Complete Guide to Film Scoring The Art and Business of Writing Music for Movies and TY Richard DavisComplete Guide to Film Seong br Rhona Davis ste by Jonathan Feist ‘BERKLEE PRESS Dave Hasek, Director Debbie Cova, Managing Este (ia Frank, Marten Manager Jonathan Feist, Senoe Wer Etor ‘ed Fran, Contturng Ector ‘Cover Design: Moor Moscontz Book Desi: Dancing Planet Mediators I58N 0634008363 ra Praise for Richord Dovis's Complete Guide to Film Scoring From his technical dacssions to hit fcinting interviews, Richard's book i one ofthe best resources on filmtleiion scoring | ave ever tea. I wish Td ead it twenty years ago It Should be mandatory reading for everyone inthe bsiness—new comers, veterans, students and movie bulls” “Mark Sno; Cano fr the X- Fes aud Mile Richard Davis book, Complete Guide wo Film Scoring, is very concise and thorough, I is exelent both as movie's introduction tothe subject anda reference for professionals" “Mark sham, Acar Award nominated fl compose? ‘and Grammy winning recoding art Mor A River Runs Through It “This book ges right down to busines. Clea, concise, compre hensive, and up-to-date this the ost wel writen bok onthe subject of fil scoring | highly recommend it to music tants, lovers off, or anyone who has an interest in im scoring” “Richard ton, Emmy winning Musical Director of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain- TABLE OF CONTENTS Ponty: Interviews ts fcknowledgemente * Kner Bemstein 86 Invoducton 0 | Terence Blnehord a0 Pert 1: The Wistory of Fim Music 43 Ai deuser 28 (Chapter fly Fins and Misi Gif tdelnen ms The lent Movies as " ze (hpter 2 The Fst Teles . us The Beginning of synched He 8S an at haper he Stade sytem and Meche carte onc "7 The stuio Misi eportment a rk sho 2 hpter 4 Niel Stye-1998 to 1930 oe The olen ge of olvoos a” ! 38 ‘pte sel Ses 1988 t0 17 o Seid enon si Chapter 61975 te Teday 7 Der an a Part 11: Production, a Willem tos 32 (hpter7 The Filn-RatingProcese * Flan sivert 4 ‘Chapter # the Composer's Time Frome st | Mark Snow ue hpter 9 spotong a | chor Stone : Gopter 0 The Mas ator 8 sie water 80 hopes The Hose Team Archestrtors and Music Preporotion 111 fied Motes tk ‘oper 12 The Recording erin ond Mi a2 i Resources 35 Pe 1 The Mae — i binter opter 15 Ceating the Hane a Se Gorter a fecha Requrencns the Swe Mt W About the Author 378 hopter 15 Syncing the Musi to Pletare 185 Copter 6 Telensan us | Ghepteri7 ethnic on Pred woe a | chapter te animation 9 Chapter 19 Sons, Soundtrack, and Source Msi 189 1M Port 1¥: The Business of Fim Scoring 203 hopter 20 Woking the De | Agents, Rttomeys, on Contracts | Chopter 21 Publishing ond copyghts | epter 2 Rests, er Shw Me the one ‘hepter 25 Out inthe Res! Worle 2«ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Nigteakisls fon antter an ben many when invmabl help to me on this roc, This book woud not be he sme without the parcpstion of the om poser music editors and agents who gladly offered thr ime, And 1 ‘an thank Nan Kren of ASCAP and Doreen Ringer Ros of BMI enough for the hp they gave rein eting up many ofthe interviews In transcribing and preparing ovr 200 pages of interview transcripts, had the very enthusiastic and gracious help of my stant eve Haddon 5. Kime, Michael Wasserman, Joseph Pondaco, Erica Wes, ‘Matt Koskenmali, Sha-Ron Kushner, Daniel Davis, Marie Van Nickerk, Alvin Abuelou, Thanh Tran, Nina Edelman, Susan Lim, Jason Get and Michael Albers. Their fort ad feedback was won erful In Los Angeles, my former stadent, Alfonso Chavee was a great help in facilitating incerviews, giving superior computertechnial advice and feedback on the manuscript. David Fran2 was the g0-t0 ‘etal efekenty helping wth many diferent ares of production ‘The Film Scoring Department at Behl College of Music gave impor- tantfeedback and guldance ri Reason Jack Freeman, Doa Wilkins, Michael Rendish, and fon Ken. Also Richard Grant, creator of the [Arilesoftwar helped tec me inthe ight ection on several ists. In securing clearance to ue copyrighted materials and photos I had the hep of Jonathan Watkins of Fox Muse Publishing, Carl Farhat ‘of Fox TV Music, Antonia Coffman of The Sinprons, Stacey Robinson 1 Twentieth Century Fox Productions, and Richard assaian of Todd: AO Studio. Finally 1 ike o thank the staf at Berke Press. Senior Weite/Etor Jonathan Feist devoted countless hours to meticulously editing and assembling this manuscript. Jonathan, Managing Editor Debbie (Cavalier, and Dizector Dave Kus ll fciitated geting huge project thuough the pipeline in avery short amount of time (oe to mention tile encouragement when [felt Pd never make). An for aditonal apn profing the eamacrp, the eal-yed ear Larry Devi Richard Davisww «_______INTRODUCTION Tis boskisor anon ees in writing maior mio television. It takes the reader step-by-step through the at of fim scoring om the history ofthe fl, through the proces of writing the Score, and Sally to an explanation of the muse bus ‘es it pertains to film and television composers. As composer nyse, have worked with some ofthe top people inthe business In preparing this book, | interviewed over 20 of ay cllespues— ‘composers, music editors, music supervisors, and agente—and Included ther observations and anecdotes. Successful flm scoring not a mate of ust wtng goed msi it is writing good music that supports a dramatic situation. After teaching film scoring for several years atthe Berkle Collegeof Musi, hve realized thatthe most important thing fr the begin ning composer wo lear is how to approach writing this kind of ‘ni This means finding he heat of the fm, the soul of thei, fd expressing that in music. No ie can get nse a composer's head and tel them which notes to write Every musician brings his ‘en personal experince and musical point of view tos compos! tion. But they can be guided and pointed ina certain direction, titer bya teacher, aditectoe, or simply a gt reaction toa pati lar scene, have found that he est reatve uldance can give sto hp someone find that hear of the picture in order to know what they want to express about it That expresion can then combine with other skilscompesitioal, technical, creative, busines, nd ‘communication sills make a successful Bln sore and = xsl composer. ‘This is our approach in the Film Scoring Program at Berke, and there are several dimensions to our program that ae reflected inthe structure of this book Firs itis invaluable to have an appeciaton ‘ofthe masters lm coring, past and present. The chapters the istry ofthe Held give an overview nd hopeful wl ingpve the sade of lm muse wo Farther ty Second very composer hoping to wok in film scoring must kno the proces of fm making and the evolution of «film cove. The chapters on topics sich a poting, syncing, ad msc iting will give the reader an understanding ofthis proces that many estab Tshed composers had to lara onthe job, ‘hind, and the mos dificult to impart in a Book, are the chapters ‘on creating the score With the help of my composer clleygues, 1 fect on the important concepts in writings film score. Again my sm sto point the reader in the right dzetion, and hopeflly the lneresedstadent of fm scoring wil take the advice of several of ‘the composers ia this book, and sty, ty sty. ‘The final chapters discuss an sue thats necessary’ t the velihood of every profesional musician: the music business Royalties, agents attorneys, copyrights, and other topics ofthe fll muse bosines are addressed at length. This provides abasic understand Ing for anyone entering the fel “The book concludes with 19 interviews with some of the tp com poses and agents in Hollywood. These interviews provide an Aluminating glimpse int the careers af those who ae sccesfl in this fd. Ther relationships with drcto, stores of how the carers gute ps and downs along the wy. anceotes about how specie senes were writen and many other seceded. How does ths music end up onthe iver sereen? What dest take to beable to compose Who chooses the composer! Who choses what the music should sound ike? Have lng does it tke? How do the finances work? This book answers these questions and many ‘othersabout the art and busines a lm scoring RD, Boson, May 199The History of Film MusicCHap Eorly Films and Music: The Silent Movies Masini vial nce ring fore normed Hermie sic and drama, Drama and. music, Either way, these to, [branches ofthe performing ats have been linked together for thousands of yeu in many cultures around the wold. There i Japanese Kibuki Indian Bharatnatyam, and the Balinese Monkey Dance The ealy Greeks and Romans used chorses and orchestras 0 accompany thelr dramatic plas. In Europe, daring medical times there were pagan festivals chat used must t accompany stories of gods and heroes aswel a liturgical dramas that portrayed various Iiblal stories through singing and. dramatic ation. During the Renaissance, musie was used in various scenes in the plas of Shakespeare and ater. In the Baroque period of asia musi we find early opera and bal, forms of musical drama that continae today. And finally, inthis century we have the huge popularity of Broadway plays and im musi Inallthese examples the music and drama canbe separated int inde pendent ents, but thee combination as a wholes greater than the sum oftheir individual pars. Overtures and arias fom Mozart’ oF Vera’ operas are often performed independently and are musically satisfying. Some of thee Same operas exist spay or books. But heat the aria as part ofthe staged opera and the effect profound in away ‘that the ply or music by fuelf cannot approach, Masicfor mi si ae Certainly 2 fm composer can write good music that stands upon is own without the fl. John Willams Suit rom ET, The Extra‘Terria fcquenty performed in concerto great acl. Bat when herd in conjunction withthe visual ofthe film eis awesome andthe whe aks onanathr dimension. Ie nofen dificult forthe modern 190s anience to appreciate the experience ofthe lm audience of eve the 140s oF 9308 much less the ance ofthe ten ofthe 20 century, when the technology of ‘moving pictures was new. But fora moment 1 put yours n the Shors of the flmgocr in 1895. The commen forms of long-distance Communication sere leters and the telegraph The cating edge of Commutation technology wa the telephone, and onl 2 tiny pe entage of ty dels had one in thes homes or had ever wed one. Horses and tains wee al the primary modes of travel atomobiles were about a common as telephones, and the Fight of the st air ple wae stil 0 years ny. Electric ight were only 5 years old and fa lamps were sl the prevailing method of artificial ight Einstein Fad yet to propose his Theory af General Relativity Savinsky was nly yeu ld and Schoenberg weve systems of music was mote than two decades inthe fate musi lover were most fanart ‘with rahmr, Wegnes Mozart, Ver Beethoven, and other 1 and. to century composers Imagine now that you enter smal theater or een café with curtains ‘owed against the ight. Avery noisy machine in the mile of the fom starts up and aros a sceen in the Fon! you see the images of| people animals. and buildings To you, the almost turn-o-the-century Fimgoc hisses miracle And yt at the sme time the images scr disembodied, for there is no accompanying sound The mouths might ‘move the hose might gallop the x spews its fares, but here are no ‘rons there no cippity lp, and there sno chugging and banging (ofthe engine. Als eto your imagination, forthe ony sounds you pear are the loud and noisy rotations ofthe projector's motor However imagine you are in the same room and there ia pianist or ‘small group of musicians paying wile the picture moves on the ‘Screen This adds another dimension to your experience, ad even if ‘he music i just background manic wih no dramatic importance, Your previous impression of empey, disembodied images trans formed into a more complete experience. Tere ae still no words m0 hooves no automobile engine noises. But the addition of music some how makes the images on the screen more complete and les ke ‘o-dimensonal shadows. From the very beginning there were probably musical accompani- rents to film though the rst documented incidents were in 1895 hu 896 when the amie fay screamed some ofits aly sin Paris and London with msical accompaniment. These were a great ces and soon orchestras were accompanying sin the heaters Atfitstthe music that went wih these lms was taken fom anywhere: ‘asc favorites, popula song. folk songs 0 lie or no attempt to give the musica drama thereto enliven the sudienc' experience. [As the fl industry grew and became more sophisticated, musi in the theater grew aswell Depending om the sie and location ofthe tester, thete could be anywhere from one plano or organ oa small, torchestea The player or music decor would choose various pecs fom the eteady enti erstre and prepare thes for performances. In sagan in France, Camille Saint-Saens was commissioned to write wat is Beleved to be the st fm score tare fora specific film, Lasasnat dir Duc de Guise. This score was succes, but cause ofthe added expense of commissioning a composer, repr ing the musi, and hiring the ensemble, the concep of scores specially composed fra film didnot ake hold. However many people inthe industry wer becoming aware tht there ‘wae nec for standardizing music or films if not specifically com: posing for ther, Music was not yet an integral par ofthe drama on the sees f wae stil simply am adjunct with litle or no dramatic significance, And because ofthe ltl problem of composing fr tS many diferent Kinds of ensembles as there were theaters, sores ‘rere only aly composed for specie ns ”8 Music Fake Books ‘What id tke hol, however, war a method of standardizing the mu cal experience of the audience, and a way of codifing what the ‘usin played. This happened wit the publation of eer books that provided many diferent pieces of music with ferent moods that ould cover almost any dramatic situation. Thee book, of which the ‘ost well-known are the Kinobblithk (or Kinothet) by Guiseppe Bece, The Som Fx Moving Picture Mase Volunes by 1S. Zamecil and Motion Petre Moods, by Erno Rape oranived the msc cle tion to be plyed by dramatic category. The musi director could simply determine the mood or general fecting ofa particular scene, Took up that desi the book, and choose one of ver possiblities I, for example, he needed music or avery dramatic ene set in an ei «asthe might have scen thes listings unde "dramatic expression Night sinister mood [ight thestening mood ‘Magic: apparition Impending doom Parsi ight Heroi co Disturbed nature fe, storm In addition, here were many other moods and aso other main cate- gore: Loe, Lyrical Expression, Nature Nation & Society and Church tate (See Fig 13,.2,13) The use ofthese books could be 2 cumbersome proces special if there wat more than one musician plying, The mii director ach theater would view the film several times ith stopwatch and time cach scene He then would choose the individual paces tobe pled, knowing how many seconds each piece should run. Much was dependent on the ability ofthe conductor or player to anticipate a scene change and to beable to extend or compress piece. One ofthe tost problematic areas became the transtons between scenes that had dierent pieces of musi, A change in key center, tempo instru [potteonrenttestreomesniey e e e e § e . 