use o f it Mus ical acco mp an imen t p receded the first ‘talk ie’ by a number of years thoug h After the Lumière broth ers set th e wheels o f this new indus try in motion with footage of a s team engine (1 895), fickle au diences wanted more and more sp ectacle Long er pieces o f film begat an entire sto rylin e, first in The Great Tra in R obbery (19 03) Arou nd that time it b ecame common to have a pian o improv ising to what was on screen (and neatly h iding the clanking projector n oise) Thou gh classicist Camille Sain t-Saëns was commissioned to pro vide a score fo r L’As sass ina t du Duc de Guis e (190 8), it was the 20 s before a music-pu blishin g clerk n amed Max Winkler devised a s hort-lived sy stem of providing pian ists w ith cue sh eets of ex isting pieces Simu ltaneou s to th at taking effect, the major Hollywo od s tud ios began s pending vast sums of mo ney experimenting with s ound techno logies Warner Broth ers us ed th e Vitapho ne s ystem to s ynchronise a soun d d isc of rudimentary effects to their p remiere of Don Juan (19 26) History reco rds an au dience reaction that w as cas ually ind ifferent to the experience Th e followin g y ear the studios sig ned the Big Five Agreement to delay the in trodu ction of synchro nised so und until they agreed on one sys tem and were confid en t o f its us efu lness Fortu nately they were almo st immediately reas sured o n all counts M ere mon ths later, Warner again made histo ry with th e words ‘Yo u ain’t h eard n oth ing y et’ bursting fro m Al Joh nson in The Jazz Sin ger (192 7) It was a s traightforward demo nstration o f simple microph one placemen t, bu t it laid the gaun tlet fo r the in dustry Wh ile d irectors like Alfred Hitchcock langu ish ed in attempts to h ide reco rding eq uipment in flo werp ots fo r Blackmail (19 29), the idea of a fully s ynchron ised ‘talkie’ was s uddenly po ssible and d es irable It s eems inconceivable today that Leon ardo DiCaprio and Kate Win slet might have b een left mo uthing sweet no things w hile a screencard interrupted to ann ounce: ‘Iceberg , roigh t ahead!’ Classical pieces were the easies t musical ap plication with sou nd techn olog y in p lace At th e s tart of Un iversal’s reign o f h orror greats, Bela Lugo si’s Dr acula (19 31) benefited from the s oulfu l strain s of Tchaik ovsk y’s ‘Swan Lake’ Some studio s went a step furth er and asked temp orary class ical compos ers to write pieces to be ad ded later Stravinsky an d Hols t both work ed o n s cores that never s aw the ligh t of d ay, but Sho stako vich graduated from years as an improvisin g pian ist to being as ked to write something to perfo rm alo ngside New Ba bylon (1 929) T hen he scored A lone (19 30), which was h is n ative Russ ia’s first soun d film The real turnin g point came co urtesy of Austrian-born Max Stein er, affectionately dub bed the ‘Father of Film Mu sic’ He arriv ed in Hollywo od at the end o f a s treak of M usicals , which were one way the ind ustry had emb raced the use of s ound At the start of th e 0s there w as still a co mmonly held cern that cinema au diences wou ldn’t u nderstan d where a full musical underscore wou ld b e comin g from It to ok the bravery of RKO produ cer David O Selznick to get past that and instru ct Steiner to co mpo se one for Symph ony Of Six M illion (19 32) Th e result sh ook those no tio ns apart and almos t immediately led to th e creation of mus ical departments within th e majo r stu dio s As res ident musical director o f RKO for several years (before moving onto Warn ers ), he had his pick of projects It was his King Kong (1 933) that s ign ified the dawn o f a n ew era Wh en ev er thanked by admirers fo r in venting film mus ic, Steiner wo uld brus h co mpliments away and point them in the direction of late German roman tic co mp oser Richard dens ely complex orch es tratio ns for the large number of actio n set pieces Th e s co re is full o f rapidly overlapping rhythms to k eep u p with Pau l Verhoeven’s breathless directorial sty le They reunited for Bas ic Instinct (19 92) with a main title that ebb s and flows with sensu ality, and was on e o f the most emulated pieces for s everal years He managed to k eep up the promise of avoiding action material for the early p art o f the d ecade with a few romances and comedies like Th e Ru ssia H ouse (1990 ), Love Field (19 92), Ru dy (199 3), and Ang ie (199 4) Th en so meth ing else took ov er an d that promis e seemed to be comp letely fo rg otten There followed: The Sh adow (199 4), Firs t Kn igh t (1 995), Chain Reactio n an d E xecutive Decis ion (both 19 96), Air Force O ne (199 7), U S M arsh als (199 8), The Haunting, The 13 th Warr ior, and The Mummy (all 199 9), and a reunion w ith Verhoeven on ce more fo r Hollow Ma n (2 000) With many similar in b etween (e.g the tw o Sta r Treks), it seemed Gold smith was enslav ed to the Hollywo od action mach ine His o wn personality pervades these p owerhous e pieces, b ut at no where n ear th e inventive lev el of th e d ecades b efo re It is merely a reflection of the films thems elves of co urse Yet even th e one critical highlight of th e perio d, L.A Co nfidential (1997 ), is little more than an amalgam o f his earlier China town and the action material