The MusicCHaPTeR1 3 Creating the Music Ws tke sno elf the plumber doe sake the wrench ut of heb, eer sing gt tat pipe of gh? Wf you dont dv an ply samen or rite “methine never gong oe fied. "Mark sham here are imes when the mos intimidating experience a composer ‘can ave i looking a blank sheet of pape or computer screen ‘And there are other times when that sme blank paper canbe some- thing he looks forward to ling dh wonderful, excting ideas. Thisis the ely ofthe creative process theve ae ups and downs, there are times when the eas jst keep coming, and times when the steam Sone dry. Fora composer working in fm, thee usually no luxury ‘of waiting unt the ies tart Mowing, Often he mst finda way 10 tur onthe facet hime ‘Three Comerstones of Composition “There are several importan, ye simple coacepts tat can help in act ally controling. and sometimes even jump-sarting the creative proces: it having a foundation of craft and knowledge of music Second, knowing what yu want to say dramatialy emotional, and pryhologialiy and, third knowing your own stengths, weaknesses, nd capacity to produce the fm-scoring busines, these ae all ‘xtemely important As we have seen in othe chapters because the “compose comes inate end ofthe film-making process the pressure to price ina timely manner ion enormous Soa compost relies fom ie cathe intent of what he want to sy, and knowiedge of his ‘wn capacities to deliver the Score on time13 cooft Ris important to have developed your cafo you have as much ech niques pose If you write reat romantic melodies, bt that ill You do well then abviouly yo are rather inited, If you ae great at “ction/adveture fms, what will ou do if the projet you aceped equirs some scenes in the le of To Kil A Mockingbird? Wil you Find someone to ghost ‘The more you know about musi, and the more diferent kinds of| :music you have analyzed extensively, the more tools you have at your disposi. Your musical vocabulary hecomes larger an you ca speak in many musical languages. raion orchestral atonal jaz or ented, or pop-musc derived soundtracks will not intimidate you if youre thoeoughly fila with how these syle work, For many; this san ongoing ie-long process tht begins ey. or ‘every compose there are variations om the there of mii earning land development When you begin «projet i you can dw upon many diferet kinds of musical expressions, you ure much beter of You will know the kinds of harmonies, hythms, and melodies to write As you wate ascene, or when you sit dows awrite, your ai iaiy with a syle may stat to suggest posible. Or fy are stack, your knowledge of what should sound like can bal you out. For cxample, if you know the director wants a particular scene 10 be Ineroiethere are certain shythmic and melodie devices that you ca raw from to create something of yout own. On the other hand your background «narrow, and yu ae asked to wete something out Side of what you know, ican be dificlt and time-consuming if not ‘att imponsbl, to cteate something appropriate Study requires dicpline and curiosity Ifyou ae nt interested in a particular sty, ft does make you st up and take notice cl your sor give You goose bumps, then study that yl as an academic rcs. This can bea necessary academic exercise forthe aspiring film composer AF Clausen, Emmy-wining composer for The Simpsons strongly tative inthe need for musical curiosity and study. He speaks about ‘his se ln reltonship to writing songs in diferent sles: Isindent’) question are always very pointed about "How do yd this how do you do that, how do you write these yes, (My response if as, Have ou disc the popula songs fal he ro find ut what make them work Have ou an Ij them 0 find ot wha the hard progressions ar, what the rood trick are, what chord tons on what chords rated Certain sound ina certain eva And can yousit dwn and wrtea ‘ong in that ye bese you have spent hundras of hours dis Seti thse song? And they zy, °Nor ye.” Wel have. Ihave Spent thousands of hours dieting and playing thos songs Is ‘mater of era Psa mate of st Intent and Concept ‘Tre intent of your music or kaowing what you want says crucial “There sucha large range of emotion and Feng that can be xprested by music that often taker lt of thought contemplation, fn sometimes even prayer to figure out what to do with apartculat fim or scene But to start writing without knowing what you want to Sayslite trying sim without knowing the toes when ou gen the water, you would just ilaround and desperately ey olay aoa, is important to take in a whole lt of information: the ow of the Arama, the look of the fl, and probably most important forthe ‘omporer, the tempo ofthe scene. Every film and every seme has is ‘wn musical impliations, andthe composer must know what film ‘or scne means before hegnning to writ Elmer Beenstsin has composed the scores to over 200 films and is ite familia with thi procs: ‘The ia hing 1 do st spend weok jst