6G. SCHIRMER, ING., NEW YORK Roneos LSOVSAIONSD MOTION PicTURE Moops For Pianists and Organists 1A Ravid Reference Collection of Selected Piecet Aneel ERNO RAPEE Adageat w rity-Tw0 Metas snd Sisto $ Ronasneeneensnneaneaneanee eit by Beaton af Skeor rae Hoe 2 Pe Gyo Se) vad Gi O86 Heong’. %5" ‘aon 4 ESAS Se a Fig. Rae, Aint by Poon Shes Fe Rae erin ean 9. Shirementation, or overall mood could be very awkward without a writen ‘out tansion. Therefore, many musical directors created such teanition themselves, “The fake books were sucesfl snc they created et musical script that any musician could follow However thei dramatic eflectiveness ‘was ited by the ability ofeach theaters musical director ‘A concurrent system whose inception actusly prods the use of fake books was developed by Max Winkler, acer at Cael Fischer Music Store and Publishing Company in New York. Winkler realized that | hn could se the fis before they were released, he could then make {up what he called "cue sheets” for cach fm (similar to modern-day esheets oF iming notes, but not o he confsed with them). These ‘ue sheets would lay out the choice of music and give timings for how Fong to ply each piece, aswell as present guidlines for inepreation, sn ordr to say synchronized. The publisher would preview he film, creates cue sheet, then organize and sla book for ech film that ws provided tthe musical director of aueater. This benefited the film ‘aker, fort provided set musical script with rough timings. eo benefited the publsers ofthe misc, for the could make a profit sel Ingo eating the music tut the theater: Heri the cu sos or an imaginary ln that Winker dew up the night he po the de: Mosic Ce Sheet or ‘The Magic Valley Selected and amped by Me Winkler ‘Cue 1. Opening —play Minuet No. in Gby Beethoven for ney seconds uni ile o screen “Follow me deat” 2. Play "Dramatic Andante" by Vly fortwo mints and fen seconde, Note play soft daring scene where moth tet lay Cue No.2 unt scene"her levi room: 23. Play "Love Theme" by Lorenze for one minute and ‘twenty seconds, Note: Play soft and slow during conver ‘Stion nt leon screen There they go" 4. Play "Stampede" by Simon fr Sy-fve seconds Noe: Ply fas and decree or increase speed of allop in sccodance with ation om the seen “This iscearly impreis, withthe effectiveness ofthe mood andthe accuracy ofthe timings dependent onthe pianist or conductor's bi ity wo lterpret these instructions. However, the response fom producers and from musicians was overwemingly postive. It ave them a masial scrip to follow that ostensibly followed the wishes of the lm makers. tn actus, both the Kinothek and Max Winker methods were des tind for shor lives. Wile sytem debuted in 912 and the Kinathek ‘was published in. By the ate 1208 the revolution of "talkies the Fist moves with hie charactrs actully speaking in synchronized sound, were being distributed. It was this technological advancement that began the modern use of musi in movies. BCHAPTER 2 The First Talkie: The Beginning of Synchronized Music ‘There ws mein hisses when hey ha thee of the whole wide nord But tha wa good enough forthe, ‘hs hey a ave he are of he worl to Shey ‘pend heirbig mouths ane out coe ta. Talk Tal Norma Demond in Sunset Boulevard he use of sound in fms revolutionized the way moves were de Not only was there an amasing new dimension tothe aul- oc’ experience, but the way a sory was communicated had to be ‘ompletey rethought Previously when th actors were silent the ln ‘maker often had o conveyor amplify an emotion, or make a certain Point by us of lighting or camera anges Because the actors were now Taking onscreen, dietors ft that they ad to highligh them with lear bright ight In addition, the camera angles stayed more static in fonder to focus onthe speakers and the reactions of those listening. (Actually thi wae also a ecological quirement becase the er ‘ras were il ery noisy and had tobe enlosed in bulky, soundpreot bile that were cumbersome to move around the set) The fect of lof this was that he dalogue became the focal point ofthe fm. The imagination of the audience was curtailed atthe actors explained ‘vcrything happening “This meaat several things for the musicians. First a composer could provide necdd insight into the emotional and prchological drama through the music Second, he could compose 2 piece of musi hat ‘wold accompany the film wherever it was shown. Thizd, the shit ‘Owards sound pictures meant that thousands of theater musicians would be put out of work 8ra ‘One of the interesting side-stores to the development of the film industry is that inthe lat 920s here were quite afew stuo owners ‘who tired thatthe takes were a pasing fad However there Were ‘others who saw the commercial postin of movies with synchro nized dialogue. During the mid-agaos several diferent technologies ower being experimented with o synchronize picture and dalguc. In toss and ign severl shorts were sereened tothe public by the Warner Bros. Studio to gauge the audience reaction, These were nt dramatic fms: they simply showed opera singers, tains, or other mundane ‘vents that nckded synchronized sound, tn 927, nervous Warner Bros executives premieved The Jaze Singer in ‘New York Starring vaudeville singer Al flson, this flim had several rusia numbers featuring sychronized sound. With seventy years of| hindsight sts xy for us to tink" What was the big deal? OF course ‘ereryone would love this new technology” But the ely of thetime i ‘that no one knew how audiences would reat afte thirty years of set Pictures Although mach of the spoken dialogue wasstil silent andthe ‘sory told by narration eds” when Jolson sng"Blue Sis" andy “Mammy and the sound appeared to come fom his mouth the aud cence was thre. The Jaz Singer dd terrific box-office business and became the film that showed the industry the wayto go. I opened op whole new ea or several reasons, both commercial and tehaical, may ofthe fst access talkies were to be musicals For about three years, enti shout 13 astendy team of muscals was produced. This was probs by beease ofthe entertainment vale of musical; aot only id the actors speak, they also sang and danced. In addition, there was the logistical advantage of having the musicians on these and ofen 02 camera. However, as with any fad afer several yar ofa steady dit of rmusial, the publics interest in them soon waned When this hap- pened many studio executives thought there was no longer a ned for Imusicians, and many ofthe studio orchestras wer laid of A yearlong period of adjustment ened unl the same exzcuties found out how "uch they realy id need the msc. [Adding music to films at this time was an expensive, cumbersome, prolate proces. Inthe very esl days of tales there was Do way {orecord the moi separately rom te rest ofthe production. Al he Imusicins had tobe present onthe set, postioned in sucha vay sto [Beheard but nt cover up the actor line. Tey ould not make a mis take est a whole ake be ruined Tis wae nightmae forall involved: musicians actors, decor and youndmen. Sometimes a short song ‘ould take two o thre days to record. In ation, there could be 90 ‘lis afterward or the music would be ruined the soundtrack would have jumps and lips, “The technology that wa to fe the music fom the confines ofthe hooting st ws the ability to Tecord the muse ata separate te, oF e-rcond” a i was known then. Devped about 393, this allowed the mic tobe ecorded on town scoring stage «oad to distin= tush the musi recording building from the soundstage orm set building allowed the film maker tobe able to put the music ay ete he wanted inthe im, and it eeated the proces we now cll “aubbing” when the musi, dialogue and sound efects are mixed togethers Dubbing wis yet another major technological advance, at ‘gn the distr or producer contrl not only over where the music fd sound eects would go, but aso over how lo they would be in elation tothe dialogue This new technology made the proces of inclding mucin ms ‘much more lebe and les expensive, and by the early 19305, de: tore and producers began to accept that the fis underscore was a stitial component However,many sil believed thatthe soure ofthe music needed to be accounted for visually. Max Steines, one ofthe {ints ofthe estly dys of coring described the sitaation: hu they fil as necessary 0 explain the music pica. For example, if they wanted use for sect ee, Og ner as shoe I sas ows music ma nihtelah bal ‘oom other sens as thre he ocr payed a necessary arin the picture ury Many strange devices were ated to introduc the music. For Instance love scene might take place in he woods a order to uty the music thought necesary to company i wan ering violist would be rough i for no reason at al Or agua shepherd would be sen herding hs sep and playing his ‘te, othe accompaniment of fyi orchestra Such examples show the navet of many lm makers at that time. ‘Audiences had been accepting music with no need for a visual justin from the beginning of films. However, it was a period Iwnen the industry was Binding is way and discovering what worked tnd what didnot workin these ne sound movie, ‘To addes the perceived necesity that all msc be justified visually, two distinct and dametially opposed soations of music use came into vogue. One was the use of constant utc core that started | ‘he opening credits and didnot stop until the picture ended. The other was no music at al Neither ofthese solitons was ideal and it tok Some tal and errr on the part of flim makes to find one that ‘worked, Ukimately a system of bringing the musi in and out of the Pictures the drama required became the standard practice, and sti here to today. is interesting to note that between these carly days of talkies and he contemporary films af today thre have been very few roses ‘movies that had absolutly no msi. revaing anecdote i that of ‘The Lost Weskend, 945 fm starring Ray Milan, This intense flrs about an alaholc on aweckend bender wa originally release with fut any music at all When ist shown in the theater at the mos “dramatic scenes of Milan's descent into an alc i, the aud fence sickered and gggled—vactl the opposite ofthe fin maker's Intent I was quik pled fom circlation, and almost permanentiy shelved. However composer Miklos Ros was browght in #0 do a fcoreand the movi was -releasd ogres claim I went on ow best actor, best picture, and best decor, but the score was not snowed eventhough was hoy ing ae oh, Daring the period of fim music's infancy between 127 and 934 4 ‘lear progression can be een. At ist, the most common and obvious tse of music im the eis way as part of muscal with song and dance numbers, Upon the arrival of re-recording, producers weat to the extremes and thought they didnt ned music at all or had to hase itall the time Experiments were made wih various Kinds of source ‘mac musi that comes from a"souce” on-screen) asin the Marlene Dictech film The Blue Angel. Theme songs were sed just they are tod, inorder to promte the fm and sel records and set music “An finaly, directors began to play with the ide that music could ‘ome in and out ofthe soundtack to suppor various types of scenes. ‘Watehing olds, you wll notice thatthe concept of constant msi ‘was slow to di and was usd in many Fins. However, the nation that ‘music was a necessary art of fm tok hold and the underscore a we Jeno it today began to take shapeCHAPTER 5 The Studio System and The Studio Music Department Music on of ou rete rt forms mat be subj the neds of pcre ‘That he nature of movie alg Sine Lumet! uc hasbeen writen about the Hollywood "std syte” ia ect fom the silent fm era until the 39608. Although we are primarily concerned with how this worked in relstion to composes Sind misclans in general tis worthwhile to briefly describe he over Mlstadi system? In the carly days of Hollywo there were several large movie studios that produced the majority of ns. These studios grew up during the {ays of the lent Sls, ad the stem af production they established then ‘arid over to the talkies Warner Bros. Stadio, Met Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Universal Studios, Paramount Studios, RKO, Twentieth Century-Fox, and United Arts were dhe most pro ductive and longest lasting. As sill happens today, many of thse tents were constanly shifting in ownership and had varying degrees ‘of prfablty. They were also each known for having certain kinds of films. For example, Warner Bros. was known for swashbuckling venture stories, Univeral for steady production of “B" horror and ‘comedy movies, and MGM for grand demas. “This was the most productive time inthe history of the fm business in terms ofthe sheer number offs produced. It hasbeen sid tht in contemporary Hines Americans go to a movie, in the 19308 Americans went tothe movies. Back then, people would fequenty spend the afternoon seeing double featur, whereas today going 10 »2 the movies isan occasional evening out Inthe 193 approximately 80 milion Americans 65% of the population) went to the movies once w tsk. Today, a much smaller percentage (ander 10%) of the popula- tion goes to theaters regula In the summer of 998 more people bought more tickets to movies (41.9 milion) than any summer in history. However since the popu lation of the US. has grown so substantially since the 1940, these statics better reflect the movie-going public when expesed in terms of proportions othe general population? Because ofthe volume of films needed to sts the appetite ofthe movie going public the studio developed a sjtem that was ike an issemby ine. Ie was efclen, streamlined, and somevbat insulated fom the possibilty ofthe lemperamenal manipulations of one ee ative indvidal, In other words, it was difieult for one person fnvolved with the production, whether screener, director, com poser, editor, or others, to derail hold up, ar ehange the thrust ofa Production if they disagreed with the others A new person would Emly be brought in from the ranks ofthe studio staf and work ‘wotld continue: The only person wth somewhat absolute power was the production executive, compared to whom even the tars had only limited power lf particularly temperamental actor attemped to sab- ‘tage a production the prodice could cotel hin by tveatning not to gnc him an further projec forthe reside of hisconeact. Fach studio was 4 completely selécontained film-making factory where everysupect of the process war owned and contlled bythe individual sto, The stadio employed fll-ime contracted stalls of screenwriters, directors, producer, ators, exttas, costume designers Irirdrevser, carpenters lecteicans, musicians, publcy gens and ‘thers spanning every posible job necessary to the making fa. ‘They ha thee own labs to develop the film and had complete pos production ficlities for editing. and dubbing. In addition, the Indiv stdios aso owned chains of theaters that showed only thei fms The sudo controled not only the making of the Bi ‘very