BOOK REVIEW
Interviews with: Composers:
Klaus Badelt; John Barry; Marco Beltrami;
Bruce Broughton; Teddy Castellucci;
Jeff Danna; Mychael Danna; Don Davis;
John Debney; Cliff Eidelman; Robert
Fok; John Frizzell; Philip Glass, Lee
Holdridge; Mark Isham; John Kaczmarek;
Rolfe Kent; Cliff Martinez; John Ottman;
Basil Poledouris; Jocelyn Pook; Rachel
Portman; John Powell; David Raksin;
Graeme Revell; Jeff Rona; Marc Shaiman;
Ryan Shore; Alan Silvestri; Brian Tyler;
Stephen Warbeck; Gabriel Yared and Christopher
Young. Orchestrators: Pete
Anthony; Jeff Atmajian; Brad Dechter;
Robert Elhai; Directors &
Producers on Film Music: Jon
Amiel; Atom Egoyan; Norman Jewison and
Sandy DeCrescent discusses her role
as a music contractor.
Christian DesJardins
is a 29 year old film music enthusiast.
His passion has led him to amass this
collection of interviews.
Immediately one is
impressed by his opening discussion
with film composer Ryan Shore on the
basic terms and techniques of film music
starting with that old chestnut, "Why
is there a need for film music?".
Form there it proceeds through the process
of creating music for film from the
selection of a composer through determining
which scenes should have music, the
composition process, the orchestrating,
the recording and the final mix, to
the release of film and soundtrack CD.
On the way, the roles of music editors,
music engineers and composers’ publicists
are discussed. In fact this is the best,
most complete description of the process
I can ever remember.
DesJardins has clearly
given much thought to the questions
posed to each interviewee. It is interesting
that the music of Bernard Herrmann -
as well as Max Steiner, Korngold, John
Williams and Jerry Goldsmith and other
leading lights of Hollywood’s Golden
Age - is mentioned by so many composers
as a major inspiration. Some composers
were classically trained, others came
to film music through jazz and more
popular forms. Others have a background
of both pop and classical. Jocelyn Pook
(Eyes Wide Shut), for instance,
studied at London’s Guildhall School
of Music and Drama, was influenced by
the minimalism of Philip Glass and Michael
Nyman and by medieval and early church
music.
Some film composers
rely a lot on orchestrators and other
assistance especially when under time
pressure; on the other hand John Debney,
for example, prefers to do as much as
he can himself including conducting.
Many appreciate the rich colours available
now including synths and ethnic forms.
There are conflicting
opinions on temp tracks - music from
another source used in the initial stages
of film production before the
chosen composer gets to work. Basil
Poledouris thought it was a crutch,
an unnecessary tool – "It doesn’t
allow the film to develop its own life
… sometimes directors fall in love with
a particular melodic notion … so, although
you’re not quite sure what it is they
like about a piece of temp music … particularly
if it’s completely inappropriate, you
kind of end up parodying it."
One of the most illuminating
interviews is that with Gabriel Yared
who says "I don’t specifically
see myself as a film composer. I’m just
a composer, and I approach all my work
– whether a film or a ballet score –
with an equal sense of conscience …
For me, the music fits the spirit of
the film first and the details are second."
Yared bemoans the fact that "a
lot of directors have no background
in music … I wish directors would become
more educated in music in order to be
more demanding of composers." He
quotes Anthony Minghella with whom he
worked on The English Patient
and The Talented Mr Ripley,
‘an educated, refined person who is
a musician, plays piano and reads and
loves music.’
David Raksin (Laura,
The Bad and the Beautiful and Forever
Amber), one of Hollywood’s pioneering
film composers, is represented in an
all too brief interview in which says
"With some exceptions, I think
that films today don’t really try to
delve deeply into things". Of contemporary
film music he says "I think there
is less probing sensitivity in the scores
today."
There are notable omissions.
No interviews with composers of the
stature of John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith
and, with the exception of Norman Jewison,
no interviews with famous directors
such as Spielberg or Tim Burton. But
see my interview with Christian DesJardins.
There are no illustrations,
no portraits of any of the interviewees.
It would have been helpful to have printed
the name of the interviewee on the top
of each spread too. But these are minor
quibbles.
A fascinating insight
into the whole process of creating music
for film.
Ian Lace
see also interview
with Christian DesJardins
