Composing : Tight Deadlines - Stress And Impact On Composing Style/Product by Joel Irwin

This happens regularly with me and probably many of you. This post is NOT about getting feedback or showcasing anything. As you know, when we compose, in my opinion, there is no right or wrong way (though some would suggest that certain 'ways' are more 'professional' than others). So I am here to share my experience(s) from Thu night to provide you with insight for 'one' approach specific to a particular film. Take what you want from this. Again, I am not looking for suggestions on what worked or how I could have done it differently though I WELCOME your experiences and different approaches you used. Please if you respond/comment, keep your discussion whenever possible concerning the composing and not the production/using tools/Vsts/etc. I was asked to be involved in two films being made for the Christian-based 168 Film festival/Competition which occurs each year in LA - this year on Aug 30 - 31. Last year I scored "Gift Of Grace" in the 'kidvid' category which won. This year I was asked by the same filmmaker to score his two films "Freedom Gate" in the Kidvid category and "Mother's Day" in the general 'speed' category. Kidvid's must be 5 min or less and everything else 11 minutes or less. As the name implies "168" represents one week - the time the film gets created and turned in for 'speed' films. This year the competition was from Fri 11am to Fri 11am central. Films may use music created before the competition as long as it follows the festival rules for licensing, but to be eligible for awards the music must be created specifically for the film (and in the general "speed" category, during that week). Now specifically what happened to me. I am not a 'speed composer' :) On a good 'creative' day, where I can spend full time writing and arranging and producing my music, I can generate about 2 minutes of music - sometimes 3 if not fully orchestrated. Also keep in mind that when the score is completed, I also leave time (my style) to create a mockup with the clip given me with a series of 'keyframes' and their values which I send as a spotting spreadsheet and bring to the mixing session (which is live or virtual) as a recommended starting off point to mix in the score. This takes time as well (along with the time required to upload things and collaborate through a shared dropbox folder). So for the 'kidvid' film, "Freedom Gate" where I had an extra week and didn't have full blocks of 8 hours to work with, I paced myself at writing 1 to 2 minutes a day and finished the film in four elapsed days. For those of you who have scored time constrained films, what follows may or may not sound familiar. The competition started last Fri at 11am. I did make some requests about ways to get started as soon as possible, but gave the request little hope. The director gave me the opening scene which led to the film titles on Wed - about 25 seconds. I got that done on Wed. Then Thursday morning, he gave me the final scene which was about 40 seconds with instructions to make it sound uplifting and I finished that in the morning. Now here came the challenge for me. Thu night, he first calls me and said they shot in a church and he needs to pull the background church music out for various reasons (including legal) and he needs 1m15s of filler church organ music. I have cathedral church organ music VSTs and knowing it was 'filler' to mixed in low in the background, I did not have to spend a lot of time to compose it. That took me about 45 minutes. Then finally at 930pm he gave me the rest of the film - "unlocked' but close enough for me to score (he was still working on the CGI). It was 6 minutes and 15 seconds. Knowing he needed time to mix and render to submit by 1pm the next day, I assumed I would need to have a draft the next morning by around 730am for him with a final tweaked mix by 1030am. That gave me about 10 to 10 1/2 hours through the night to score when I normally personally average 1 to 2 minutes per 8 hours. So now we come to point of this post - how did compose about 6 minutes (out of the 6 minute 15 second clip) in 10 1/2 hours in the middle of the night. Here is the insight: 1. I immediately made the assumption that perfection is not a goal. It may or may not be my best score in my opinion but it had to reflect my quality and creativity and at least be above my 'minimum bar'. 2. I was not composing 8 to 5. I was composing 930pm to 730a. My mind and body work and react differently for 'all nighters'. What I compose at say 3 or 4 am may not necessarily be at the same type or creative level as mid-day. 3. There is little to no time to get fancy or write a bunch of thematic or constant full orchestral material. This project was about quantity/volume. So my mindset was about understanding the action, the context, and get the music cues to underlay the action and to 'tastefully' support it. 4. No real time to try to introduce much 'variety'. So I started writing my first cue at a specific 'tempo' and did not vary the tempo at all the whole night/throughout (which took a lot of 'self control' since I love variety). About the only thing I varied was the final cue which I put in 3/4 time versus everything else in 4/4. 