aspect, but also where when and fr how long it would be Shoven (This ownership ofthe deaters was dered ileal in 1949 and the studi were forced 10 sell off thee theaters. was only recently that Sony and others have found a way to wn chains of movie the ters without violating US. antivust laws) ‘When a fl started its joarny through this studio assembly tn, he producer pulled the strings and guided the process as it went through the diferent departments, Fst a guoup of writers would be “signed to create, complete, and polish the script. Note the operative trond here rou” Bren though one writer would get sree credit, Sen it was a group effort, One person would write certain somes, Imaybe love scenes Another might weit action scenes and yet another polish up the dilogue, There might also be a team of dietors, ach “ecting various senes or different part ofthe, Various fl edi= tors would work on the projet ae would teams of employees rom the Imusic sound fle and costime department All ofthese workers tree on staff a the stad. They could not work for any other suo, od they were obligated to follow the directions ofthe executives and ‘supervisors oftheir departments. “The actors were also under conttat othe sto, and especialy tthe beginning oftheir careers, had to do what they were tld, May 35 ‘mere roomed by thestudosatayoungage they were“dscovered” and thestuo would plan thei carers and eresteoles specially or them, “The producer and ther studio excetives were often involved in the “reatve proces in a hands-on way. They would make creative dei Sons that might be in acond with the desire af the directors). o they might beat odds. The producer decision was the inal word Te ro ‘doer wielded mach more power over creative decisions in those days ofthe studio system than they do today. In comtemporary times, he ‘iecors responsible for delivering ail version ofthe fl that is “pproved bythe producers andor studio. During the making ofthe fim, the modern ditstor har much more conto over eentive dc sions than the director ofthe 930s and os did although his ial ext ‘ofthe im il sje to approval Eventhough it scems impersonal many great lms were made by this process under the stud sytem, There were diferent tyes to adhere 8Pa ‘on lm making romances, melodramas epic adventures, and the diferent creative people earned adapt oa certain yl inorder to maintain continuity throughout the Br. The mi, a well, was produced onan assembiy-line bass, and many composer and orche trators had to learn to adap othe desired spe, This is one of the reasons tat so many clichés sprung up inthe Holywood le and ‘musi ofthe igo the diferent departments ha oie them fo stay within the boundaries of the required stl, For example, they pro «duced soaring violins for the appropriate love senes and growing low bras or ings forthe bad Buys Another reason that so many clichés were in use had to do with the sheer volume of films produced there was hardly time to work ut fs orginal creative eas within the given time constraint Final, there was prevailing atitade amongst produces that xsd then sit ‘dos today which that “iit works do again” In other words thee ‘was general reuctance to try ne things and conservative desire to {se hat wasted and proven both in Hm making and in msi The Studio Music Department Starting inthe te 192, the studios had music departments that were self-contained So that every stage ofthe music could be done in- house. They had stats of composers, orchestrator, songwiters, ‘ehearial pianists, orchestra musicians, conductor, choreographers "mic copys, prooreaders, music editors (den called “sie ct ter"), and mse executives to overce the proces, Thee people «sually worked under one rot in a music building that contained & ‘musi brary anda recording tua. ‘The head ofthe musi department was ofen 8 composer or conduc tor like Afied Newnan, who headed the music department at ‘Twentieth Century-Fox for many years during the fortis and iis He alto had to be an executive who interacted wit the studio exec tives producers, directors, accounting. department, recording speci, costume decors when musicians were on-screen, ad {tors when they were singing or playing. He had to have firm grasp of budgets and time schedules, and be an accurate evaluator of the hills srengths and weaknesses of the composers and performing ‘musicians in his department “The music department head would be aware ofthe production shed eof fin and would know when twas about tobe ready fr music. TF the im asa top festore, then e might assign one well-known ‘ompoter to sore the projet. However, many ofthe second lve, B= films, woul be assigned ¢ tam of composers. These composers would sere the fm with others on the music production staf. athap the director would be thet, pechaps not. [ter the composers began writing, thee sketches would go down the line to the otchestators, copyists,prooteaders, and finally t0 the “orchestra If there were songs or dance numbers there were rehearsal Pranists on sal oake caso them. Everyone had his wn job twas Ul compartmentalize, In acta, this very sma in proces 10 modern flim score production, with two major diferenes. Today there only one composer oma project, and today everything i con- tected outside ofthe stu. All the above oles and jobs stil exis, bt itis notin one place under one roof, and its not controlled by the ‘Stadio these degree of etl ‘The deadlines and the pace ofthis process in the 19308 was frighten ingly api, even by today’s standard. Composer David Raksin began his carer as fil composer working with Chasie Chaplin in 19 and he describes this proces: (On the day wher the new fm was tunel over 10 the Department for soring the af gathered our projection room Pret would be he head of the asic department his (sistant. the compos to o ee orchestrator the head ‘of Masi Cutng anda couple of his asians ‘By lunch we had “broken the fl down” in sequences adjudged (0 call for usc, determined what Kinds of thematic material woud be repel and who would write fer lack while the scutes prepared the timing Shes tha would enable ws 1 3s% syelronize our mac with dhe lm [the other composers and net off tour studios t compose whatever spc material had en assigned oa We would sory meta, wth several versions ofeach theme, to decide whic one each category ould et eve our purposes, which were usualy quite ler ‘hough never defi ese hemes were Pototated and ech fw got ae fll the material or ha lm By that te he ming het were ead, 50 we divided the workin hee prts, ‘ad each a headed for home compos i third Someries here was time to orchestrate neo sequences, but sual the ash os rot that bythe next ming we were lady feding sketches to the archestrators, and by noo they twee delivering pages sare to the copys: On the morning of ‘he forth day the cording would bei the Studio ad fine rhea under contracted avilable on very shor notice, (On the fih day a couple of dys ofr recon (dung woud commence. feta, there might ea brief spi, and the the procs started aga. It as wld and weal enjoyed it Five days to compose, record ad dub a film is unbelicealy ick Todaysa compost usually takes two to eight werk o write the mic and thre tote days to record, Once his work is complet, three to Tour weeks are pent dubbing hs music and te other sounds nt the ‘lm, and soon after that, itis ready to hit the theaters. Themen thst ‘the lm willbe released between five and thirteen weeks afer the com poser ir recive the locke pctre (see chapter) Davi Rain relates anther anecdote abou adi composing sheds We did tremendous amount of music. For instance hen 1 sompse the soe for Forever Amber, that ha abou to mi tes of aseabout 100 of thane I compoxed myself. The est ‘nas music ofthe story’ ime. Originally had eve weeks t do ‘hat but hey were messing orcund withthe movi, and by the time ey ot fed ding that Tad eight and half woes fo dothat tremendous amount of musi And i it! “The budget and importance ofthe project would determine quality of| the masie an the amount of time given to write i B fll were fused through. If the Him hid major tars and was high prof a in Torever Ame, thee would be ane"name” composer who would have ‘more time to rite the soe. Sul, the proces that ented once the ‘ore teas written remained the same: the musie went through the Pipeline fom composer to orcheteator to music preparation tothe dio orcs. eyCHapTer 4 Musical Styles~1930 to 1951 The Golden Age of Hollywood Sy thse wh ave preceded us Koro, Wexman, Rakin Snr Lar what hey did. Lear why. Lear how ‘Draw upon ther genius and your own understanding (of th mariage of mi ad fie wl deepen David Spear cen 930 and 1950, am average of 500 fis per year Wete pro duced. At ths time Americans were atending movies more fecquently than at any other time in history. For this reason, his time period is known a he "Golden Age of Hollywood.” It was an exciting time to be inthe movie business; opportunites were many, and tech= nology and the industry self were growing to maturity fom the infancy of sent pictures, constantly making strides and innovations, both echically and creatively Film music aso grew up daring this time, ning te way to language anda tehnigue thatthe Founda tion for what i heard even today. “The musical hn-scoring vocabulary of the 930s and 405s stil fai iar to modern audiences The rest of many of these olde Ss 0 ‘ideo and theirsirng on television hay enabled even those af us bora Mer this" golden ge of movies to recogeizethelush orchestral sound fof the eal ln sores. Though this sound can sem “cory” to 19905, fas if we understand where these composers and fm makers were ‘oming fom, then we cn appreciate ther atti accomplishments Daing the silent li ea, the music that was most familar to a ences and thus was commonly used in fils was that of the 18% snd 19H century European classical composers popular songs by co poses such a leving Berlin and George Gerswin s well as some »wellknown folksongs, When sound became «part of isin the ate ‘b20s there arose great ned for accomplished composers who could ‘writ Scores that would appeal to the contemporary audience and be Aramatcly synchronized to enhance the ation on-sceen, At this time there was an influx of European born composers who came t0 Hollywood, many of whom were Jewish and were Neng politcal upheaval and perscution in Austria, Germany, and Esser Europe ‘They had conservatory training fom thee native lands in compo tion, conducting, and petformance, and therlore were wel versed 0 clascal musi stles—~espcily those of the 18H and 19 centuries. ‘They had an indepth knowledge of the operas of Verdi, Wagner, Sas, and Pucca, and were itimatly far withthe concert and chamber works of Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Schubert, Bert, tnd many others Of these dmigeé composes, several were quick osc high standard for the Holywood music community. These inched Mas Steiner, Erich Korngold, Brarilau Kaper, Miklos Rosa and Franz Waxman. A lye lok atthe musical achievements of to ofthese men, both before and during ther Hollywood cares, wil atrate how the "Sound ofthe fms during the Golden Age of Hallywood eae tbe ‘Mas Steiner (8 to 173) wrote ove 30 film scores inci King Kong, Gone With the Wid, The Tear ofthe Ser Mae nd The (Charge ofthe Light Brigade. An Austin immigrant who had writen hiss operetta atthe age of fourteen, Steines arived in Hollywood ‘nip Hl was thee a ln music grew fom infancy int a sophisti cated at and was one ofthe men tht molded it growth le became oven for writing emotional, Iecal themes (as sn Gone With the Wind, but was versatile and could provide any mood required. He used letmotifs (themes, speci instruments, or both for 2 certain harateror idea inthe story) in many fms an ides borrowed rom ‘opera composers, especially Wagner. Most importantly he was ai nally composer of operetas, and so was well versed inthe maeage ‘of musi an drama It was this dramatic experience that gave hi the Seastvty quiet write effective fm sores. Ad it was is rain ing and foundation in 39 century composition that provided the ecstacy rusia ocablry Erich Korngold was also an Austrian refuge who was teaned in the (Old Worl conservatory sate. But where tenes background was Jn operetta, Kormgok' wae in grand opera. Komngold was @ child prodigy in his hometown of Viena, and by the time he was fourteen Esprles had ben sng by Mable, Pocsni and Richard Straus. By the ageof nineteen, e had writen thee operas and was considered 0 ‘boone ofthe shining lights of Europe He was wellknown, wel ike, and wel off financially by the ime he wasn hi earl tent. Most his carer consisted of conducting in various European ces whe be continued a compose pera and cancer pics In 1534, Komgold was invited to come to Hollywood 10 azeange Mendelsohns famous incidental music to A Midsummer Nights Drew. Aug the produce ofthe project had probably never heard ‘of Koragold at that time Hollywood produces sored status pint by ‘xcceauly riding the attic world of Europe: So Karngol jour rneyed to Calfornia wih his wife and children, and spent several ‘months adapting Mendelsohn mus “This trp proved success, and Kommgod was intrigued by the posi bilities of lm musi He was to zetur to Americ twice i the next few yeas Sinaly coming for good when he reaied thatthe politica climate nis naive Atria was Becoming dangerous fra Jv rnold ony scored cighten fms in twelve years, and he worked under the best conditions possble He had the right to urn down any projet and was given as much ime she neded 1o write the musk ‘AS with Steiner, was his erty raining in opera that give him the {ity to come up with appropriate masclsltions for Hollywood ‘Alms. In adition, the musical vocabulary of his German opera writ ing and that required by Hollywood fms was the same ‘There were many other ine composers working in Hollywood during this time, but these two are representative of the ongoing style and {rend The strongest musical influences for them were 19 century ate Ronmantcss Wage, Brahms, Mabe, Verd, Puccini and Strauss. The musial vocabulary of these composers hecame the most common ‘nd fundamental language ofthe music nearly Hollywood fms. 4« ‘Muck has buen sid and writen about why thishappened. A question ‘often posed Why did i take so many years fr the more contempo- ‘ary and modern sounds of Stravinsky, Barts, Rave and Schoenberg to find their way into the dramatic expression of popular fms The ansveris twofold First the te Romantic period of dasa muse was the moet fat the ln going audience. Inia they were onl 50 ers emoved fom Brahns' Tied Symphony and many other conte Potaneous Romantic works inclding Wagner Psi, Tebow Sieh Symphony, and Straus Tl Eulerpinge. The melodic hrs, the harmonic structure andthe overall hematie development were musi cal events thatthe average film audience could easly ras. No matter what the dramatic need of a scene, whether ite ico urbuent, it oul be expressed musically na way that was easly understood, This ‘eas an imporant requirement of popular films They were not aimed ava intellectual or academic audience. They were sot even aimed at the most educated