developed in th es e others It sto od no chance in th e Oscar race th at y ear o f cours e The jug gern au t of Titanic could not b e stopped , and J ames Horner’s unpreced en ted album sales had to be ackn owledg ed Critical op inion ab out period anachronisms, startlin g similarities to Enya’s son g ‘Bo ok Of Days ’, an d lo ve/hate for Celin e Dion’s voice are ultimately rather immaterial ‘I wanted to write a score that was d eeply emotional,’ he exp lained ‘I h ad to ch oose a palette of colo urs th at would that for me My Iris h guy s and Sis sel Kyrkjebø because th ey ’re so intimate J im (Cameron – director) wanted d es perately no t to have a b ig Hollywoo d extravaganza s co re that they’ve pu t o n a th ousand o ther films Th ey all sou nd the same n o matter wh o writes them By th e same token, alth ough th e film takes place in 191 I d idn ’t want to write so me p recio us little E nglish ch amber piece that would narrate th e period It had to be s ome timeless fusion I was look ing for colours that weren ’t convention al ways to sell a perio d film I wanted to feel what I migh t h av e felt had I been on board and lo st somethin g very dear to me Th e sin king didn’t really matter It takes care of itself in the watchin g It didn’t really matter what mus ic I put to it, it’s already so s pectacu lar Wh at I felt need ed my h elp more was the depth o f pass ion between them T he p ro fo und lo ss that Rose 82 feels The way the story turns itself around at the end and go es fu ll circle All those s ort o f wis tful mys tical feelings I wanted to co nvey in the mu sic.’ Horn er’s th ink ing ans wers many criticis ms The influence o n the indus try whereby compo sers now either aim s traigh t for or run far away fro m uilleann p ipes, ans wers many more To p ut Titan ic into co ntext fo r the co mpo ser’s own decade, it shou ld b e noted that the ‘Iris h gu ys’ (whistle and bh odrán drums) followed in the foots teps of his Patriot Games (1 992), Legends O f Th e Fa ll (199 4), B raveheart (19 95), and The Devil’s O wn (19 97) Th ematically the material o wed much to his Thun derheart (1 992), Bop ha! (199 3), Coura ge Under F ire (1996 ), an d oth ers Lik e Go lds mith, it’s felt his las t truly insp ired works came at the begin ning o f the 0s Namely the charm of The R ocketeer (1991 ) with its 30s in nocence and serial ad venture conv ey ed in a joyo us flyin g theme, and S neakers (1 992) with its blu es y motif an d su btle s usp en se und erscore There’s Too Many Of Them Outsid e the security of the compos er A-list and working partnersh ips , the 90 s were s prink led w ith in dividual highlights There were mo re co mp osers work ing an d more albums b eing released than ever before In chron olo gical order, here are s ome o f the momen ts o f note: Of th e d irector/compos er relations hips planted last chapter, several bore in fluential fru it E ric Serra’s Leon (19 94) for Luc Besson solidified an electronic p alette o f sou nds an d a style that won him the next J ames Bond mo vie (Goldeneye) Other comp osers have often attempted to replicate that so und L ater with The Fifth Element (1 997), they to ok that style much further, memorably fo r a d azzling display of electro nically manip ulated opera singing Angelo Badalamenti work ed with David Lynch for a coup le more au rally su mptuou s pieces Firstly with fellow comp oser Barry Adams on on Los t Highway (199 6) with its un iquely ap propriate s election o f n eed le-d ropped s ongs (meaning fragmen tary extracts) T hen The Straight Story (19 99) was a surpris e departure from dark s urrealism Instead the life-affirming tale featu res a blend of Coun try an d Americana g uaran teed to res ult in n ot a d ry eye in th e ho use At the opp osite en d of the emotional scale was Patrick Do yle’s goth ic horror for Ma ry Sh elley’s Fr ankenstein (1 994) with Kenneth Branagh Away from th e Sh ak es pearian adaptations , Doyle let rip with a blisteringly furiou s 83 orchestra, esp ecially for ‘Th e Creation ’ s cen e and its minutes of all-ou t sens ory ass au lt Gho st (199 0) remains on e of th e best ex amples o f a son g selling an albu m A lex North ’s ‘Unch ained Melody’ as in terpreted by the Righteou s Brothers, kept the alb um in US charts for over a year The record label Varèse Saraband e was b y th is point es tablishing itself as th e foremos t so undtrack producer, and the success o f their s core album for M au rice Jarre mean t they stay ed lead er of th e pack Directo r Nich olas M ey er tried to repeat his trick o f a decade earlier (wh en he launched J ames Ho rn er ’s career on Star Trek II) by g iving Cliff E idelman his b ig b reak o n Sta r Trek VI: The Und iscovered Country (199 1) Meyer’s class ical roots sh one th rough in elemen ts fas hio ned after Holst and Stravinsky, but the y oung composer’s Golden Age tak e o n the fran ch ise un fo rtunately did n’t carv e h im as b ig a name as Horner’s An element of confus ion s urround ed the names o n Th e Las t Of The Moh icans (199 2) with a s creen card p utting a dou ble s pace between Trevor Jo nes and Ran dy E delman Only record b uyers wo uld dis co ver who was respo nsib le for the majes tically s oaring hero mu sic, and who for the ambient syn thesiser