I just recently saw a notice about a seminar being offered through Stage32 which talks about 'getting the best music for your movie'. I looked at the outline and it seems to be rather comprehensive and included all the topics I often see in full semester courses and in books on the topics. The price is right and it seems to me a great educational opportunity for those who want an initial exposure or refresher on the topic. With that in mind here are my personal three 'issues' with regards to all three - the courses, the books, and this stage32 seminar. 1. Filmmakers have different needs depending on where they are in their careers and what type of film they are doing. For a single educational product to cater to everyone IMHO it has to 'aim' at the middle ground and 'err' by discussing what they will be needing for their next couple of steps 'up'. This does not service or address the issues for those just starting who have never worked with a composer before or those who are still working on very low budget films or shorts. Surely there is commonality but a lot of the information is not necessary imediately useful and the filmmakers will hear the info, understand it and then forget about it since they will judge it does not pertain to them. Heck, there is often no 'music supervisor' and the director/filmmaker does it themselves with no knowledge of what they are doing. How many films have you seen at the 'low end' where there is no acknowledgement for the music used? Even public domain/creative commons music should be acknowledged. One example, when a composer works on a short or a film in a competition, there is no time to worry about spotting sessions, cues, and hit points. Often scenes are not frozen when scored and filmmakers have no idea what they need in a film and are not planning to pay the composer. The last film I scored was like this - I got the whole film on Tues, and I was told to score it and deliver the score by Thu afternoon (and wonderfully, the film entered a competition/festival and won its category!). So my first point is, what works for established mid-career or later producers/directors could be quite different from directors/filmmakers in their entry level career points - education needs to be tailored to their needs. 2. Almost everything I see, hear and read concentrates on the business and interpersonal end of dealing with a composer (such as the outline for the stage32 seminar). But what about the artistic end? For example, when a filmmaker has a scene - the first question should be, should there be music and if so where? Sometimes no music is best even if there is no dialog. I do understand that often time, as this is in the 'artistic realm' the decisions by the decision makers or the composers is a 'personal choice'. Nonetheless, knowing what has been done before as well as some general guidelines and observations could help form the basis for a decision. A great example of this is to watch a particular episode of the classic TV Series "The Twilight Zone". Of all the episodes, there are two, where there is absolutely NO dialog in the whole episode - 30 minutes of movement and body language - almost no sound effects either. One episode was from Season 2 Episode 15 (Jan 27, 1961) and it was called "The Invaders". There was one actress - Agnes Moorhead. The episode was scored by one of the top composers of that era - Jerry Goldsmith who was at the beginning of his career - two years before the first of his 18 Oscar nominations. Watch the episode - pay close attention to when there was just body motion and look to see when there is silence and when there is music. Listen how the music supports the body language and is used to build tension (real and false) and to release it. This sort of stuff is something directors and filmmakers need to understand first. Then we need education to give filmmakers an understanding of things like (a) how to know what 'type' of music fits in a scene or a cue and (b) what are the different types of cues and how can they effectively be used to support a scene or even used as transitions between scenes (ever notice how filmmakers often think music ends at the end of scene and new music must start at the beginning of the next?). 3. Filmmakers, especially in the day and age of remote collaboration, have no idea how the music is created. All they do is ask for something and voila comes a .WAV file or files. What goes on in the middle? They don't need to be experts any more than I would have to understand the details of the equipment used by a cinematographer or how to choose and position lighting for a shot. But a general understanding and appreciation would help foster the interaction in my opinion. And as you know there are two ways to score (sometimes one is used and sometimes both) - electronic samples or live. Each has its own needs and artistic demands. So do we need seminars? Yes definitely - including the one being offered here on stage32. But can we do more or even perhaps better by tailoring the education to the different needs of the decision makers based on their experience and project? I believe so. And do we need something to help decision makers understand the artistic end of music content creation? Definitely!
Composing : Choosing and Collaborating Is Only Partially Business by Joel Irwin
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Just FYI - Everyone should sign up with Chris' webinar, he is a friend of mine and an excellent composer and teacher, I have worked with him on many occasions and always get something new each time. You will learn a tremendous amount from him. He has touched everything for TV to Film to Video Games, you will learn quite a bit!