audience They wee aimed at the eat middle And although many Hollywood filme made philosophical. moral or peycho- Hogi points in thr tris, they were not tobe confed with the rmore“ary" movies of film maker such as asbinder ‘The background of men like Stine, Koengolé and Waxman made them perfec suited to accomplish the masical need of the time. Esentll 9 century composers writing in ate 19 centory and caly 20 century sve they were abl to bing quality msi ons ‘They had an exclint grasp of harmony, melodic development, and ‘othe cmpoitonal techniques sch x passacalin and lito. They Understood form and thematic developmen 0 that they could pin ‘outa melody when necesary, oF fragment it and tase the audience ‘And pethaps most important, they had thorough knowedge ofthe ‘musi dramas, the opera ofthe 8 and 39 entry. When moves were silent, the composer or player was simply an adjunet toa moving picture, He ould amply an emotion lereph- ing danger or sweetening love scene. But with sound Rms where he actors wer taking, then the role of the music changed significant The masic had to interact with the dialogue ofthe actors and find vay tocreatethe ight mood, and at the same ime say out ofthe sy Of the voices It necded to express and mistor the emotion of the actors wall as sometimes bring these emotions ta aging conch Sion The music needed to develop asthe story developed and move the plot along The experience ofthe Europea composers in writing ‘pera made tem deal suited to tis task ‘One listen to (or atendanee at) a Wagner, Ver or Puc opera ‘would iluminat thi point dramatic. The use of msc rom start to finsh, the thinning out ofthe orchesta during recat (dialogue), the grand crescendo and emotional outburst at high pointe of the drama, and theuse of etmoniin opera areno different in coneept fom ‘he marrage of music and film during the ery day of Hollpwood In opera, somtimes the same musical idea or phrase might keep returning orenforce the audiene’s understanding and response to tn idea or emotion inthe fm. Max Steiner core to Gone With he Wind dd ost this. There were seven diferent motives or themes rep resenting. diferent characters or siuaions, and they return Petodily throughout the fim. Korngold's score to The Adventures, Of Robin Hood (1938) had a theme forthe Merry Band, a theme for Marion, one for Robin Hood, and yet another for the Sherif of [Notingham. (Note that this technique i Sl used i moder times, ‘but with a move contemporary musi language. ohn Wiliams score WET. The Exra-Teresral, an Alan Sivestrs sore to Forest Gump ste but two examples) In ation to thematic organization, a4 mote and more scores wete recorded ove the yeas, certain conventions came tobe used. This has ‘ways ben the case and sill s today. for itis ely prevaling conven tions that make up a gvenstye- Inthe 19305 those conventions were rnemeros, and somtimes horn out of necesity. For though all the omposes ven those working on" ns, were high sled, the tine ‘rnch they worked uncer was fen outagousy short. ‘We chk today at some ofthese 1908 conventions for they seem 50 ated, But every generation of fins has ad its musical ste. There ‘were love themes wit soaring violins often in octaves, bras ours Sand fits whenever there were Romans, Greeks, oF medieval kings dna string sections seemingly ubiquitous thoughout afm, providing “618 warm, rch and ush blanket upon which both dialogue and acted ‘utemotions could it But in the ees and eas ofthe 10s audience, ‘hess consents were a fective ae the mourn quash sounds inthe acre of Titi tay. New Ideas in Music ‘The 1H century romantic yl of Korngold and Steiner was wed in films trough the 19505 ut during the 1408, new ideas were ito duced slowly. Composers like David Raksn and Berard Herrmann twee expanding the range of possiblities by intodacing elements of Jaze and conterporary 20! century musi. Scores Ike Law (944) 8nd Giizen Kane (941) did much to open up the minds and ears of ‘he movie industry to new sounds. For example, Rakin seote 41> tone soe for The Man With a Cla (1949) Davi Rains ‘Man With Cloak a 12-tme row he fs five notes of hick spelled E-D-G-A-R. The R became Ds twas stl Re stv Thy Green head of music at MGM) the next day and he said, "Geetha a remarkable score, wha that cay god damned tune youve go dere? Andi, "olny i -toe ron He tna ttonishedDectse it sounded 19 much Uke a theme and rune to brow why Fused a row. ld him cas Baus thispctare you don' find out unl he as 5 seconds Fs that ‘he era he an he lak ely Edgar la Boe. 1 had a great sme doing what Iwas doing, Sometimes I was motivated by azz, sometimes by contemporary music. You trol ave tbe ery nt 10 fe he enorme eft of the se of Savin. For me was Sravinky ana Brg Sout wrote the ay thought I shoul be writing Rakin ako points out that film music drew its influences from what musical styles were pop, it also influenced those stl, Contemporary musi, oF dissonant music that was not accepted by sudiences forthe concert stags, woud be acepted ia the appropriate Scene of li. Rakin agin Ifyou havea relly volt sequence and you write something thar eral dona hey woud ike hear that a fon rtp of mas, But hy wl acpi he right muse ora fim sequence Neo ides such as tele tone rows and ather moder compositional technique were slow to gain popularity infil scores. However, pro- ‘dur distor and the composers themschesgradaaly sae the ‘amtc akc ofthe methods nd acl sia is ban chang 6Musical Styles 1950 to 1975 Ping sci ls or am aria hing. ‘Thar form a a haps amoral ater of where you ut main ery Cotte any discussion of artistic and historical yl anders it seems human nature to want to delineate and mark specifi dat, yea, ‘orpisce that ushersin the newer, But ite never rely so cat and ry Monteverdi did not wake upon the morning of fanry 1, 600 and proclaim, “Ahh, tus begin the Baroque period of mi!” Beethoven Kew he was breaking eway from the old cassia style of Mozart and Heya, but he was not consciously cresting a new musical period called “Romantcim” Most new tends ate the ret of evoltion, Arawing upon the old and breaking ground forthe new. i scoring styes reno diferent. The Romante style of Steines, et al remained prominent for about twenty years fom i930 to 950. But there were signs of experimentation, and certain scores written during tat time Seem to point tothe future use of more dissonance, atonal and venualy popular, jaz and ock vocabulary in scores Remember that by the late 19305 heart of synchronizing music with Sl was quite new-—only ten yeas ol. ARKough comporrs, direc tors and producers were til heavy reliant on conventions tht were ‘wed and proven, there was aways the cczaional innovation that stood aside fom the crowd Ing) inthe midst of the Romantic ye ‘ot Korngold and Steines alm wasrelased that wasto break the mold ‘of the time both visually and aural This was Citar Kan, by ‘Orson Walle with a score by Bernard Herrmann. Many ofthe more modern compostinal techniques used by Hermann inthis fm were fot in common use until he 19305—he was about en years ahead of the pack What itz Kane pointed to was the event use of co wtemporary sounds and textures influenced by Bark, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and other 2 century composes. In addton, i pre ‘aged these of American-born composers in the fm indus, By the early 950, there were many conservatory-taned America| musicians working for the studios as composers, orchestrator, Pianists songwriters, and arrangers. This included Bernard Herrmann, David Ralsin, Alex North, George Amhe Leonard Rosenman, Emer Bernstein, Andeé Previn, and Jerry Goldsmith With a frm grounding in traditional harmony, theory and counterpoint these men bid not ‘only studied the new musi of Baedk, Schoenberg ad Stravinsky — ‘many of them also hada thorough knowledge of az ses. Although Steiner, Korngold, Waxman, and others ofthe previows ge eration were often “genius” composts, they remained for beter oF ‘worse, heavily root in 19 century music and somewhat unintr sted oF even opposed 10 newer musical styles When asked to comment sbout contemporary mus, Max Steiner sid “t have no tritici. I cant criticize what I dont understand This comment ‘eal point up the dference between the oi and new generations of | fim composers. One composer working occasionally in fins who was a great influence~not only on fl musi, but on all of classical compen ‘ion was Aaron Copland. By the time he scored his fst fil, The Heres in 1949, he was work-renowned compose of ballet sym phonic, and chamber musi. He oaly scored few ater fim afer {hat ncding The Red Pony and OF Mie andof Men, bt Copland eft large musical impression on al who followed. In fat, it wa ie abil lity to convey drama in the music tothe ballets Rodeo and Appalachian Spring that brough him othe attention of Hellywood prodcer- He brought anew and fresh sensibility in his ute of instrumentation and ‘harmony. The instrumental textres in Coplands fm scores are softer than the big Romantic scores of the time. He used smaller ensembles and avoided the big, overblown orchestral tuts found in many fs is use ofpandatonic harmonies, plytonality and controlled dino ‘nance was imitated by many compose Asie from musical development and evolution ia lms, there were Several athe factors both in the kinds of films released and in American clare ts tht mast be ake ito account when cons ing the sound of movie music in the 1950s Perhaps the most important of these is the arial ofthe invention of television, There swat abo the popularity of “rebel” fims—fns dealing with youth, ‘ehelon and the darker fee of if including sleahoism and dr ‘diction. The McCarthy commite ofthe United States Congres, ‘which instigated and led witch hunt for Comte in many indi tres but expecially the entertainment industry, hadan impact nat only ‘on who worked and who didnt, bat lo onthe content ofthe ims themseves. The re of jar—big-band sing nd bebop crested a new musi culture, specily amongst the ation’ youth. Add tall, tf these events and tend the birth of rock-and-roll msc inthe mid fies, and the need for new styles in lm coring can be clay seen ‘The frrival of Television Beginning in the ate 3408 television was realy availabe to the gen «ral public Asthe cos of TV sets became more accesible, and as ore programming wasted by the networks, more and more people made {TV egulae part af thee ives At ist, the Hollywood studios looked down on this technology as someone might look askance at an ‘unwanted relative who shows up united for diner, They refused to rele their etlogue of movies to television stations, and did ot produce shows for TV In many eases, the studios hoped an belived Televison was ging to bea pasing fd. AS we know today they were _uicly proven wrong In retoapet it isnt dificult tose why many Hollywood people had a hard time accepting television, This new form of entertainment areived only twenty yeas afte the arsval of talkies. The tudo sytem ‘was powerful, smoothly ied, and very profitable, and many people ‘were very comfortable witht The "Golden Age” of films was gee ing milions and milions of dolls in profs from the lions of ‘people that attended moves on a regular basis. ”{In1946,anestmated revenue bilion dolar was generated by the atrcl moves. BY 96, this gure was dows to 900 lion dol ot toner al he 946 amount This was the fc that TV hon thea busines, I threw stds, executives, actor and all he creative people im turmoil asa new playing ld and a new ball game were crested. ‘The period fom 195 1970 ako saw the demise of the old studio system, Two factors were most important in contributing his the vent of television, and 2 court decision citing antitrust laws that required the studios to break up thee chains of sel-owned theses “Ths was a tue “double-wharamy” First of al the popularity of TV meant that many people stayed home and stopped attending movies in the theaters, causing a severe drop in revenues. Secondly, with the Joss ofthe stdio-omned theater chains they lst the automatic diet bution ofa studio-praduced film. Previous, studio could make film and no mater how good or bad twas, reas ito as many the ters as they wanted, for as long as they wanted to keep it ia {irculation. Unde the new system, fm was nt accepted publicly, the independent theater owner ould withdraw it In adition,becase the audience now bad the option of saying home and watching TAF {the film wasn't of fly high quality o iit dnt strike a chord inthe populace, it woud fl in the theater. ‘With areal pinch nthe flow of ath, the studios ould not afford 40 keep thousands of people under contract. So they had to let go of :many employees: ators, directors musicians, and even produces {he space ofa few short years, the dynamic of prodcng fim som pletely changed. Producers became independent using studion t0 provide financing a place to shoot, and adiswibution netwark. No longer col he studio control everything fom start fnsh though they could approve of disapprove the fina prot. But the process itself became removed fom studio contol: Those involved i the pro- Suction could move from studio to studio a the projects ruled “This became the norm forall involved in film production, including the composers [Altera few years of refsing to show films orginally released in he ‘heaters on television the studios nally relented aan atempt to gain at Teast some profit fom the new technology. This gave rise othe TV “hows that atured movies fon the sta catalogue, lb fe ‘quently edited for length and content, and often interopted. for ommercal This marked the defetof the anti-TV fores in Hollywood, and was the est tep owardfally mobilizing the extensive sto machinery to include the production of lvision shows Iwas ‘nly a short ime Before the tds were actively volved in produ Ingst-coms dramas and TV movies. The New Music and the Composers Writing It “There were many composers and many lis that are excellent exam ples ofthe diferent kinds of scores writen in the 1950s and 1960s Several ate worth mentioning because they broke new ground, or in some other way stand out fom theres. (One ofthe young composers making a mark on Hollywood was Alex orth, Brought from New York w Hollywood by directo Eka Kazan, his scone to A Stretar Named Desi (93) was a andar musical vent For the first time, a ae, egy, and modern sounding score with many jar elements was accompanying poplar It was aot oly the use of jazz but ale the use of disonance (influenced by modern ‘lascal composers) that gave thi score a unique favo. This opened the floodgates for other composes to incorporate jzr into their sores anda whole new musi se began. In 1933 Kazan again gave an opportunity t young compose. Juillardtrained composer Leonard Rosenman wrote a sore o Eas of Elen, starting James Dean. Another disonant, ey score accompany- ing sucessful lm with popular star dd mach for establishing that dissonance asan acceptable sound both in the eas the audience and the minds and pocketbooks ofthe produces8 In addition o the daer kinds of fms that were beng produce, there was also a peat deal of activity in producing big epics, often