5. Slow cues take longer to play and less bars to score. I much preferred composing about 107 bars slowly than 150 to 200 faster bars. There were places which with more time I would have speed things up. The tempo stayed the whole night of scoring at 65. 6. There was no time or need to have the whole orchestra playing all the time. Many places were scored with one melodic instrument and the string section or just the string section with no obvious melody. I could have chosen just piano or another solo instrument but chose not to. I didn't want the music to 'compete' in the festival with just piano since many other films do that. 7. There are places where I probably relied on an instrument or instruments too often for things like 'sad emotions' (like my use of an oboe). There was no time to be concerned about that as a 'self critique'. 8. Synchronizing the music to the action of the film and especially what I considered the 'hit points' (remembering we did not have a 'spotting session' nor did I get any guidance) was paramount. There were also many mood changes in the film which I decided to accomplish using dissonant string support which to some ears would sound 'off key'. These scenes were about the reaction of two people with PTSD - it was not a mushy love scene. 9. There are instruments that were not or under utilized such as trombone, bassoon and harp. I had places where I used multiple instruments of the same type like up to four trumpets on two staffs etc. Thing is, I needed to very careful since adding multiple like instruments makes everything louder even if they play pianissimo which would just make that part mix in lower with keyframes. I did go back after 730am and reworked the whole score by instrument to see what should be added in. For example, I played the score concentrating on the french horn staff. But I decided the only way I would add in an instrument was if I played a section and 'hummed' what sound I needed to hear and then put it in, say a note by the French Horn - typically a half or whole note or a quick quarter note counter-melody. I intentionally stayed away from inputting extra instrumentation via keyboard so as to resist adding too much sound or complexity. 10. And finally, the actual composing process. How does one or did I actually do the composing? This was not a time to casually play things, try things out, and decide what works and did not work. It was a time to 'go with my gut'. I grouped things in sections by screen and camera shots. Found the places in the score where that section started and stopped and placed 'double lines' on both sides in the score. That gave me an idea of how many bars I had to work with. It was often not a multiple of 4 bars. For example, it would have been 7 or 9. Then I spent probably under a minute thinking of what to write and either hummed it out loud or played something on the piano. If it seemed to fit, I went with it which meant putting down a primary 'melody' in some instrument, not necessarily piano. Or it could have just been a series of chords - often modulated since I almost always stay away from the primary I-IV-V progressions especially spending time on a dominant chord unless it is at the end of a camera angle/scene. It made no difference if I 'liked it' - all I asked myself is if the first attempt works and supported that part of the scene. In any other situation I would have asked, could I do better. There was no way to finish in time if I rewrote any cues at all unless I finished early which I did not. 11. As far as arranging and distribution. Normally if I score across multiple sections of the orchestra I try to make the composing as 'horizontal' as possible giving each instrument something to 'say' and perform. Whether the ultimate destination is electronic or live performance I try to treat them the same way as far as making each part 'interesting'. During the all night session, I did not always have that 'liberty'. So I often scored the 'minimum' number of instruments. Then next I added an instrument or instruments for support if it looked like I need to though often the instrument played the same note or 'octave doubled'. Then finally when the section was done, if I decided to add a 'section' to the arrangement, say the woodwinds and I had already scored the strings, I duplicated the voicings (which I usually 'resist' doing in non-stressful situations). By that I mean, I took Violin I and copied it to flute, violin II to oboe, viola to clarinet, and cello to bassoon. Then I insured the woodwind parts were within range and tweaked if necessary from that point. 12. I really dislike even in slow parts using half and whole notes (or even worse - whole note slurred across multiple bars). It often sounds too boring. But that rule for me got relaxed for this marathon session. So I am not here to promote the actual final products and will not give a direct link here but if you decide you are curious to hear what it sounded like, as I state in my profile here elsewhere, most of my music is parked at icompositions.com/artists/joelirwin. If you have any questions about what I did or did not do especially from a composing and arranging perspective or want to chime in on how you scored a competitive/contest film, please feel free to comment here. I have no need to get feedback on what I actually did.