ooking a ho film swith prjuice Wher Tay without predic, 13 10 mse Tn mot even going to yt hin must during eis week. ust ‘wnt lok tthe fib nel he lm also me andthe fl 13514 ‘else things. What atthe filo tll me is wha it about, land thar’ nov alays nthe surface What the fm about What he function of usc going ben ths fl? Why are we having main il waging to dt So Ftert with ‘howe ind of hough isa kindof tlerual proces rather has caneposing proves, [Now 1 hada big problem with hein To Kill Mockingbid, because fou ok atthe fb without ese, ll ore looking at isa witha oof kid ine But yore ai eng ot of ‘adult prolems-—probems of race problems of injustice, ‘eat and ilo violence children Sot tok me the longest ime ond where the music was going fg how i wa got sg0,and what its spec ue would be inthe film determined fer along times ook me ss weke—that he fi abot ‘he aul word sen though th jes of children. Al these prob le ha we cll ada problems re seen asthe hon see them. Which led me to lle hinge. playing the Piano one note at «tne, msi box sun harp, el hing of ‘hat soe So what realy got mein the film was he elation — a kent my realiaion—sha sa fi about adult things Sen ough the ye of eileen. “Taking six wees, asin To Kila Mockingbird, to think about the approach toa film isa luxury most fim composers dont have tds Bur they usually an ake afew das or perhaps a weck, fo come uP With ideas: Once the concept ecomes clea, des wl fen sat 10 flow because the composer has frm sense of ection. Knowing Yourself Dick Grove, well-known music educator Los Angeles, usd tos, “Weal hk we're writing music to make money orto move people But what were realy doing, if we ust take Took is findng ot about jurselves" When we it down to write isi, many things sbout oa selves come int play: How disciplined am? How mich do Trust my teuning and ability? How much dot believe is myself’ Am ¥atoally enjoying writing musi, and having fun? Or ita chore? Allow ing the instructions of the len, oF is my eg too big 0 fisen to tnyone other than my own inble creative voce? On the ater and aon foo concerned with what people wil hink of me 1 stand ‘pf ay opinions, especialy i somedne aks for something know i musically a bad idea? “These questions, and ther, can come ito play everytime a com poser accepts agi At sone eel in every writer onaciousnes there San expresion of one or more ofthese questions, whether they have ‘cknowledged io not. For example, are yu the type tht procasi ‘ats unt th last mina Iso, get handle omit fora lm with 60 minutes of music wot get writen the night before, Do you havea problem aking direction andor feedback? Lose Because a s000 ou sgn the contrat, you are somebody’s employe. Do you know ‘you can write quickly and appropriately? Nurture that and lize it fre you very organized and stuctured? Stay organized, but doa forget to stay ebl. hin a compose sits don and tarts to write, seni hat he be brutally honest sbout these questions He must know how many ‘minutes «day he can produce, how many days there ae before the ‘Reording session, which cer eem to be suggesting musical ideas and which ces ae tougher There very tle time for second-guessing tnd extensive rewriting of any one cue, 50 confidence in ones teh nique is erucal: eing clear in ones communication with the decor tna willingness to translate the directors requests into musi are fundamental to this process, Developing the Concept for the Score ln speaking with composers the one thing that comes through gain and agains thatthe most secesful scores havea concept that drives the muri, Then, one the concept forthe whole sores set each id ‘vidual cue presente a particular problem to be solved. For example, Just because the main concept for + Alm is big, orchestral and Romantic doesnt mean that there cansot be a piano slo ifthe drama cals for it But that pao soo must til feel ike part ofthe rest ofthe 1816 score. I today’ word, almost any musical language is pact ofthe ‘composers palette so the choices abound. But keeping tothe over concept hepa the sound focused, Eliot Goldenthal is an accomplished composer of fim sors ballets, theate and concert works He has found away of approaching score that products unique ound foreach of his procs Before approach anything havea ver stron concept of what 1 iant 10 pull of hether st worke out or not. That might inde liiting the choice of pitches ora very cow choice of ‘chest. S don goin someting andr tare impo sing find haf ed haut sof ste my ie Tay ‘away fm he piano, ay rm the computer, ay fom the enc Ithink about te scene ad Ia, How can achiev he ‘ramatc ef that is necesary forthe scone and ave till Sound res? How can 1 make 1 sound ike you have’ heard that before, you aver ved that bore? Sometimes the rover canbe surprisingly simple In Alien 3 for example sed oslo Pian ourderine he scone woh he ile Becoure Thought ‘har having a piano way ou in Space wold remind