based on biblical stories, These fms. like Bow The Ten Commandments Quo Vadis EI Cd and many others, required & more conservative score harkeing back to the Romantic approach, ‘Some composers such a Elmer Bernstein, had the facility to write @ contemporary edgy score like The Man withthe Golden Arman then Soitch gears and write a Romantic sore to an ep ot adventre film Here i lmer Bernstein speaking about creating the sore to The Ten Commandment (95) according to the musical tates of director (Cecil Debi eae us a great Wagner Iver Hi concpt ofl coring ‘waster simple and very Waperian. Ber charter had 1 have a theme or mori In dition tothe characters having ‘hemes and statis certain philosophical concepts had a have ‘mots oo. Gad, good, and evi each had 10 havea the. The “dea vs that whenever a avticulr character was onthe 8, his theme had be present asl Ie was al ery Wignerian, Because ofthe etmotf nature of the sore and DeMile’s desires his Score was more Romantic than modern in ts musi language. That ‘what was necessary and yet it dit prevent Bertin fom ing able {oerete ajar corto The Man With the Golden rm inthe same ea. “Another composer to take om scoring several epic lms ws Miklos Roms A Hungaran-born composer with» doctorate in mus Rozsa Ina a pasion for musicology For films involving historical subjects ‘he did extensive research a tried o crest a util sound that was palatable tothe average audience, yt based on rel historia nicl premise, motives, and instruments Hi scores to Ben-Hur, El Cid, (Quo Vas, and thers are large, grand and well thought ou. They established a standard to which many composers writing thes kinds ‘of sores hal to bea up. ‘Theme Songs and Rock ’n Rell In very peiod of movies there hasbeen the sve of the theme song, pop song or end-ite song, From the eal dys of sound fms, pro- {leer realized the financial benefte of having hit song. Not only ‘ould they entice more people into the theater ee the fil, but hey ould el mor records (CD in modern times) and shest music And because they owned the copyright o the song they could collect on pesformance royalties ithe song became a radio hit. This “theme Song craze as never relly Ben craze it har always been preset ‘only sometimes the frenzy hasbeen sigh greater than others very ‘raha had its hit songs fom the Yos and os onward to toay and the success of My Heart Will Go Oa" fom Titan A significant wave of theme songs began in the 950s with the huge popula of the son, "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin” wren by Dimitri Tiomkin snd Ned Washington for the movie High Noon. However the popularity ofthis song docs ome clse to the ong ingoucces of Henty Mancini 96 fit"Moon River from the fim A Breakfast at Tiffany's starring Audey Hepburn. Mancini was another Julliardtrained compose witha strong jae bockground. He had hie frst major access withthe theme for he 1998. TV show Peter Gunn Then there came “Moon Rive” followed the ext year by “The Days of Wine and Roses for the fil of the same tame, He went onto score dozens of films of every dramatic style but remains best known to the general public for Moon River"=The Days tf Wine and Roses” and the cores to the Peter Sllers comedy seis, ‘The Pink Panther. ‘By this ime, the early 19608, producers could not get enough of the theme song. The producer ofthe fim Dr. Zag was so enthralled ‘with Maurice fares melody to Lars The” tha he basicaly dis ‘hide much ofthe original score and substituted tacks ofthe song melody. Later in the 19608 we get “Raindrops Keep Flin’ On My Hendin Buch Cassidy andthe Sundonce Kid and"Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate 38se Wha these songs di was pave the way for a diferent se of song in film, Instead of having the rongbesungby «character on sree, or be pr ofthe credits allof sudden 3 pop song which is seemingly i= ‘mbodied fom the fim, Became at integral part of the soundtrack. The style evolved where a song was jst "dropped i” to the movie soundtrack Maye the rcs were applicable maybe not. Maybe tere ‘was. dramatic reason to have song, maybe at or some producers, ‘the ony reson to have a sng inthe Hl was to hope became «it generated los of royals, and eaused people to go ee the film And at ‘he popularity of theme songs grea least amongst Holywood pro ‘doer, more and more fms came to rely on songe rather than ‘pecially composed insramental unecors Another factor contributing to this was the rock ral soundtrack, Beginning withthe beach movie ofthe ety i960, gven 4 mighty push forward by th Beatles ms, A Hard Days Night and Help, and omingto fil ruition withthe clt csc, ary Rider fms consisting completely of rock songs as underscore became vogue. As the dark, ‘gy ims ofthe sos appealed to that audience, these ock'a rl ins ofthe 960s were mest the ever expanding atdience embracing the ‘alues ofthe" Woodstock generation” They were pertinent and pop la. And truly the use of Songs was completely appropriate, How else to expres the tone of those times but through the muse of popular tong The Grateful Dead, Simon and Garfunkel. Bob Dylan. Bulle Springfield. Seppenwo and The Flying Bunt Brothers were peste or Fay der Ths was absolutly the right mas in the ight place force ‘ain lms ‘The problem tha arises when this kindof tend hits that prodcers and diectors jump on the bandwagon rather blindly. When some: thing new works in one movie, there are always several people doing imitations within a short period of time So instead of choosing a style ‘of music that serves the dramatic intent ofthe picture, they choose "is that they Belew is popular or wl ella tof records This was ‘problem in the 96s, andi sstill a problem oy “Tiss not sy that instrumental underscore in the 19s Became & Jost art although some prevaling tends favored rock song, and even jjzzy underscores (The Pink Pother, some of he James Bond movi), {Bere were many excellent orchestral ype sores. Eimer Bernstein’ Score for To Killa Mockinghind sa besa example ofthe marriage of omporitonalsrctor and dramatic item. Many other composers ‘thot were active ia hep alive the orchestral vocabulary, including Fenty Goldsmith, Leonard Rosenman, John Barry, Georges Delrus Maurice fare and Join Wiliams The tends bacame parallel. One Kind of move tl usd traditional orchestral scores, another wsed op tnd rock song, another Kind used jazinluenced scores, and yet other used more disonant and avant-garde tweatith century com positional techies. The posites were expanding even a they Ive heaily weightod towards songs and jazz mos during the 960s, 8CHAPTERS 1975 to Today 1 think musics one ofthe met fective ys of rearing an tien and enforcing points ha you nih poe ‘Thecot soe of ms and his ince the non ase of mas, some of the reset pons ha thelr maker has a his dpa ~Saney Rubik Dristiezsx anti he ss sincrported aef many different styes, audiences became accustomed 10 the popirock sound and. modern disonance instead of 19-century Influenced orchestral underscore. This paved. the ay in the subconscious awatenes of the pubic to accept what was coming ‘down the rod in the Aon and os: he pop Haored orchestral score But inthe os and 70s, peshaps the biggest inluence on what pro ders putin the testers was vision, Many TV themes and undercores were heavily jaz and roc favored In an attempt to modernize the shows and make them diferent fom “uty” film cores, the producers incorporated contemporary pop lar music. Mancin’s Peter Gunn, Lalo Schifri's Mision Impose, Nel Hehis Batman, and many others reflected this use of fzz and rock. In addition, twelvetone and other methods of atonal composi tion began to be heavy used by television composes In television, because the ehedules and demands of a weekly series meant the com: poser had to work quicky and efciemly, twele-tone became & “rable tol for writing tent or suspense scenes. Once again in yet nother way, audiences became acusiomed to «new musical ocabu Tay nthe space of just ino ety yeas rom about 1950 ona, 2 whole new world of musical sounds became possbl, and many Composers took advantage ofthis 2(One score that is epresetaive of the new kinds of textures used by ‘composers inthe erly 19705 Was ery Goldsmiths Chinatown, tating Jack Nicholion In this sore, Goldsmith used fr piano, to arp ‘one trumpet, and strings. The pianos were often “prepared a tech ‘igue where varios objects ae pat onthe srg to change the sou the piano is intentionally detuned, or the player actualy plays the strings inside the piano rather than the keys. This created «unguey darkand mysterious texture that dove beautify wth the rhythm ofthe film, the way the fm stand Jack Nicholson acting his score o Parton Goldsmith used another unsalechnique, that ‘of sweetening” or adding an instrument after the main msi tacks have Been recorded in this ease he ook shore motion trumpet and recorded it several dierent ways with alo of echo, Thistle des was then dropped in wherever aceded regardless of the harmonic nd ‘metrical consequences. It created a disjointed feng, efting the ‘de and sometimes otherwordly aspect ofthe character of General George Patton, ‘These interesting and nul devices were Becoming mote common inthe cary 1704. As century harmony, comtemporary 20 entry techniques, jaz, and rock coded together in the entertainment industry, myriad of posblies opened up. Audiences gradually became used to hearing strange dssonancs, and even came fo aoc se certain impending events wth specific musical sounds Add otis ‘mix the new technology of mitra recording (ty 39608), and the possibte expand even move. The fm composer’ plete was ger and more varie than ever, but during the io6os through the caiy 170s orchestral sores, though sill used had fallen somewhat out of favor. It was a succession of two scorer—one melodramatic and sus pense the other big dramatic and traditionally Romantic in se, that were wo crete a resurgence in eres sore Orchestral Scores Return to Stay ‘The yar 974s the release ofthe Stephen Speer fn Jaws hich vas t become one ofthe clases of sponse and dram, Spilberg nd composer John Willams chose to use a more traditional orches teal sound for Jaws and the sucess ofthis ecsion and the resting ‘core fa ofen born credited with beginning a resurgence ofthe use of teadkonal orchestral sounds anda Romantic, or perhaps neo Romantic musical vocabulary. However, even though Jaws Wah 4 nilestne inthe return ofthe use ofa traditional orchestra, there was Yet another John Willams core that made movie music come alvin the eas (andthe ee!) ofthe auence In cary 1976 theft wales previews attached tothe fms) fo the ‘motion picture Str Wars appeared in American testers. Belee i oF ‘ot those audiences ighed and jeered a the tales causing reat onsteration for George cas and the studi. Hower, when the ln tra sles t became one ofthe all-time most popular fms, making ‘ge profits not only rom ticket sls but rom anilaty merchandis ing aswell And many give the exciting sore by John Wiliams 2 i share ofthe credit forthe fis succes. From the moment the opening Scroll gave the story background, and the bold Sar Wars theme was ‘heat the audience bnew tat something special was abou to happen According to Wiliams, when he fist viewed the work-prin it had a temporary music tack eut from the ape Gustav Holst piece The Planet He originally was asked to eit this well-known asia sore re-record it and fit tt Star Wars, However, he convinced the ro. dicer and director that he could do something orignal in that se, tnd make it fit even beter. The result is one we all know toda the twonderfl themes forthe Rebelin, the dark and ominous Darth Vader theme, Princess Le’ theme, and other fine musial moments are familiar to miscan and non-micans alike. Using large sym phony orchestra and recording im London with the London Priharmonie, Willams brought back the symphonic Score tothe ers and ees of lagoons “This was not exactly 2 return to the Romantic syle of Koragld an Steiner The score to Starrs has many element of Romantic musi- cal language Tyrical themes, eacting brass. uti, and. diate troodwind wring, but this new kind of orchestral score was not rid to incorporate contemporary composidonal techniques Where ‘necessary fon Willams was Schooled at ullard and UCLA, an has ”0 4 thorough knowledge of many diferent styles of composition, including jazz tone and atonal techniques, So the score to Sua Wars and many scores of Wiliams and other that fllowed this ed, fused element of tonal 9h century writing wth whatever textures or fects they wanted to wse from the 2 century: Impreonisn, jz, ruck pandlatonicism,1-one, ven letorie chance” musi [None ofthis wat new in film scoring: examples ofl these techniques hound through the 195059605 and 170s But something happened when Stars Wr was leased that caused a shift in the way or vere perceived in the acceptance by the audience of the misc ‘tamatic eff, and in the poplar ofthis musi It as one mote milestone inthe constantly developing at of fim scoring. Ins98,another Spielberg dire film with Jon Wiliams sore took the lm going wold by storm, This wae ET, The Exe Tees, ‘magia fi with an enchanting score that was loved by ats and clilden ale, Indeed, Spielberg has sid John Williams #1 «emphasizing how important the musc was tothe emotional impact of that fl. Ain asin Star Wars, Wiliams combined syria tonal sy with elements of 2 century sje. (For examples of this modern iuence, checkout the scenes where FT drinks the ber fromthe refigeratr and when the children ike ET trckor-teting) “The popularity of these kinds of scores opened the door for many ‘ther composers to follow suit and incorporate any powble sound they wanted. But the fl-scoring industry war abot to undergo ‘massive infusion of new sounds and posite, and the whole bus ‘ess of film music was to shit yet again as it absorbed the new technologies of synthesizers and the personal compute. ‘Synthesizers and Computers: & Whole New Ballgame ts ironicthat ony afew shor years afer the resurgence ofthe oches- tual score, the score created ently or mostly using cleronie synthesizes Became al he age. oud thelate 70 synthesis eh nology had progressed to wher keyboards were affordable. Previous symthesizes had een used in movi, but the ARP and Moog were lane, expensive, and cumbersome machines that roquired «huge amount of expert to pert. The new technology ily aught on, Sand the manufacturers were wise enough to crete MIDI, Musial Instrument Digital Interface, «language tat allowed sythesiers and ‘ompters of ay manufctare to interac of alk teach othe “The score that caught the public atenion, and made every producer in Holywood want the same thing, was Vangel’ scar tthe 1981 fm, Chariots of Fire. This score war emily clctonicy with no Acoustic instruments at all The sytesier technology at he ime was Primitive compared to today. All Vangelis had 10 work with were Enalog synthesizes since digital ad yet to arrive, There was nos Ping digital editing, or harddisk cording, The variows rmthesier founds were recorded to a multitrack analog tape machine in angeles ome sti, ‘The impact ofthis score cannot be overstated