ins erts T hat s ame year, there was n o un certainty that Polis h compos er Wojciech Kilar was solely resp ons ible for the hy pnotic g rimn es s of B ram Stoker ’s Dr acula His middle-Eu ropean style clash ed welcomely with Hollyw ood’s No on e els e wo uld h av e s co red the h earse chase finale with an insanely repetitive scherzo (vigorou s movement of music) In 1994 , M ichael Nyman ’s The Piano so ld over million copies w orldwide, and remains his most pop ular wo rk The Us ual Sus pects (19 95) remain s n ewco mer J ohn Ottman’s mos t popu lar to o, w ith its film no ir tone and rhyth mic perfection derived from the fact h e was also the film’s ed ito r It too k a trio of comp osers to keep up with the editin g and romance of Ro meo + Ju liet (19 96), but th e orchestral/contempo rary electronics /so ng fusion fro m Craig Armstrong, Nelle Hooper, and Marius De Vries h as been much emulated (particu larly Arms ’s choral elements ) Far su btler and tend er express iveness was required for roman ce and th e lo ve that dare no t sp eak its name in Wilde (1 997) The emo tiv e score fro m Debbie Wis eman declared bo th the scribe’s geniu s and its own Righ t at the dawn of th e new M illenniu m came three potentially trendsettin g scores in an oth erwise lacklu stre 199 First were Jo n Brion’s unu su- 84 ally long cues linking the many d isparate threads of Magno lia T hen in amo ngs t so urced drum an d bass (e.g The Propellerh eads ' ‘Spyb reak’ wh ich was p romp tly re-us ed or mimicked to death) for The Matrix is a sass y blend of ato nal b rass and tech no from Don Davis Lastly there was Fig ht Club with a k itchen sin k collection of every conceiv ab le method of scoring applied by The Dust Brothers Into the new century, Crouching Tiger H idden Drag on by Chinese compos er Tan Dun would prove to b e the mos t memorable new sou ndtrack experience In an even more lack lus tre y ear, it was w ith out doub t th e mos t des erving o f Oscar gold The ex tended N ewman family (see Ch ap ter 2) warrant mention Thomas seems to have a s plit mu sical person ality, divid ing h imself between the up lifting symph onic sty le of Th e Sha ws hank Redemption (1994 ) and the po ts an d pans electronics of American Beauty (1999 ) Ran dy excels as a so ngwriter, y et is just as at h ome warming ev ery sportingly patriotic American’s heart for The Na tur al (19 84) or recalling the child in every one for Toy Sto ry (19 95) David is a well-respected co nductor wh o alway s seems to be most at home with slap stick comedy like Bill And Ted ’s Excellent A dven ture (198 8) o r Galaxy Quest (19 99) A noth er name to gain promin en ce throu gh th e 90s was James Newton Ho ward His su btly su pportive wo rk with directo r M Nigh t Shy amalan o n the my steries of The Sixth Sen se (1999 ) and Unb rea kable (20 00) lo oks set to forge anoth er g reat director/compos er relations hip Yo u’ll h av e n oted repeat men tio n of the Ho lly wood A -list tow ard the end of this chrono logy A part from financially motivated lis ts in p laces like The Hollyw ood Rep orter, it’s rare any one cares to name names Su ffice to say, th is last chapter just has A Final Thought What d oes all this wind ing d own and mis cellany mean ? Wh ere film scorin g is concern ed , to o man y cooks have most definitely s poiled th e b roth As of th e 0s there have been enormous numbers of composers wo rk ing , yet few can claim to have in fluenced th e indu stry Having po stu lated that directo r/composer relationsh ips have led to s ome o f the best and mos t in fluential music, it’s only right that I sho uld acknow ledge s ome others that are in exis tence tod ay 85 Atom Egoyan first co llabo rated with fello w Can ad ian M ychael Danna in 19 87 on F amily Viewing Fro m the s tart their w ork h as been defined by un pred ictability Every one of their mov ies features a score that d efies convention , yet perfo rms all the magical tricks this b ook has s potlig hted Exotica (1 994) cov ers jumps b ackw ard an d forward in time with an all-inclus ive sedu ctive motif Th e S weet Hereafter (199 8) has a Persian ney flu te ex pandin g Egoyan ’s Pied Piper allego ry in the tale Arar at (2002 ) in co rporates ancient Armenian folk tu nes into Go lden Age pastich e for a film-within -afilm s tructu re Carter Burwell has w orked on all o f the Coen Brothers films since Blo od Simple (19 84) Ran gin g fro m zany comedy for Raisin g Arizon a (1987 ) to Nord ic folks iness for Farg o (1996 ) to No ir genre homage for The Man W ho Wa sn’t Th ere (20 01), theirs has been ano ther partn ersh ip defined by constant u npredictable ch an ge There are only films so far to talk of betw een M Night Shyamalan and compos er J ames Newto n How ard, but each have merited commen t in the so undtrack community The Sixth Sense (19 99) sub tly worked its w ay under th e audience’s skin with layers of vocal effects Un breakable (2 000) p layed with ideas of mus ical d uality an d reflectin g echo es Signs (20 02) d eligh ted so undtrack fan s with a quintes sential demons tration of what’s ‘Herrmannesq ue’ ab out sus taining s uspens e The first sco res Elliot Goldenth al compos ed for Neil Jo rd an were both no minated for Academy Awards Interview With The Vamp ire (199 4) and Mich ael Collins (19 96) remain the pin nacle of the comp oser’s ach ievements in many op inions (desp ite his eventual Oscar win for Frida in 20 03) Frequ en tly d ipping in to nig htmarish realms v ia d ark orchestral colours, Go ldenth al’s sing ular style continued into Th e B utcher B oy (1 997), In D rea ms (199 9) and The Go od Thief (2002 ) One more partnersh ip to men tio n as highly significan t in the new millennium is that between Pau l T homas A nderson and Jo n Brio n Since scoring And ers on’s debu t with H ard Eight (1996 ), he’s receiv ed numerous offers to work on A-list projects He has tu rn ed every one dow n, refu sin g to work with anyo ne else Th at means a very s low rate of ou t pu t, bu t both Mag nolia (199 9) and Punch-Dr unk Love (200 2) have p ro ven to be w orth the wait Both featu re extrao rd inarily prominent uses o f mus ic, often drowning ou t dialogu e co mpletely 86 Loo kin g ah ead from h ere isn ’t d oom and g loom by any means History repeats itself now ad ay s mo re th an it ever used to The ind ustry ’s future is su re to enjo y an unexp ected s urprise or two With more confid en ce and money being directed tow ard th e Internet an d the gaming in dus tries, filmic orchestral mu sic h as alread y begu n so me interesting d ev elopments in the 21 st centu ry Sho rt movies pop u p in all so rts o f p laces in the web, with v ario us co mp osers tribu tin g excellen t i s co res (e.g M ychael Dan na for Chos en in 20 01 and Elia Cmiral for S on of Satan in 2002 ) In the world of game-p lay, names like Michael Giacchino (the Medal o f Hon or s eries ), In on Zu r (Icewind D ale II), Richard Jacques ( Head hunter) and Peter Connelly with M artin Iv es on (Tomb Raid er : Angel of Da rkness ) hav e all been prov idin g su mp tuou s film-styled o rch es tral scores Wheth er y ou were a film music geek fan before reading this book or no t, rest as sured there’ll always be plenty to make listen ing to screens big or small well w orth y our while As promised at th e start of th e book , th e names have gon e by pretty fas t, th erefore many h av e had to slip th ro ugh the cracks From the 90s, s ome I wish there’d b een ro om fo r inclu de: Carter Burwell, Bruce Broug hto n, Jo hn Debn ey, Rand y E delman , G eo rge Fen ton, M ark Isham, Joel McNeely, Rach el Po rtman, Graeme Revell, M arc Shaiman, Step hen Warbeck, and Gabriel Yared Also, man y whos e careers orig inated earlier: Luis Bacalov, Richard Ro dney Benn ett, Joh n Coriglian o, Carl Davis , Brad Fiedel, E rn es t Gold, John Green, Q uincy Jon es , Stanley M yers, M ario Nas cimbene, JeanClaude Petit, Nicola Piov an i, Zbigniew Preisn er, And re Prev in, Richard Robb ins, Philipp e Sarde, an d Jo hn Scott To them and their fan s, as well as to many oth ers (particularly international composers), this book apologises for th eir absence 87 Hitting The Right Note This final chapter is a densed s tage-by-stag e loo k at the craft of scorin g a modern film 1) The po int at wh ich a co mpo ser comes aboard is dependent on many facto rs highligh ted in Chapter If they have a w orking relationsh ip with a directo r, it’s no t uncommo n to visit the set In general, a composer will be approached toward the end o f s hooting Co ncurren t to this, a mu sic editor comp iles a temp track o f existing mus ic to wo rk with early edits of th e film 2) T he first thing a co mpo ser is giv en is eith er a s cript or rough -cu t of fo otage to view Dann y Elfman exp lains his preference: ‘I n eed an assembly A scrip t does n’t any thin g for me at all Any time I’ve tried to jump the gu n an d get musical ideas from a scrip t, I’ve en ded up scrapping th em all Yo u can s hoot a s cript a hund red differen t w ay s Wh at wo rk s for me best is to come in to the first rough assembly with an abso lutely blank slate, no pre-con ceived ideas at all First impressions are very importan t, which is wh y I need my tape recorder to h an d In fact, very often I tell the directo r not to be alarmed if I run ou t I’ll get ideas and literally take my reco rd er and charg e d own to the lob by.’ 3) Next co mes a repeat viewing with the d irector (and often the produ cers) to ‘sp ot’ the film This is a proces s of identifyin g w here music cues sh ould begin and end Here th e mus ic ed ito r helps th e compos er determine cue leng ths and keep abreast of ch anges 4) With a number of ‘starts ’ in d, it all comes down to the blank score page an d being sat at the piano /keybo ard ‘Insp iratio n is a very difficult th ing to talk about,’ states J ohn Williams ‘Sometimes you feel the flow, and s ometimes you don 't The results d on't always corres pond to the way we feel The thin gs we that w e think are the high es t from an in spirational p oint of view are not The things w e d as h off on th e way to work in a tax i mig ht dig deeper or reach h igh er.’ Insp iratio n is o ne thing , bu t where you s tart? ‘Perso nally, finding the mu sical hook th at will be the central core of the th eme is the mos t impo rtant p art of th e initial co mpo sition process,’ s ay s Debbie Wiseman ‘Someh ow, when th e key theme is in place, all else follo ws quite naturally Th is key musical id ea can happen almost immediately, or else it can take an age to materialise It's a cas e of keep ing going un til it happens ’ Composers like Williams and Wiseman are from the s ch ool of putting pencil to p ap er in sketch ing out ideas With so mu ch techno log y to p lay 88 with, th ere’s also the app ro ach o f s omeo ne like Hans Zimmer ‘Having had no mu sical education whatsoever oth er th an piano lesson s for weeks, which if anythin g d amaged my way forward b ecaus e th ey never taug ht me anythin g, I u se a Macin tos h I us e s eq uencing s oftware, then so me samplers w hich b as ically have a fak e o rch es tra in them ’ 5) Once th e id eas are flowing, it’s usu al for a series of electron ic d emos or ‘mo ck -ups’ to be requested to accomp an y the s cenes bein g edited Then it becomes a race ag ainst time to meet a pre-boo ked record ing s ession date ‘J ust to g et two minutes of orchestral mus ic a day o n paper is really hard,’ rev eals D an ny Elfman ‘Ev ery one h as their own sys tem of workin g I pu t it up o n a big board I b reak d own the number of cues into their minutes and second s I to tal it know ing I can write rou ghly two utes a day I have a coun tdo wn o f days at the top, an d there’s a certain po int, a D-Day, where I mu st write two minu tes a d ay to mak e it to the end on time I’m always watch ing that p oint coming, and I’ll try to d o my develop ment k nowing th at freight train is comin g But it’s inconceiv ab le to no t be fin ish ed in time.’ 6) Time b eing of th e es sence, a composer will often work with one or more orchestrator to lessen the lo ad Elfman’s been working with Steve Bartek since playing in the ban d Oingo Bo ingo to gether (see Chapter ) Here’s Bartek ’s defin ition of the job: ‘T he ro le of the orchestrato r is multifaceted, inv olving some creativity, tech niqu e, and organization First and foremo st I’m resp onsible for translating a compos er’s s ketch into an orchestral (ensemble) piece of music that sou nds ju st as they envisioned it I make sure it is as easily p layable by the mus icians as poss ible so as no t to waste any time on the s coring s tage I often make sure it fits the dramatic and sty lis tic cerns of the scene, th at th e mu sic is large enou gh for the action or small enoug h fo r th e dialogu e, and that the in strument cho ices are ap propriate for the scene I’m als o in volved in the man ag ement of res ources to p ro duce the music Acting as the liais on betw een compos er and the orchestra contracto r I ens ure the need ed mu sicians are at th e rig ht s es sio n at th e rig ht time for the mo st efficient way to get the music recorded This involves h av ing an organized recording order that will save money o n musician s and make it easier for them and th e eng ineer to move qu ickly fro m on e cu e to th e n ex t by keep ing s imilar reco rd ing set up s and music styles next to each oth er I’m o ften called up on by the mus ic ed itor to facilitate any las t minute mo vie ch an ges by editing the music to fit any n ew version of the s cene I’m usu ally at the sess ion s mak ing s ure it all happens as smooth ly as p oss ible, helping mak e any correction s or chang es called for by th e compos er or director 89 while musician s are on the stan d Of cours e when so meth ing goes wro ng it’s always the orchestrato r’s fault, as it s hould be.’ 7) Bartek’s intermediate adminis trativ e decis ions ens ure a recording venue is settled on, and the n umber o f s es sio ns needed are determined b y the amo unt of mus ic T he play ers th emselv es are bo oked b y an orchestra contracto r dependent on ho w many have been orchestrated fo r and who’s availab le In Los An geles there are a large selection of sess ion p layers, whereas the UK o ften makes u se of several lon g-stand ing orch es tras (e.g th e LSO ) With everything in place, th e last minute stage is to create the individ ual pages for p layers to fo llo w The fu ll score is given to a cop yis t either in hand -w ritten A format o r as a computer file They th en transcribe for each ins trumentalist bearing several points in mind The p arts have to sh ow the number of bars to rest, otherwise a player is look ing at empty sp ace and rustling un necess ary pages The page tu rns need to be when th e p layer h as a free hand Fo r n eatness and sp eed, this is generally all fed in to a piece o f software 8) The set-up of a reco rding s tudio is extremely imp ortant given the amo unts of mo ney often in volved D ick L ewzey worked fo r many years at Lo ndon ’s CTS Stud ios He broke d own the stages of set-up and his role as record ing en gin eer like this: ‘A compos er calls to ask you aboard first of all A venue is co nsidered based on th e size of orchestra and the so rt of sou nd th ey wan t Is it to b e an acous tic reco rding or something really in-you r-face? You ’re us ually book ed fo r the room a d ay in advan ce of the sess ion T he mus ic ed ito r comes in with click track machines (which play in strumentalists’ beats for them to follow in their headph ones) and they test the video machines and talk back (a simple twoway communication from control roo m to ductor p odium) Then th ere may be a two-man team p utting out microph ones, cables , and headph ones Sometimes it’s just me The time this all takes d