you of he ‘mos domestic ofall instrament would remind ou of home. Ths hing ike that. Thats cone Sometimes a composer’ concep for film can be generate fom 3 fecling or amides that, in isl isnot musical Many composers ae very artistic inthe way they look a the word hat i os they se the world in terms af emotional responses that eventually get tan lated into music. Clearly this is very valuable way to see things from the standpoint of writing music fr the visual medium of film. Cif Eidelman discusses his eoneption ofthe core to One True Thing 1 had hse of time changing the changing of seasons. The ing of wind passing through tres and then leaves owing off Im another diction. This west musi ys it was fling sant ad 1 se inividual instrament par fom th rcs, separated Into thee own elton Bosh. ke dre cls in ove rom. oF The vila with tro wohwinds in another They were of thew oom od the ore ws i Be center NOW ‘oncepr as hat he pao shoul Be the main idea accompa tid by a smal orchestra so tha i fo ntmate aad neve 00 large An intovered mood 1 ao wanted it 1 fl ike wind ws carrying the mas his way and that ay, resting diferent perspectives. The music Shun’ ast coming frome the comer ofthe room It was coming [rom over here and sifted over ther, and hen would come Ick oer hee early on, thi conceptual approach merged withthe themes Wien I started producing musa ideas, my concepts worked thei yi or me, the main ding i aways the spine of he tory. So the {fis thing 1 doi lok for that emotional core—that emoionl Spine ofthe soy—withn the soul ofthe marc ell In Forrest Gump, Alan Sveti had to come up with an opening msc ‘he that would embody the whole film. Heist discussed the opening Shot, ofthe feather lating doe fom the sky and almost landing on Forrest, with directo Robert Zemeckis: emesis i'l go nt a whole la of deta bur the gis of what we did ak abot was simehow, “This isthe arto the avi, This i heart ofthis whole incredible oasey ere tout fo goon” My tate on wae. Pe got couple of things to del with now One i've gor psa things ode with Te got some event he othr float fromthe lu ky, makes ‘anentrance nt this tne Iovnds up alot landing om some Tdys shoulder then atthe at momen i blow of 15 very ‘mb, you knows sf youre Tooking at this as something Akscending upon someone's fe hat gs 0 chon right ow “Then evenly he ater lands Fred he's the chase one 1a8 ‘Sonow mevegtsome physical things terms ofthe image and vee also gor some events that ae epic nw see Coming {rom nowhere be oy, nt this town, hat does i mean? I ‘insta feat, the alos lad om some Bows of. Now ‘Mere some kind of dramatic context ‘Somow; what do you do? The vibe pet of his isha some how whatever you do ao has to exertaize and ebay this mie fm. Right now. This cannot be eather musi” Ths anno be fling doe music” This canna be mised oppor. tunity musi” This muse somehow has to take everything sentiment wise, har this fs about, and rmchow esentice ‘and present itn tnking a this pin 1 can find ha, ve got the hey thisflm. Tie theme wil be allover the movie and "here wil bea tremendous see of cohesiveness for the overall tone of hs fm Now ofcourse al ofthis going on under the surfice becouse 1m mot siting there making ls aed treatises nt 1 Know regot odo something hee So itdewn atthe pana adm thinking, "his music has to deal with Foret” aT stared ling atthe paLiterally in 0 minutes is don! 1s hie, and simple ad ye i ot by ie Fs innocet I what Tm felng from Forest Took at this moment, where the father ‘moves any fom this other uy. I make a ey change tera Immediate unprepared key change there. We already planed that were going Bring the orchestra in with re seme of seopeatthispont. ‘That was the sion i Forze. t had a be an honest attempt Musial as an acon. writer, a cinematographer, dont get cate with his movie, or youl ink the ship This anecdote embodies many of the principles oulned above with Sivestrs own personality and musial sensibility binging it is ‘late destination. He had a clear idea of what he nese odo nd ‘at not to do dramatically. And having this understanding, he wis ableto si down and creat the theme that ws ust ight fr this lm. Gronically, this theme was evenualy used i only one other spot in the fim: the ending where me see the Father again, Everytime he tried to ost eewhereyt just didnt work) (One ofthe joys af lm composing this proces of discovering acon- ‘pt Unlike writing concert works or pop songs the fi composer i rerponing tothe visual images andthe story onthe screen. These images and story lines sugest musia ideas and provide framework within which the music can ft. Many composers have sald that once they find the intl concept, thers ofthe Score writes tslfThe il tnd error, the thought and contemplation often result inthe stil tion. of the composts imagination. Then he experiences the ‘atsfction of completing the director’ vison ofthe fm in the lan sage of music. we