It opened the eat of producers, directors, composes and the general public to the pos bility of using electronic sounds in a Ireal manne. Previous, synthesize and other electronic sounds like the theremin were used in igh intensity dramatic situations and sience Scion fms. They were usually pare of a sary, spooky, or otherworldly musical landscape ‘angels in one stroke, showed the word ha it could be otherwise Not only di thio make ge impact on the aces ofthe, Batic became commercial hisling milons of records nd pe, edging seus a splay. Of eure many Produces amped on the bacrepon and wanted mls Kind of sod forthe fl Sine Vans ear coud wt do tem al tment tha other, ore tradiunarrinded composes woul am the new echnaogy to ce dgee or anther The aaiaiity an afordability of synthesis inthe mid-980s was acually embeaced by many composers, both the up-and-coming youngsters and the older generation, What open-minded musician ‘ould tar his bck on the posit of adding yet another entiely ew dimension of sounds to his palete ery Goldsmith, Maurice Jane, Elmer Bernstein, and many others began to incorporate eee aa lwonic sounds into thei sore or even compote scores that were com pletely electronic. Goldsmiths score to Hoosiers and Jarre score 10 Ines are but two examples of teaionally-tained, established Hollywood composers waiting sors that wed lecteonic instruments cexclisively. Younger composes like James Horne, Basil Poledous, fn Alan Sveti been To incorporate synthesier sounds in scores like Field of Dreams, Conan the Barbarian, and Romancing the Stone Of cours, some ofthis was necessary as producers were equesting i, but composers found that eletronic instruments could aid them in esting ew texture. The swfines of the ise ofthis technology was awesome. In afew short years the industry went frm having acest fo ony the most Prime dectronic sound generators to having extremely soph ‘ated digital equipment at its fingertips One downside of this was that for a period of time, many string, bass and wind payers faced a shortage of work Although there wee tll many orchestral sessions in LA. during this time, there were les than before because synthesizes ‘wore taking the place ofthe Ie musicians. ln ation, many TV peo cers, inflvenced by the success of the score to Aa Vie lo Switched to completely or partly using symhesizers. The whole ‘world of commereial music was shaken up and altered forever by the arial of synthesizers and computers ‘One ofthe consequences ofthis new medium was that because ofthe ‘expertise needed to master the ever-expanding synthesizer and MIDI technology, an entry new niche and anew kind of fl composer was born the specialist in electeoni, sathsier scores. These com posers became experts in synthesizer sounds, sampling, MIDI technology and sequencing (the technique of using computers instead of analog tape to secord the sheers or sampler). German born Hans Zimmee was one ofthe fst to exalts himself inthis eld, and has had many succesful scores using ether entice electronically en trated musie ora combination of electron and acoustisl sounds. Hisscors to Rai Man, Driving Mis Dai, The Lion King, an Beyond Rangoon ae just some examples of his work. Zimmer and his eam have been on the cating edge of developing new technology and te ating new sounds with samplers and dighalsynhesiers Because ofthe affordability and elative ease of use of MIDI equip ment, many young composers today are wing quality electronic ‘core fr fetes, television, cable, and documentaries, This echo ‘ogy as become necessary sil for film composers. ‘ven though the synthesizer craze it han and made deep impact— ‘oto onthe sound and tetare offi seoes, but onthe ecrdng industry in general-—the pendulum aays swings back, as we have cen with other tls In his case afer the inal rush wo use elec tronic instruments la Vangelis many directors and producers began to recognize the cold and sometimes ase sounding nature ofthese instruments twas one thing to se symhesnes or samplers crete anew and unusual texture, or combine them with ores instr ments ut the cores ha sed them to replace orchestel instruments fended to sound dry and phony For example if a string section oF «allo sale paying beneath a action scene or under dialogue then a teal good sample can somtimes fool the audience, But if the same ‘us is in an exposed place where thee ite in he soundtrack to “Compete with it even am inexperienced listener can often hea thats ‘estroncally generated ad not rea The result ofthis was that composers began to use econ instr ments mor as an adjunct oan orchestra, uns the decor specified tn electronic score, (Her, | am speaking of feature films. For tee Sion cale, andlow-budgt fins, fen the fils musi budget would hotallow the use of an ofchesea, and electronic instruments became neces) ln addition, many synthesizer speci, such as Hans “ionnen, began to write scores that incorporated ful orchestas. A Idle ground was found, and it continues to this day as prscers iectors, and composers coatinue to strive for appropriate uses of sleetronic sounds Pop Sounds, Jazz, and Rock ’n Rell Composers For many reasons, the language of rock and pop music as found is ‘way Into ln acre general. As weave seen, every stle of lm music has reflected t9 some degree the fll-going audience. For 6“ ‘example, inthe os and "os the audience understood 1ieentury romanticism, and inthe or and os they resonated with jason Scores: Toaythe ange of posuiblis isthe arget thas ever ben, As pop ook and jae styles became more mainstream through the 1973, the use in las gree The nfsences that rock mic bring 0 the word of flim scoring are basically thveetaa one, rock rhythms fand grooves two, 3 certain harmonic vocabulary spanning the rad tional baer to progresshe pop, rock, and jzinfuenced Songwriting and thee, popfrok melodic ideas. Rock rhythms ae the cass o identify when they are used in lm scores. This could be a adtinal rhythm section of guitar, keyboard, bas, ad drums a hybrid combination of those instruments: oF “wold” music beats giving hipper sound to dhe score. These kinds of | sounds have been used in countless scores. Inthe ps, Hans Zimmer ‘used a “world beat" kind of pereusion groove in Rai Man, Cr Safar used a hip-hop groove for Stan and Deliver, and Alan ives sed synthesized drum in quasi-Latin dso beat for Romancing the ‘Stone. Ia the 1908 Michal Kamen has sed rock grooves inthe Lethal ‘Weapon series and The Last Boy Sout. Many of the harmonic and melodic eas used by flim composers today daw upon pop melodic and harmonic ideas. This can he heard inthe scores of thas coming fom the record industry aswel those coming from the conservatories. Anyone going ino fn music today Inows that there ea ison between orchestral ses and pop musi James Horner studied atthe Royal Academy of Masi in London, and Michael Kamen tudied at Juilliard, bt thy ean weites pop his well a a traditional sounding score, And this Isao aiferent fom com- posers of the previous generation Ike Henry Mancini who did the Sime thing ‘The onedfeence hat exists today is that a compose cam bea sucess in the film industry, and write orchestral scores without anor mii ‘mal knowledge ofthe orchestra, This can happen because of two ‘actos one, orchestators who asst and prepares fll core from 3 shetch or tape, and two, the ease of using symhesies and MIDI technology: Thesfore talented rock o jz musician who as some iret cesive ides can realize a coe that is beyond the scope of his Actual orchestral ably. mores to understand hited ly we must go back ew yarn the iy and sos yet another wrinkle was added the fl scoring ommuniy: the dese by same producers and decors to use wel Known rock and jacz musicians fo rete coe for thee fins In retrospect the vldity ofthis dea cam be seen, but it seems to have Tad mized sucess. “The impact ofthe popular music ofthe 196s and 19705 cannot be tnderetimated, No her generation bought as many reco, wen 0 'smany concerts, o looked to rock musicians or philosophical oli Teal, and svi leadership adi the Baby Boomers coming of age in ‘he Gos ado. St was logical that bythe ate 7s, the sme Baby Boomers whe were producing and dieting fms wanted to use the musicians they considered 10 be ions. The thinking was that these Tmusicians wouk! speak to the audience through the soundtrack 3s they id in concert or on records This was a good idea in theory but in practice was dangerous for several reason, esta film score requires the ability to create a musical structure that tells story and remains harmonically and melodicaly interesting for About tro hours The average pop song is thee or four minutes and Imany of these arise do not have the expertise neded to satan and ‘develop their ideas in the way afl demands, Second fl scores ‘eed t havea wel thought-out texture of sounds, and the exper fenced composer will draw upon wide varity of instrumental posites Most rock and jar star, although fine players in thet ten medium, ae only ale o execute a much nartower range of Sounds and tyes If fics for this kindof narrow range then 3 ‘ck or jazz artist might bean appropiate choice. Finally the sues faim score comes from a compoter owing tat hes a partner 10 the drama. There isa sensitity dat develops from working with many diferent pictures and diferent sje of music. The rock or jzz 66 ‘composer who only knows concert performance and CD recoding is ata severe dsadtabtge when attempting to work in the unfriar tedium of film, Thisis not say that there cannot bea succes ock or jae sore It «anand has happened Eric Clapton has made fine contributions #0 the Lethal Weapon series Ry Cooder bas writen some interesting scores including Pris, Teas. Java turnpet player Terence Blanchard hasbecomes proficient composer and orchestrator, (One rock musician composer that has consistently stood out fom the resis Danny Ean, Formerly with the LA, band, Oingo Boing he Ign scoring fins for director Tim Burton in the ate ros, With Po Wir's Great Adnentr, Batman and The Nightmare Bfore Christmas, Elman established himself a someone very creative wth melodies and sound tetures, who eaught the imagination of many. He sowed 8 great ality to capture the mood ofthe diferent kinds of ms he ‘wrote for and has established a cult-ike following amongst musicians snd non- musicians alike ‘There are many composers coming up in the ranks of pop and rock muse that do not orchestrate, and occasionally there are stories of| those who cannot even rea music, The i a farcry fom the Korngoidsand Steines, butt isthe state of the industry today Buia ‘musician can creat the right mood, and with the ight musical sup port can approprisely heighten the drama of im iit aba thing that they know nothing about an orchestra This fs an open-ended ‘question that has proponents on both sides, In addition to the many sock musicians who have limited orchestral skills thee are stil thse who ave taining in oxchestration ad com posing. Today’ en muse richer than eve, Part of thi richness tue to rock and jazz compouers who bring thee own special Kind of sound. Another aspects the range of posites afforded fom tradi ona symphony orchetrar to electronic scores, and hybrids and fusions ofthe twa Today's composer can work in just about ay sou ‘medium he wants that wil accomplish the director’ vision of the fnProductionCHAPTER 7 The Film-Making Process ‘Thats he fn prt ant move callboration. You ork tens witha of people who are irene fom youd ou bar a fro the “Oli Stone whe making of a major motion picture isan incredibly comple, cost creative and challenging endeavor. requires people with allkinds of sls, One look at the credits fi ges an idea ofthe ‘wie range of expertise needed 1o pall ofE writes, painters, ruck ‘rivers, eectecans, carpenters, cameramen, directrs, musians, Species designers and technicians, make-up ats, costume ‘esgner, publics irecoraustants production atin, asi tant tothe assistant, and on and on the ces roll wile the music aj. The beauty ofa production i tha these seemingly disparate froups of people are all working in an organized way to achieve & fonmmon goal: the release ofthe film, What the average fimgoer may not reales that many of these roups operate separately yet parallel to the whole operation, For ‘xampl, principle photography (the shooting ofthe lm) might be finishing wp on lation in New Mexico and ata studio sn Los Angels while a eam of spcial-efecs wizards being 0 work their computer magic in Northern California, the sound-fects people ate working at yet another sto in LA, andthe lonsy com ose isting in his studio Behind his home ip Bevery His arin the swimming poo wating forthe fal version ofthe film, Actually, this both far ftom the truth and close to the truth ‘Hopeful, nobody wll be wasting ti time wating fra lm to be completed before they str writing the music because so many fins {ake longer than originally planned, But the ely ofthe fim-making ”n process is thatthe musics the ery a thing ob doe. Te reson for {his is that inorder to syne up the mu to the ation, the composer ‘ust wait fo the final version, flocked pictur, alo Kaw 8 fine ft. Before geting ito what the composer does, though, le ake Took atthe film-making proces tale. Decision Makers. “Ther ate several people involved in getting fm of the ground: the producer, director, weiter, and possibly the alent (ators). These are the people whose creative nana, and organizational kl actualy rine the production, The producer ovesces the financial and organizational aspects ofthe Alm. This person supervises the hiring of everyone from director and Actors to carpenters and electricians He makes sure thee isa work able schedule and ensures that all elements ofthe production are running smoothly rom the wing othe scrip to the feding ofthe tree The producer is responsible for the financial Bottom ine, and “answers tothe executives atthe movie tuo that wil release the lm. Producer Daryl Zanuck: People owsideof Hollywood an Now York dant relly hve & leat iden of what a produce ior what he das... Mot people think a producers he person who puts up the mane, which is wrong. youre smart ou neve put up the money your ren without puting up his own money, the responsibilty for a pro cer canbe enormous, a budget for fete ms climb higher and higher. To paraphrase one producer, a movie can be made for #0 mil- lion dollars and lst one oF two Weeks in the theaters. But « huge skyscraper canbe bought forthe same smount of money and sand for decades. However, the producer does mich more than us ase money. He the one who must shepherd project through the maze {of production. This invobes coordinating al the creative people the technicians, the marketing experts andthe nancial verses, Zanuck epi Even with he right people thio’ he fartare sine the or sins Yo have lat of personals and lot of es $2 there are may factors at pla. 1 easy to astray and very tough 0 carry the vison through opel very io of the way mae tall work Tere’ eco- nomic presures thee Hine pressure, end there ae aks peony conflicts when you put 50 many people together. Everyone work for the common cause but iam