ep en ds on the room and n umb ers of players A recent on e hund red and fifty-piece orchestra with cho ir took nearly hou rs to s et-up It was :00 PM to 2:00AM Usually it’s around to hours I never d elegate microp hone placemen t to an yone els e thou gh I allocate mikes to certain tracks on the tape machine So metimes they w an t to separate so loists to giv e the op tion of cu tting them out later When we start th e sess ion, I have to achieve a h eadp hone balance for the players, and then tweak as we g o One o f the hardest things is mon ito ring click track n oise d oesn’t s pill ou t of headpho nes during quiet passages A noth er jo b durin g the sess ion is go ing into th e stu dio an d talkin g to players With percus sio n yo u have to talk abo ut where to stan d to catch every thing fo r th e way y ou’ve set u p 90 During the actual takes I try to catch ev ery cue o n their o wn merits Bey ond this I have to ensure the people who are mix ing at th e du bbing sess ion kn ow what they’re g etting on the tapes Then afterwards there’s th e clean up An eighty -piece orchestra can d ev as tate a roo m There’s sp illed tea on cables and cup s everywhere!’ 9) Of all th e aspects o f p utting a mo dern score together, co nducting is the on e where opinion ’s most d ivided The A-list triumvirate of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith , and James Horner all cond uct their ow n work , as John Barry and Debbie Wis eman Others su ch as David Arnold, Danny Elfman, an d Hans Zimmer not, feeling it is more importan t to be in the recording bo oth to be hands -o n for an y changes requested by th e director or prod ucers For th e cas e in fav our, here’s what Howard Shore has to say: ‘I th ink that condu cting is a way to fully realise y our music It’s the final s tage in a way Fro m the podium you can offer s o much exp ress ion and advice to the players , wh ich y ou can’t fro m the contro l ro om There are man y thin gs you can quickly fro m the po dium with y our players, from marking score parts to talk ing abou t ph rasing, dy namics , interpretation, to changing a melody line slightly with g race no tes Film music is done quickly It’s no t like y ou can finis h a score and h av e a month to go o ver ev ery s mall detail From the po dium yo u can work with the orchestration and hear these b alances and ass es s th e performance of the p layers first hand It’s all abo ut g ettin g a great performance on tape es sentially Th e ess en ce o f it is really abou t rehears al, because the players have never seen it You want to take th em th ro ugh the reh earsal p ro cess as quick ly as po ssible Then wh en the energ y is correct, th e best take Quite often th e best film takes are early o nes So there’s a fantastic immed iacy of being on the p odium and feeling the energ y of th e p layers when y ou’re goin g to get th at great take Yo u can see if they’re g etting a little tired, or may be it’s getting a little near lun ch It’s somewhat ab out co ntrol There’s n o chain of command.’ 10 ) T here are two stages of mixin g what’s been record ed Each cu e can have in strument vo lumes tin kered with to achieve desired effects A full balance is achiev ed , and it’s also the time an albu m is pu t to gether Then comes the final ‘dub ’, where comp osers fear to tread The final sou nd mix for th e film is where the music’s function in the film is set M any modern s co res are thoug ht lost in hig h vo lumes o f dialo gue and fo ley (rep lacement s ound effects) For film mus ic, this is where the bu ck either stops or is made 91 Reference Books On Composers There’s a s hockingly small library on the lives of film compo sers Nearly everyth ing releas ed has g one o ut o f print (but try throu gh the magazines listed below), h ence this paltry list: A Hea rt At Fire’s Centre (The Life And Music Of Bern ard Herr mann ) by Steven C Smith Hardback - 41 pages, 1991 , U niversity Of California Pres s, ISBN 0-52 0-0712 3-9 A truly masterful work o n th e life o f the composer Covers h is p rivate life, film career, and co ncert works with equal resp ect and detail John Ba rry: A Life In Music by Geo ff Leonard, Pete Walk er, & Gareth Bramley Hardback - 243 pages, 1998 , Sansom & Company, ISBN 190 0178 -8 6-9 If ever there was a labour of love, th is is it Bulging with in fo rmation and colo ur p hoto graphs, this is the way all great film co mpo sers deserve to be rep res en ted General Books On Film Music Again there’s not much available, and what there is can often g et academic I’ve left out tho se aimed to ward the mus icians themselves These offer a n ice cro ss-section o f areas of the ind ustry : Mus ic Fo r The Mo vies by Tony Thomas Paperback - 30 pages, 997, Silman -J ames Press , ISBN 1-87 9505 -37-1 Originally printed in 1971 , it focuses o n the Gold en and Silver Ages This was the first (and still the best) book to tack le th e s ubject The Score by M ichael Schelle Paperb ack - 427 pages, 199 9, Silman-J ames Pres s, ISBN 1-879 505-40 -1 Fifteen compos er interv iews by a fellow composer L ots of in teres tin g an ecdo tes, but inevitably gets tech nical at times Screencraft: Film Mu sic b y M ark Ru ssell & James You ng Paperback - 92 pages, 000, RotoVision, ISBN 2-880 46-441 -2 