Composing

Well said! And I hope that Carl Sagan remains in the public consciousness for decades more to come.

super loss for music in film - this guy was a true legend indeed!

A true legend. He will be missed, his music and legacy will never be forgotten.

From the classic Spaghetti Westerns to The Battle of Algiers, The Untouchables and Cinema Paradiso, his compositions helped make these films true classics. I'll be raising a glass this evening.

"The Mission": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oag1Dfa1e_E

We love you, Ennio! and so many songs that we love. Ok, this one takes me back to my childhood days: "Le Professionel" https://youtu.be/gWm_xFuM5ZE

Let me chime in with my personal approach. Having a 'deadline' has for me always been a reasonable motivator for writing original material. I have accomplished it for the last 17 years by attending classes in Houston Community College (HCC). I know its a 2 year school but there are many like me who are 'lifetime learners'. So not only does it help me to learn new things and ways to write music, it also gives me real world opportunities to get my music played 'live' (whereas here locally my film material is generally electronic delivery). So after the first few years taking the same music courses as music majors (like theory, ear training, orchestration, etc.), I have been attending the Jazz program and taking improvisation and composition classes. I play occasionally but my main emphasis is to write material that the class plays live.

This fall semester, as we are zooming, there is no live performance and the two classes are combined into a single Zoom. Now the performers are using software tools to combine their performances of "Real Book" standards into a single MP3. However, I am writing jazz lead sheets (of both original and 'transcribed' material) for them to try out and for next semester should we go live then. I am also writing film tracks that are played in class for critique and feedback. Done 13 of them since class stopped in March. Now I don't have a track or chart for every week, but classes are deadlines and they motivate me to write, arrange, and tweak either charts or electronic material for each Thu night class.

Here are two examples:

Luna was the last live performance of a jazz chart before school shutdown in March:

https://soundcloud.com/joelirwin/luna

Memories is the film track I wrote last week (in about 10 days) for last Thu night's class:

https://soundcloud.com/joelirwin/memories

Hey, Sabina Petra! Thanks for reaching out! I feel like the easiest way would be to do your choir of virtual presences, like so many other virtual choirs. If there is a narrator, you could fill in the gaps with other images and audio.

The main consideration, for me, between scoring a feature and a short is thematic content. In a feature, I can have many themes (or motives, or coloristic associations). In a short, there are only so many corners I can turn before I run out of space. I suppose there might be some shorts out there that require 10 different musical themes, but outside of pastiche comedy, I haven't seen or scored many. As far as composition and arrangement, I determine that based on the dramatic content, no matter if it's a short or a feature. For instance, the film CONTROL is a two- (or possibly one-) character sci-fi/horror short which takes place in one room. But that room is orbiting Jupiter, so the score reflects that with a large orchestral sound:

https://soundcloud.com/jonathanprice/sets/control

The feature GIRL MEETS BOY is a romantic comedy about two people double-booked in a rustic town. The score is smaller in scale:

https://soundcloud.com/jonathanprice/sets/girl-meets-boy-soundtrack

...even though it's a feature.

For me, budget isn't a consideration for the size/scope of the score - it's only a consideration for whether the music is live or in-the-box. I've scored both live and electronically for both shorts and features, depending on the budget of the film and the needs of the music. I score everything in Digital Performer in either case. For a score with live instruments, I'll transfer both the mockups and the electronic stems that will be mixed into the final score to a ProTools session and deliver that to the scoring mixer (unless I'm the scoring mixer and I'm recording at my home studio, in which case I keep it all in Digital Performer). For the parts, I'll export the MIDI from my DAW and open it in Finale, where I clean it up and either print it or send it to a copyist. That was basically my process (except I sent a hand-written score to the copyist) for the feature RUSTIN:

https://soundcloud.com/jonathanprice/sets/rustin-soundtrack

I usually orchestrate my own stuff, but if an orchestrator is involved, I'd obviously send the MIDI cleanup to them and they'd send the orchestrations to the copyist.

jonathan - great info. I want to follow up here on one thing that others, especially newbees might be interested in learning more about - what you call a 'theme'. For me a theme is an arranged melodic based piece/segment which is generally self-contained and could 'stand on its own' if used outside a film. I often create a theme for opening titles and end titles though my style uses multiple 'theme's at the end - for me often an "A B A" structure. Aside for those two (where sometime the 'theme' from the opening is used also at the end), for me a theme needs to be used multiple times (as long as it is 'recognizable' though could be arranged totally differently). Also within the body of the film, if I use it more than once it has to be associated with something - typically either a character or an action.