onde Inui anther lot of ping and shoving going om “The organization of the team sone ofthe producers main jobs and the htce min components ofthat team are the writer, the decor, tnd the actors. However, tthe diretr ho the mast important day-to-day member af the tern, Onee the shooting begins, he pro dover often keeps his distance and lets the director achive his vision forthe en “The etor is the creative captain ofthe project. He has the overall ‘sion for what the lm wil sy and look ike. He musta be able to Communicate thi vision to everyone working on the projet and be trong enough to hol to that vin asthe film makes it journey from ‘erp to ser screen, That means coordinating the creative efforts of ‘mat people Director Ron Howard puts it this way: ‘The buck doe stop withthe dietor but thee are $0 many ters ivove. thik tha the sooner weal se the sare movie in cur ads, the some the clare process works and the lm benefits from the yluable ideas coming fom al howe ‘iret aren of expert? “The director approves the script (sometimes writing it hms), and coverscsal the design elements ofthe lim incuding the cneratogra= hy (the camera angles, lighting, and overall “look of the fin) Eostumes, sets props hr, and make-up. The director is responsible foe" ivectng he Scots onthe et, deciding when a ake the ight nn ‘one, which sane willbe shot in which order, and keeping the ove= all shooting schedule and budget. The dcr oversees the eitng of the Bm alter shooting is completed, and presents his version tothe producer and studio execatives for their approval Except in the ate fase of a director lke steven Spelerg oF James Cameron, these Higher ups—the exces and producer—have the ight to alte he fil Jn any way they ee it The dtetr is often powerless o contol the final version even chough it represents months or even years of work, “The writer of sip, tkes a story, an ides, a book o a play and makes it ino asteenplay or sip Tis person i responsible fo te ating script tat isthe decors and producers desires forthe film “Thiscan mean that even if the writer nilly Happy with a crip, i sight not be "finshed because of rewrites requested by the director fr producer. The inal version ofthe serpt that sed inthe atu shooting thei is called the shoorng erp. “The writer is responsible for cresting an engaging stony, making the en tex ho mayor may not have the ability to omamniate masa casas ore Eric Rewsoner: cise: G82 om Clotaesigy ume AAL Changes cour atthe rsdn session), and theyre subiet co couse 78 AM CRORSES NSC bet area tase of producers or diector whoever there runing the ee ee show [ea be lip people and haa fastatng forthe ve composer and any of us that are working make i right coei7se 28) est MRD FURS emt oCeRNAY ‘Basal, you're thee 0 help problems If our in the Both ose 06 au tieEma ‘andthe composer ot onthe sage, ot of mes you hear ‘hg sid that would never Be ad if the compse asin the se oe eee eee! ‘oom, and thats a Knd of nerveraking experienc. So is Ce er ees bal igure ou if thee ae probes and igure out what the problems ref they're pl fe, Uke subtracting element of coeesoa? 17 cut WOE STREET bdr ota ‘he masio~something thatthe dior das lie, you have 10 Ory oe [nud out what they do ie ft. sound acolo, oa particu er insrment ou ca ju gid it fits the whole eu, oF ceeusnas4arGlporecuasronarocasates vos how it stractured then youre realy in trouble, The camposer enna cut UNG SIOTSTACET antag MOVACROSSomeen wll make the masieal changes for the orchestra from the eens tone an er SHRT AnoRt he toMACH ume But moving brs and chaning the form of he piece ee ee eee ‘res problems forthe synchronization, whi i he music ° “oa CUS ase wee ue er department So Jou asst the composer by restructaring ees: ns OnSmaRRsKoTONS RET Uahether nthe computer progran or whatever ou used 9 eoursese 147k ca WE STREET FRO a JOEY tc line up the streamers or ick 5872s saan cat MEDWDERIOKRUPE OER HOOD ER gs nF Dubbing (Once the music x recorded, i mite to whatever format the fm equires—stereo stereo suyeound: sound, digital et The music editor ora we 18.1 ‘hen prepares the ccs forthe final stage, the dabbing. Dubbing i 10106 ‘when the musi dialogue and sound effets re mined together forthe Final version ofthe Fim, a proces tht for an average len aes two 16 four weeks atthe dubbing Studio, or dubbing sage nail recently the music editor woud prepare reels of mag im with the inal music cues that coresponded to reels of picture Every cue would be plaedin odes and if there were afew seconds or minutes of Picture in Between music cus, the music eitor woul insert blak flo il dhe gape. The mag fm would then run simultaneously wih the picture, sound ects, and dialogue at the dubbing tage “Today, most dubbing is done digitally. The musi editor comes othe lubbing stage with digital ile ofall he curs and runs these digital, files locked wo picture, sound ets and logue ia SMPTE timecode, Duabing happens in two stages The firs called predabbing AL shout the samt ie tha the musi is being rconded and mixed he dialogue engncers clean up the dialogue racks and get them to sound strong and ler, independent ofthe sound effets and music (Each tie and each component of asound effet ha is wn separate audio ‘rack that canbe controlled independent Music usually has two to eight tacks depending on the format.) Concurrently, the sound ‘fects people ae doing the same thingin their own sto, One ofthe reasons pre-dubing sso important is because of the complexity of some of the tracks sound effets alone can have over one hundeed Separate tac! ‘When the sound effets disloguc, ana music are allready (independ entof each othe) then it is time forthe Rial dubbing sessions when they ae all pu together. The music editor attends these sessions and ass the dabbing engincers in placing the musica the proper spots. He also hasinput onthe levels and eq af the mesic ‘Also present tthe dubbing are the dtetor and sometimes the lm ‘editor. This isa critical proces because the precise levels of musi dia logue, and sound efects mast be found. If oe sto lou ors, can be distracting or enitating, Ako, depending on the format— Sere, stereo surround digital ee—the mx more or ss complex “Thedlrector has the inal sy doring this roses nis tthe dubbing session where a compose’ musics most likey to be moved around. A ditetor might not realy ke the cue the way i wees designed, and wil ty 2 diferent cue in place ofthe original, Again, this his prerogative and itis one that many directors tiie. ‘Many cue from the best composers ave been moved around om the solve these problems COnchestratrs themes can be fom any background in muse tassel, azz op, county—but they must have tudid composition tnd orchestration in depth inorder to be able to eceute what i "eguired of them ina fim score Obvious fal koowledge af many intruments required: ther high and low ranges, whete they sound steong and whete they sound weak which thythms sound natural and ‘whi ones ound awkvard, whether there are any robesome notes land how they balance, overpower, or blend with her nstruments A thorough knowledge of composition is equted since an orchestrator ‘might be required to write countering fl in «harmony, oF oie lead sere of chords. ‘Whe the sec is ead, the composer usualy mets withthe orches- tear and discusses the cues. Depending on how complet the sketch ‘the composer wil give instructions as to who wil ply certain part of how loud or dissonant a specie meacite might get The ‘orchestrator then goes heme and begins working on the fall Score Many orchetators keto havea video ofthe cue witha window barn (see chapter 15) a6 walla the timing nots so that they can know cally what is happening in the scene and how the music fis ‘Oentmes, the compar and orchestrator have an ongoing elation” ships fing shethes to each other and discusing cues over the phone “This saves a great del of time so the orchestrator docs not have og ‘ack and forth othe eompose’shome or tudo. Once the ull cores complete, the orchestrator delivers it to the compose o be proofed, tnd either « messenger brings ito the copyist or the orchestrator Send an electron le othe copyist. usue How much the orchestrator has to ada change, or rewrite depends on the composer and the individual project. Often i sa mater ofthe orchestrator’ ability to determine whether the passage in qucston ‘Sould remain sitison the setch or wheter should be change, Willi Ross has orchestrated for over 10 films andi lo # com pose in his own ight. He explain the orchestrator’ rol My job as an orchestrator is asi dhecompore in geting the 5d done Because of today’ post production schedules very Aifal or anyone to compe and orchesate ther own mic COrehestators work as independent contractors; they are basically fieclance and go wherever their services are needed. The pay sae fot an orchestrator is determined by the muscans union (the American Federations of Musicians or AFM) andicalculatedby the numberof | age scored (four measures per page) ahd the numberof staves on the page: Depending on the true nd compleity ofthe ca, this could take 2 few hours or an entire diy. The dificult cus and the ‘ier ones end to balance each other out in the long rn One final thought on orchestrator. I is sometimes sid that an orchestrator or team of orchestrator is saved «compose. At times this an be true. But the bottom ine i that the composer has vison ofthe finished music and even ihe sketches only the bare minimus, his the driving fore behind score. Composers count onthe ches 2's ability to make the music sound good. So ifthe comporers musical concep isa sound one fo the project, then the orchestrator i really jst amplifing this conept. Ifthe concept ie poor, then 20 mount of ep bythe orchestatr can mask it steed Music Preparation: Copyists Once the orchestrator complete the fil sae i gos toa msc ‘repuation ofc nthe ad das of Haywood, tet si ad ‘en mubipepration ace In ft lth mr poole were der Sotract and hey worked ol fr tht sti So, he sc woud go ‘down an i-howse sembly line, from compos to orchestrator fo sie preparation to orchestra, and never leave the studio Tt ‘Nowadays, everything contacted cut to individual o smal com: nis that have office in various lations. ‘When an orchestrated cue ative atthe music preparation office iti heck off ona maser chart. There can be a many as forty or ity inva cus fra singe film s0 there salt to track. The head of this olfcessigne one or more copyists to work on each cue. The tapyist isthe person who makes te parts up forthe individ instru ‘ments the past two yeas (997 t0 938), mos ofthe copying work has converted from being handwritten to computer sftware-gener ted usualy either Finale or Erata An orchestrator can turn in eter ‘Thandwrtten score, or score done in one ofthese programs and the opis can prepare and extract the pars forthe orchesta (Once the copys fishes apart fr a ce, say the vol part he then fist toa prooeadr. The profeader checks the newly copied viola port against the master score for ers. Tiss to ensure that thee {Eros te not discovered om the coring tage where they woul tke outyminates ox (ime ona scoring stage can cost several hundred tors per minete- Once the proofeader completes part orastack fof parts he gies them to the supervisor of the must preparation ‘fee mho then goes tothe maser chart and checks off those puts that bre compete “he next person in nthe mas Hirai. This crucial jo. The nu iain es that everyman inthe cesta as the {roe muon hs mascots atthe sof he sesion. Tere ca SOS a ro iy us ig er eo fw ah ‘Thecompse sin commotion wit thems preprationofce {oop wh ces be mt fo eord on which day ad find out Sch cusaeactunyreny The msc arin consis th maser “to male saree dese eae competed takes th set thescorng tga places the mas on he stands ofthe musics By this point inthe production process, them soften behind sched ‘land all thee muse people can be working under enormous tne pressure It is common fr the msc preparation office to be in all a7ne sting fom &o0 22m. until afer midnight or even all night. ll of these peopl are also musicians. and many ofthe eopyiss, prootead 5, ahd music Marans work ther way to orchetating. and composing These areal union jobs, jos whete the salary is dictated bythe American Federation of Musicians, which also covers orchestr- ‘ors and recoding musicians. (lnterestingly enough, composers do not have toblong) Because the union has exalted good wal", these msc preparation jobscan be nancial evar Because ofthe shortened schedule in modern post-production, the composer mast rely on steam o get the sore ftom conception tothe Iigsecen. This means having rable people to asst with the myriad deals of sequencing orchestrating, copying booking scans, and So forth. The gal isto create a space where the composer can foes 08 ‘composing, and everyone ele does hs part to accomplish that.CHAPTER 1.2 The Recording Session and Mix You forget ar sometines you hve to pinch ors and ei, “Oh ry good, hs is armacing” These ave he es Paes dil the Tes oihereadrsin th word Alltel tebe igh ender And, ‘he miter quotient theres bar ever mista, inal the time has arrive when al the hours of work and preps ion become » physical ey. Thee is nothing ike walking onto the scoring stage and seing doves of musicians gathered there 10 play your musi tis the moment every composer waits for. Present at the ression ae the composer, conduct (i'd composer not conducting), decor, produce, music editor, musicians, record ing engincers, and all kinds of asitnts and onlookers. The orchestrator ate not reired tobe ther, bit often stopbyt sce how things are gong. However ually an orchestrator, of someone ese with core reading alte site in the contol room with the record ing engineer and follows the score to check for errors thatthe conductor might not heat. This person aso assist the engineerin ‘determining which nsrement ae plying when (especialy help f ‘heres ol of ome kind). The music editor usualy sis behind the ‘conductor orn the conto oom a table srned with ll the ing ots a copy ofthe core, and his compute) This alo an exiting and sometimes anit: rdden moment forthe fm makers. They have put months or years of work into producing the li; all the writing shooting and editing are complete and the rmusiis the final element tobe added Stephen Spicer has said that 2 is "dey and ile” without musi and many agree with him. ‘ven though the dsetor and producer may have sen sequenced sockeup ofthe cues, thesis nothing ike the real thingand here i12 sie of anticipation, even apprehension, asthe session Begins. The real- ity is that when a director hands over the fim toa composer he as jut lost control of the fm forthe ist time, What the composer fzcdes to do withthe music an literally make or break the fi. SO the moment of truh the irs ay of recording In the days or wecks before the sessions begin, the composer and isi contractor discuss personnel reirements The mute onic for, or simply the contactor, books the studio, hires the musicians, takes cae ofall the union paperwork andthe payroll forthe must cians and oversee the sexsions to make sure everythings