Similar to The Score, bu t its thirteen interv iews are far sh orter and less ins igh tful Don ’t be foo led by the large format; there’s no t much in it So und An d Visio n by J on Burlingame Paperback - 44 pages, 000, Billbo ard Boo ks, ISBN 0823 0842 72 A fact-filled his tory o f film mu sic reco rd ing s and an informative s potligh t on the mos t importan t alb ums 92 Specialist Magazines Printing advancements h av e allo wed fanzines to move away fro m the ph otocop ier While th ere is plenty o f fan nis h d eb ate and opinion abou t, the on es with th e mos t to say are listed b elow Film Score Mo nthly – http://www.films co remonthly.com – Poss es sed of a singular s ard onic wit, it may not be as regular as its title sug gests , but it’s glossily attractive and informative Th e Lo s Ang eles editorial team are also res pons ible for a terrific ong oin g series of class ic sou ndtrack albu ms Mus ic Fro m The M ovies – http://w ww.mus icfro mthemov ies.com – With an enormous albu m rev iews section , and feature articles of biblical proportions , this U.K based magazine has g one from streng th to stren gth Internet Resources The so undtrack commu nity is no where more alive than on the In ternet Newsg roups and private lists ch ro nicle excitement and dis may at new titles with either alarming or amu sin g degrees o f fervo ur So me of the s ites lis ted here tain their own chat forums, but lo g into rec mus ic.movies so me time and enjoy the n oise! News and Review Album rev iew sites are plentiful on the Web Th e better ones also feature articles and interviews : Cinemusic – http://ww w.cin emus ic.net Film M usic On Th e Web – h ttp ://www.mu sicweb.u k.net/film/index.htm Film Tracks – http://www.filmtracks.co m M ovie Poo p Shoot – h ttp ://www.mo viepoo psho ot.com/s core/ind ex html Score Review s – h ttp ://www.scorereviews.com Soun dtrackNet – http://www.sou ndtrack.n et Track soun ds – http://www.trackso unds com 93 Appreciation Fan sites app ear and dis ap pear regu larly Here’s a mixture of official and un au thorised sites that s eem to be aro und to stay: Jo hn Barry – http://w ww.john barry.org.u k Elmer Bern stein – http://w ww.elmerbernstein.com Don Davis – http://d ondav is.filmmus ic.com/home.html Dann y Elfman – h ttp ://elfman.filmmus ic.com Jerry Go lds mith – http://www.jerrygoldsmithonline.com Bern ard Herrmann – http://www.uib no/herrmann James Horner – www hornershrin e co m Erich Wolfg an g Korn gold – http://k orngo ld.freey ellow.com Eric Serra – http://www.ericserra.co m How ard Sh ore – http://ho me.s wipn et.se/~w-672 69 M ax Steiner – http://hometown ao l.com/steinerlib /in dex.htm Jo hn Williams – http://www.jwfan.com Fran z Waxman – http://w ww.franzwaxman com/main html Debb ie Wiseman – http://ww w.d eb biewis eman.co.u k Hans Zimmer – http://www.hanszimmer.in fo Retail Amazo n (.com or co.uk ) is always a go od b et for soun dtracks Bu t h ere are a co uple o f s pecialis ts: Intrada (San Fran cisco) – h ttp ://www.intrada.com Footlig ht Records (New York) – h ttp ://www fo otligh t.com M ovie Bou levard (UK) – h ttp ://www.mo viebou levard.co.uk Movie Collections The Alien Tr ilo gy, Go lds mith/Horner/Goldenth al, Varèse Sarabande VSD57 53 The B atma n Trilogy, Elfman/Gold en thal/Hefti, Varèse Sarab an de VSD57 66 Bo nd Ba ck In A ction and (2 000), Various, Silva Screen FILM CD 317 /340 Fellini/Ro ta: La Do lce Vita, Silva Screen FILM CD 720 The Godfath er Trilog y, Rota/Copp ola/M ascagni, Silva Screen FILM CD 44 The Ha mmer F ilm Mus ic Collection Volume O ne, Vario us, GDI Reco rd s GDICD002 94 Composer Collections John Barr y: Th e Collectio n, Silva Screen FIL MXCD 49 Mus ic For A D arkened Theatre Volumes One and Two (19 96), Elfman, M CA MCAD-100 65/M CAD2-1155 The Omen: The Ess en tia l Jerr y Go ldsm ith Film Mus ic Collectio n, Silva Screen FILM XCD 199 The E ssential Mau rice Jar re Film Music Collection, Silv a Screen FILMXCD 24 Er ich Wolfgan g Kor ngold: The Warn er Bro thers Years, Premiere Sound track s 72 43 38118 Man of Galilee: Th e E ssential Alfred Newman Film Mus ic Collection, Silva Screen FILM XCD 352 Ben-Hu r: The Essential Miklós Róz sa Film M usic Co llection, Silv a Screen FILMXCD 34 95 The Essential Library: Currently Available F ilm D irectors : Wo od y Allen ( 2n d) J an e C am pion * J ackie C n D av id C ro nen b erg A lfred Hitch cock ( 2nd ) S tan ley K ub rick (2n d ) D av id Lyn ch (2n d ) S am Peck inp ah * Ors on W elles ( 2n d) S teven S p ielb erg Ha l Ha rtley T im Bu rton J oh n C arp en ter S teven S od erberg h Terry Gillia m* Krzy szto f K ies low sk i* S ergio Leo ne B ria n D e Pa lma* R id ley S cott (2 nd ) B illy W ild er M ik e Hod ges A n g L ee Jo el & E tha n C oen ( 2n d) C lint Ea stw o od Mich ael M an n R om an Po la ns k i Oliver Sto ne Georg e L uca s Ja mes C am eron R oger C orma n S pik e L ee F ilm G enres : B la xp loitatio n Films Ho rro r Films S las her Mov ies Va mp ire Films * Germ an E xp res s io nis t Film s B ollyw ood S p agh etti West ern s Film N oir Heroic Bloo ds h ed* Fren ch N ew Wav e V iet na m War Mov ies Ha mm er Films C arry On Film s F ilm S ubjects : L au rel & Hard y S teve McQu een * Filmin g On A Microbu d get Film St ud ies M arx Broth ers M arily n Mo nroe B