Joel, I really appreciate the thoughtful post here and second these ideas. In particular, your points in the third section are vastly undervalued , i.e. "...a general understanding and appreciation [of how the music is created] would help foster the interaction...". When I've worked with filmmakers who have at least a rudimentary understanding of the music process, or a vision of how they want things to sound, the process is infinitely smoother and the results are generally more fulfilling for all involved. It goes both ways, though. Occasionally, when a buddy is directing a film that I'm scoring, I'll jump in and help out on set. When I do, the music making is much more intuitive afterwards, since I've been immersed in the feel and aesthetic of the film already. I highly recommend that composers take an opportunity to experience the production of a film. It will inform not only your musical choices in post, but also the way you communicate with a production team.
Yup - me too. I tell people that even though composers are used all the way at the end of the process, I make it my business if possible to visit the set at least once during production to watch what is going on and introduce myself to the actors, actresses and the rest of the production team. I attend pre-production get togethers when invited and even (at my own expense) go to after release events. For example, when the film I scored was nominated for an award in LA last month, I flew to be there with the two main actresses and the producer. I was not nominated and did some networking but it was also about fostering the team and being part of it. BTW, 'living with the natives' is so important to any profession. When I first started to learn to orchestrate, while I was writing my first string quartet, my mentor required I spend two years learning violin. Then when I started scoring my first woodwind trio, I had to learn clarinet for a year and a half. Similarly, I have a 'day job' - while I don't aspire to be a cinematographer, I am a wedding videographer. And not a bad one to boot - I have been rated "Best Of Weddings" three years in a row at www.theknot.com - www.nofrillsvideo.com. That way I have a good understanding of shooting, lighting and post production/editing.
Joel, very well put comments, and I agree with all you said. Wouldn't it be nice if film students were given at least an inkling of what you speak while in Film School? I cannot comment on what all film schools offer in the way of educating future film makers in the art of music for picture, but in my experience, I have met no directors or producers who actually were given any kind of classes on the use of music in film and all the details of which they should be given at least a basic understanding. Hopefully some film educators will see some of these posts and get a clue. Of course there are those film makers who have little or no regard for music in their films, many times because they look at music as a competitive creative aspect, and maybe a little ego gets in the way of their creative thinking. Since most film makers are not composers, or even musicians, the fact that such a powerful creative aspect of their project is put in someone else's hands is to say the least unsettling for them, and so many times , no matter how good the score, it is relegated to the back of the room in the final mix. Of course in some cases, music should be way back in the mix, but I have seen so many cases of great supportive emotional and detailed scoring be turned so far down as to be virtually useless as to it's purpose, and very often not used at all, for other than legitimate audio, story, or mix purposes, but more due to a personal or competitive aspect of who happened to be in charge that particular day of the mix. All to say that I think it's a good idea for a composer to try and form a personal and respectful relationship with the person in charge, to the end of making them feel as a collaborator rather than your boss, and try and discern their personal taste in music so as to create your score within their area of "Likes" , and still properly service the project with what is required from a musical standpoint.
good observations. keep also in mind: 1. Most of the filmmakers I deal with are not full time - they have day jobs and have no formal training definately no film school. 2. Many composers have no film scoring training - I don't. There was only one film scoring course in the audio engineering program next door to the music program I am in. It is indeed taught in my opinion by one of the two top film composers in Houston - Jeff Walton (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0910531). Thing is he is teaching to audio engineering students and its all about business and midi. There is some useful score analysis but nothing to help composers learn what type of cues to score and how to orchestrate them (as against other genres) - so I learnt that on my own. 3. My biggest issue has not been the dynamics of the cues in the mix (I do ask for more say in that decision as they are getting my music currently for free - my opinion is that if they were to pay me, then I could get some say, but the decision is ultimately theirs). My biggest issue is am having consistent issues of putting the cues in the right places. No matter how often I instruct them and no matter how brainless I make it, they seem to mess it up. In 3 of the films over the last 5 years, the music was put in the wrong spot and if it is in a single WAV file, it also messes everything up after it. This is a particular problem when under deadlines like the 48 hour film project competition. So I have now taken to putting into my agreement that they can not use my music unless I am at the final mix. This past May in the 48 hour competition, they ran behind schedule and didn't get me the film to score until mid morning Sun and weren't able to do the mix until 4 pm (with a final turn in deadline of 630pm). They were unable to get the film turned in on time even though I kept telling them to turn in a version without a soundtrack. Of course, that impacted the whole crew since the film was out of the competition and they blamed it on me - but the filmmaker and I knew better!
Chris Lennertz is a great guy ....and talented and obviously successful...His words come from his experience...and should be heeded. I met Chris at a Grammy Camp some years back where I gave a master class. Not surprised with his success.