Tells us more about what you mean when you compose and then use a 'theme'.

Aye, that's why I included motive and coloristic association, parenthetically. Not all films need a full-blown musical theme. I'm referring to a recurring association between something musical and something dramatic, whether it's a character, a dramatic theme, a location, etc. There are only so many recurring associations you can fit into a short, in my experience. A feature has a little more elbow room for these.

Hey, Bear Kosik! OMG, I love the comparison to Love, Actually! Wait - are there rodeos that are just for the LGBTQ+ community?

And you have the lyrics already, is that right? So, you're just looking for someone to write the music to it?

Hello! I would be happy to help!

Best,

Allen C.

Hi Bear! I would love to try and write your songs!

Sabina Petra and Allen Constantine, please connect with me so I can send you messages about the gig.

Hi Bear, DM sent!

Totally agree with you. I was thinking about this yesterday actually with the Tenet trailer. It's obviously not out yet so there's no way to definitely know, but from the way it's had such a consistent sonic brand since the trailer first appeared it seems likely that the trailer features Goransson's score. Like you say, pretty rare these days, but very effective- as soon as I hear that first note now my mind instantly jumps to Tenet, despite not even having seen it yet!

The greatest scores from the last few years definitely had the composers involved from early on, and personally that's the way I prefer to work. Writing before shooting even starts is such a useful part of the process.

Joanna Karselis I agree 100%. It's good to know a composer like yourself feels the same way. I would imagine that starting on the score before cameras roll can inform the creative team on set in some ways. I'll have to check out those Tenet trailers. I had no idea Göransson was composing, I just assumed it would be Zimmer.

Frank Romano Oh it can definitely inform the creative team on set, and it's been a joy when it's happened to me! And it works in Hollywood too; Hildur Guðnadóttir wrote music before filming began on Joker, and the result was the wonderful bathroom scene where Joaquin Phoenix improvises such a powerful dance. It's a shame it's not more common really, I've never seen it have bad results.

With Tenet, unfortunately Zimmer had to decide between Dune and Tenet, and he went for Dune. Be interesting to see how the rest of Göransson's score plays out!

If you haven't heard it yet, definitely check out today's Member Spotlight where director Sandeep Sharma talks about (in part) his first experience working with a composer and how enlightening it was: https://www.stage32.com/blog/Stage-32-Member-Spotlight-NYC-Based-Directo...

Navid, have you any experience or interest in composing for Musical Theater? If yes, I've more than a dozen copyrighted speculative projects for which I wrote libretti and lyrics. If interested, please contact me for details. Stay well.

Hi Robert D. Carver how are you? I have experience in writing music for choir and creating the Sound Design for theatre. Unfortunately I do not have experience (as yet) in composing music for Musical Théâtre.

Hi Navid Lancaster. Your blog made for a great read...looking forward to the upcoming parts.

Navid - thanks for the link but this lounge is a community and I was asking you think about something that was in your blog that you might want to have a discussion about here. Blogs are static - lounges are interactive :)

If anyone is interested in collaborating, please email me directly for details: carver.robertd@gmail.com

Hi Ruud Hermans I'm from Trinidad and Tobago. I recently had a film that I composed for screened at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival a couple of weeks ago and will be screened internationally very soon . The Director and some of the co-Producers live in England where the film was written, shot and edited. It was a good experience and I had gotten the script beforehand (after signing the NDA of course). We communicated on Skype but most of the communication was via Whatsapp. The time difference was not too bad (they were 5 hours away).

In terms of submitting the cues to the Director I use CudDb. He was new to using it but it was very easy to learn. From there he can look at the cues with the score and make suggestions. The end result was the cues were approved and the film was completed.

Nice to hear that you are working with directors abroud too! Thanks for sharing.

Cheers Ruud Hermans! Nice meeting you here too.

Hi Roger! I'm a DP guy. :)

Linwood Bell ...Yay! I knew I wasn't alone! Pleasure!

I've been there since 2.7 I think. Too old to switch, but I did a couple mixes in Luna last week and I enjoyed mixing in it. I'd still do midi in DP though. The tape and Neve summing is pretty sweet in Luna.

A Logic X man here