ruce Lee Film Mu sic Th e Osca rs® (2n d ) W rit in g A S creenp lay M us ic: T he Mad ch ester S cen e Bea stie Boy s Ho w To S ucceed I n Th e Mu sic Bu sin ess Jet hro Tull Th e Beat les Literature: C yb erp un k A ga tha C h ristie Terry Pratch ett W illiam Sh ak esp eare Geo rges S im en on Ph ilip K Dick S h erlo ck Holm es Hitch h iker’s Gu id e (2 nd ) C reative Writin g R ob ert Cru m b Th e Beat Gen eration N oir Fict io n A lan M oore Tin tin Id eas : C on s piracy T heories Fem inis m N ietzs ch e Freu d & Ps ych oan alys is U FOs Bis exu ality H istor y: A lchem y & A lch em is ts J ack Th e Rip p er A m erican C iv il War Glo balis ation C las sic Ra dio C om edy T he C rus ad es T he R ise Of New Lab ou r A m erican In d ian Wa rs W h o Sh ot JFK? N u clea r Pa ran oia Th e Black D eat h A n cien t Greece W it chcraf t V id eog amin g M iscellaneou s: S tock M arket E ss ent ia ls Ho w To S ucceed A s A Sp orts Ag ent D octo r W ho Available at bookstores or send a cheque (paya ble to ‘Oldc astle Books’) to: Pocket Essentials (Dept FM2), P O Box 394, Har pe nden, Her ts, AL5 1XJ, UK £3.99 eac h (£2.99 if marked with an *) For each book add 50p (UK)/£1 (elsewhere) postage & packing 96 [...]... the ear Only when the plane cras hes do es the 33 music strik e up Knowing wh en to tell the mus ic to shu t up later led to their big experiment in us ing none at all for The Birds (19 63) So we come to Psycho (19 60), a film that perhaps more than an y other sh ows how film music can live outsid e th e film Reg ard less of whether th ey ’ve seen the film or not, kid s of all ages k now wh at soun d... an d studio th inking toward film mus ic Mo re p ertinently, being a score fro m an u nkno wn Viennes e p erformer play ed entirely on an equally unkn own ins trument (the zith er), this was a big ger ind icatio n th at studios (British Lio n/Lo ndon Films) were changing their th ink ing ab out the applicatio n of music It’s a coinciden ce th at Orson Welles is in the film, but is it a coin cidence... also the film s director and his so ng-writing talent mad e a star o ut of Grace Moo re with ‘Ciri-BiriBin’ Th e film s music was largely an exercise in makin g popu lar the rarefied w orld o f opera, so it’s interesting to note how right from the s tart d ramatic und ers co re went ign ored by th e Academy M ax Steiner was no minated for Th e Lost Patrol over a lis t o f nearly thirty o ther films he... (whos e work had ap peared in film as early as 19 15 with The Birth Of A Nation) In his op inion Wag ner would hav e been the fo remost film compos er All of which is in referen ce to the leitmotif – th e idea o f linking th e appearan ces of a p ers on, place, or thin g togeth er with a recurring mu sical p hras e It may seem commonplace an d commo n s en se to day, but for film it began with Kon g T... dmark in film scorin g with Thin gs To Come (193 6) For this first fu lly realised cinematic science fiction (based on H.G Wells’ no vel), th e ambitiou s piece was largely written b efore th e film was made As such, th e th ree 7 8-rpm reco rds can’t qu alify as d ramatic und ers co re to be the first of its kin d releas ed The cen tral ‘March’ was almost immediately divorced from th e film anyw... handful o f film s cores that made s en se of the word American a mo re than an y other Our Town (194 0) is th e quintess en tial portrait of small-town USA, and has been emu lated ever sin ce Brassy fanfares, simp le harmonics, and p atriotic prid e were the s taples of his music for both concert stag e and s creen, and were the perfect fuel for th e nation entering WWII (especially his non -filmic piece... had the appearance of small cells of mu sic endlessly falling back on themselves Non e of this is to say that he revo lutionised music, but he rev olu tio nised its relation ship to the s creen Thro ugh the rest of th e decade, H errman n wo rk ed on films that indulged his musical an d priv ate personality His 194 2 Os car for All That Money Can Bu y (a.k.a The Devil And Daniel Webster) was th e o nly... Where film mu sic is concerned, it roman tically means a p eriod when its craft matched the artistry of the films themselves, uns ullied by commercialism or committee decisio n-making Th at p eriod arg uably starts at Steiner’s King Kong with its in tellectu alised methods It had an immediately ob viou s influ en ce on how scores were written Ev ery thing that previou sly falls in to the Silent film. .. a magnificent Christ theme utilising pipe org an , powerfully strident music for Ro man might, and softer Jewis h material for J udah Ben-Hur’s love story w ith Esther So many sequences illus trate the v ery best that mu sic can do for a film There’s an ex ample of ‘Mickey-Mo usin g’ (caricatu ring s omethin g in mu sic) with a musical portrait of a galley sh ip accelerating to ramming s peed Th e... openin g the film, his b allad completed its reco rd negotiations and was released in ad vance A pair of v ersions retained th e film title, bu t throu ghou t the picture it’s b etter k nown as ‘Do Not Forsake M e, Oh My D arling’ This was the first succes sful ex ample of a mo vie bein g p ro mo ted b y s ong It w as als o the first time one was used so frequ en tly and p ro minently in a film Almost