on time and happening according v union rules. tn thei inital conversations, he composer and contactor dicuss the numbers of players and the Ieakdowa of the orchesra—how many strings, woodwinds, brass, sythm section players, ec are needed. They also discus any speci musicians the composer requests, and alterates. Some chairs have very specific requirements. For example, a woodwind chai might new someone who ean play Mut, soprano sak, reorde, and oboe It {cup to the contactor to find the appropriate payers ‘The music doesnot have to be recorded inthe order it appears in the Sim, the composer deidesin advance which cus willbe recorded in ‘what order andthe musi preparation oi, x wells the msc editor, teinformed. Tete are diferent methods of binning session. Some lie wo start with something easy 1 warm up the orchesta some ike to begin with something fay challenging. Most composes agree that if ‘here is earring thematic mater ts good forthe orchestra art witha ee where that materi fly complete—usually the fist or ‘cond cue ha the musicians an ear it and recognize any vara tions or permutations down the line Often, this isthe mainte ev, ‘tit ou alo come from another place the movie Sometimes finn requires the ene orchestra to play on every cu However many times thee are smaller roups tht play various ccs throughout the fm, such as strings ony or 2 smal group of strings, fut and oboe that ae featured in several cues In thiscase the com poser records al the cues for the lager group atone time, ad then lets most of the players leave while the smaller group records This tient and costefletv. The ager group known asthe" orches {ra the smaller combination the” orchestra, the" orchestra ee Because ofan agement withthe musicians un, there are certain ‘ales governing the recording sesion. Fr feature ilms,a maximum of hine minster of musi per Unee-hour session may be recorded, {Sessions ae usually booked in thre hour blocs) For episodic tee vision (eres) and TV movies, maximum of fifteen minutes per thvee-hour block is allowed. This Isso the producers cannot take advantage ofthe ighteading abilities of the musicians and record a huge amount of musi ina short amount of ine. Ifthe session goes fo avertme then these formulas ae prorated In aditon there are ‘the regulations, ie taking a ten-minute break every how meal break after «certain amount of hours recording te The contactor, ‘ho isthe lion tothe union attends the session and assis the com poser in kaeping tack ofthese rules. ‘Once the cue is recorded tothe composers stisictin, he goes into the control room to join the director and producer, and watcha ply tack ofthe scene with the musi synced 0 the li. At his point, the Aiector ether signoff onthe ee or asks for changes Minor changes ‘a be made right onthe pot Ifa major rewrites required, the com- pose puts that cutaway ta be fixed before the nea session, and he Proceso another ce. very once in awhile a composer's score is disk by the directo, the povdcer, othe stulio executives Ths can create a stuation where {he sore thrown out and another compose is brought into redo it Thiss embarrassing forthe orginal composer and frustrating, as he tna pent several very intense weeks ois ie onthe project. Iti slo comtly forthe production tea they must st pay the fist com pose his fal fs, they have paid the rusicians and the recording io for thee time, and they must then must hie a second composer tn pay the musi production ows all over again is uncomfortable forall volved, yeti has happened to almost every major feature lm ‘omporer in Hllpwood usm4 ‘One very important thing to Lep in mind is that st esause «sone is thrown out doss not mean thatthe music i ba, or even nappro Priate forth fil. All means is that someone with enough power Aik it eis emily possible tha this person (director, producer, studio exe) had his own musical concept and could not make the Shift t0 the composers diferent, yet dramatically ffctive, ids, ‘Whenever a scores thrown out it calsescomposerto wonder if they ae realy good enough, or what they did wrong. It poste, of Course, thatthe score was not what the production tam wanted su the composer made a big eror in concept even though the music was ‘oud, Bat ti also possible that he score was thrown xt for an ir ‘onal reson that has nothing todo with the quality ofthe musi. Most ofthe time, the recoding session isan exciting and rvardng ‘moment fo the composer Music epreseting wecks of work finally heard and its efectveness evaluated, Flexibility i hey attribute 10 have at the ssi, for changes are oRen requested. Sometimes the lrector wantsalitie more dissonance rls sical activity in a te Sometimes a cue needs tobe lengthened or shortened. Sometimes ‘everyone, including the compose isin agreement about certain change, end sometimes the composer digress, The bottom lie is thatthe composer needs to be able to make changes quickly without being over attached to what was aleady writen Making movies a Overlaps and Segues ‘There are some instances when a compote wants to scores scene and "athe than doing the music in oe piece, he records to separate cues and edits them together to create one longer, seamless cue. This s called an overiap osu. A composer might do thi ei the scene ie ‘verylon,if there isa significant mood or tempo change ori Ure are ‘wo completely diferent groups of instrament involved in each cu, Most composer ike to keep each cue under thee to four mints ‘This argly duc to the recording process. although the professional ‘musicians that play the top film scores and television shows are incredible sight-teades, they do occasionally make mistakes. I very time consuming to stop the orchestra, go back tothe stat of the cus, recetthe projection equipment if there are punches andsresmery 0 foranother take In adition, at most sesons there snot ue sp {ation ofthe diferent players or sections ofthe orchestra in terms of ‘ulitrack cording Although every section gets hs awn track, nd Soloists aso get assigned a tack, in the studio itself there is ten bleed -hrough. Soa composer or producer ms be very carefl about acepting a take ad tying wi inthe mi” Fo this reason ii Common practice tor o get the Best recording ofthe entire orcs traat once (With digital eitng itis now easier to eit diferent takes together bat ther i ot aeays time for hi) Soi ce becomes to lang, then many composers wil ind spot to break it up into two or more cus thi ae recorded separately and lite tgeter. This can be done scales by matching harmonies, Finding common tones fom one cue to another, o matching insu ‘mentation. The musiceitor reassemble the pars into oe lnge ise Such segues ae planned when the composer writes the sore The composer constrcts a segue fom one cue 10 another so thatthe Sonortes match or dont match, as necessary. Mixing and Dubbing Fora major feature fi, the arches is recorded in a-tack or 8- track analog format, or one ofthe many digital multitrack formats, ‘This ivesthe mixdown engineer grat lib inthe final mi. This is newssary because there might actusly have to be more than one mix of the music one for surround sound digital theatrical payback, ‘ne for stereo theatrical playback, and one Tor the soundtrack CD. Depending on schedules, the composer is ot aways a the mixing ss sion ofen leaving toa red aeoint ‘Because ofthe ight post production schedule, the many minutes of underscore must be med qucy. Inthe modern age of automated ‘mins where the mixing boards are “rma” and remember fader levels settings and outboard routings), the engineer actully mies during the recording session its That to say he ses level adjusts 13126 sy and gets 4 rough version of the mix, so that when the musi Sally mine for eal he has ahead star A good fi score engineer «an mie five to fen minutes pe dy. This is foram orchestra that can Jnie a many ato to 100 players! Compare that tothe pop-msc record mi, which is going very quickly fone oF two fourminute tongs per day are completed. Wealythe same person who engines the sonding session should do the mis, This petwon ithe most familiar wi the cues and thus can tnove fst. However, sometimes the isnot possible. Oftentimes, the Schedule is so right thatthe music mast be miaed a soon a ti feconded, This mesos that the mixing can ovelp the recording. A recording session might bei on Tuesday on Wednesday, the ering Session continues we Tuesday's tracks re mized ata second studio, [After the music mised 10 the proper format it goes tothe dubbing Stage. Thi is where the masc, sound efits, and dlalogue get mie together forthe final soundtrack (se chapter 0). Reel by ree, scene by scene, ine by ln, and vometimes crash by cash, the dubbing tun mines, filters ey, pans, and generally tweaks the Imusic sound effects, and dislogue to lend together. O course, the tialoge i the paramount force ert aways must be head, Bu the Imusic and sound effects have important goes aswel. The toughest thing is when two sounds happen in the same frequency range For "ezampl, very high, stained note inthe vain could be cancelled ‘ut by the whine of et engine. Ora male actors tender but somewhat throaty declaration of love could be challenged by ayia cll ine It isthe ob of those onthe dubbing stage to make al ofthese things ‘oun like one cotinaous whole. sound palte tha sounds natal and ets each voice or sound speak where nessa ithe ultimate goa ‘Dubbing isthe next las stage inthe entire flim-making proces and iti actualy the final stage of the creative process Nothing can be ‘hanged or altered afer the dubbing, forthe only stage ef afer this color correction’—vwhen the flm i processed and the director approve is colors and tins. ln aay ways dubbing the point of return for the dreio, for atthe various stages of production and post-production, changes can and wil be made equeny- During the Imaking ofthe film the director makes many dcistons and commits to many paths of action but the decisions made a the dubbing stage sre the inal conneitent. For this eon, tia detailed, painstaking Process and the feng of completion is profound fal. 2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CHapter 14. Technical Requirements of the Score Nobody goto he vi tse the sore ‘hescreissimply assisting them in watching the fim ‘Michael Karson cea composer aries ata concept forthe sore, hes ready to gin writing individual eves However there are many things consider foreach eves placement inthe il, what kindof scene i {whether or not tere i datogue, and how much of the story the ‘sic should expres. Tete are st eome ofthe many important con: siderations insteuctaring the score of a movie. Perhaps the mos important factor here shat film can be anywhere froma shorteubject just ew minutes toaful-length ature of vet two hours. Either way. asthe tory unfolds n sren, the musi mus continually develop 50 that it stays interesting. Themes develop ist tenttion develop, and the overall emotional het of the music has ‘march that matches the ach of the fil In addition, the music can ‘Mfc the way the fl has ben pu together: it can smooth out cus, teanstions or dss. I can also help the audience understand shifts Snloeaton in time or place. Every te hak a impact thatthe compet and rector ae considering when placing inthe movi. "The fst question that faces the composer is “What i this cues de rae function" For the purposes of this discussion, 1 divide the ‘arious futons of Sm mst into these broad cates: physical Functions, prychological functions and technical fonction. AS the interviews atthe ent ofthis book irate, very composer has 9 erent working procedure. They each approach the tsk of writing 3 ‘core and coming up with suitable material fom a diferent angle utra Somme they inlets ase a cee and determine its musical ‘equements sometimes they wat rom istic, rue some of the functions ofthe msc overly orate vague because every sae {son idileen and can ave more than On raat implication. Physical Functions Mas quent factions ina way that impacts he phic aton Crlecon of hese Thsiades Sein te ton ofthe fi. fa movies place inan exile tion ote ths seting elle nthe muse For example moe tht ake pce in tld soul se ian pipes nds peel ‘Amove hat atin the Appalachian Mots of the Cte Snes tight el fo banjo an As How mach thet” mse incorporated iat the score wl ba dcion mae bythe compost tn the dor They col ee oe th sane oad uo ithe loaton ramp inorporte one orto comets of he Ctaic mii an orchestral re (Shar oro is) Sting he ie period. movie takes plc in another historical ea, sometimes musi ofthat ime wl bused. For example if lm set in century Forope, a harpsichord can be used to give the adie an immediate association with that time. For movies set in medieval tes, there are various ancient instruments ike shawn, sack oF paler that canbe used Again asin sting the locaton te conocer may use lt ofthese sounds, jst ain _Mickey- mousing. When the msi mimics eer ile action on sree, itis called mickey mousing. There ita diference, however between micey-mousing and simply biting various sync points, Mickey mousing is term reserved for hiting alot ofthe ation, nts one oF ‘wo moments I isoften, though not exclusively, sed comic device. Intensfing the ation. This musical teenie i commonly sed in action snes. Chteyenes, ight intense arguments between charac ters and suspensefal moments are all heightened with appeoprite musi To intensify the drama, composers ight write music tht closely {allows eatin onscreen a often has many sy points nthi wy, musi partrs with the drama very closely and secenusts what Seen as opposed to bringing a diferent motional dement othe scene Psychological Functions Music an ass the pychologis and emotional impact ofthe fi in ‘many ways Sometimes ican be parallel othe drama and say basically the some things whats viewed on-screen. At ther times, the music an ad ner dimension, thought oda tat snot expresed by dis Toque oration. Some ofthe psychological functions of Elm musk are Creating the prychologia mood. ery lm sore must havea "sound” to be succesful Ifthe movie sane that has psyehologia impli tions, then the overll mood of the score or any individual scene ‘becomes very important. For example, in Wat Dreams May Came, 2 Fm that Jal with death nd he afer a core was originally com owed that was dark and somewhat serous. The production team ‘decided that this approach dd ot work it was too drkand neded to belightened up, So they brought in Michal Kamen to redo the sere thre weeks before dhe release ofthe fl. Micha! Kamen: ‘The orginal core wast serous. This s about death and dying ad sta ery serous lm Iwas asked 40 theater way whi fel very coe tothe abject mater, as had a rel fe Caprice at that ie my wf ad just overcome a mata i= tes Sows ale to respon 10 the le wath oy and some sense of magic. There ae countless examples of a change inthe music aering the inmpuct ofa scene or an entire movie. The composer must continually teamare ofthe result of any musial moods, or even individ eloies or harmonies. Revealing the unspoken thoughts and felng of characte. Often, 2 tlnetor wants he audience fo understand something about the char us