So far so good….. Thursday, 8 January 2009

I sent over my demo last night and then in the morning Adam called and said that he and Helen really liked it, although they had some questions about the way that I had timed it to go with the film.

One of the big things to get to grips with in writing music for moving images (film, animation, even games) is synchronization. You have to make sure that your music is the correct length for a given stretch of film, and that any changes in the music happen at the right moment to go with the on-screen action. Many years ago, before computers started to be used by composers, working out all the maths was a pretty complicated business. For example, if you have a scene that lasts for 4 minutes and 23 seconds, and you want to fit a piece of music to it which contains 64 bars of music in 3/4 time, how do you work out a) if it’s going to fit and b) what the tempo (speed) of the music should be? In the old days, before all the fancy software that we use now, there was this thing called a Click Book, which was thick and heavy and had MANY pages full of numbers, but was the easiest way to make such calculations without going insane. Luckily, I started working with filmmakers when software was getting really good at doing those sums, so that all composers really need to worry about now is writing good music, which computers can’t do. In fact, that is a great myth about using computers to write music: that somehow it takes the creativity away. But that is like saying that word-processing software helps you to write better novels, or that a good microwave makes you a great cook.

Each composer works differently, but I like messing around on the piano or my viola, jotting down some ideas on paper, drinking some tea, writing some more, and then recording it on the computer. Then I see if it goes with the film and I make some changes, or I go back to the beginning and start again. I try turning the tune inside out or putting it into a different key, or imagine what it might be like on a different instrument. Eventually something strikes me as a good direction to go in, and I try to develop it. Ultimately, if the music gets in the way of the film, distracts the audience or has the opposite effect to the original intention, it is not right and you have to try again. Some of the best film music is the stuff that you don’t remember at all – because it was doing its job by supporting the film and not competing for the viewer’s attention.

Anyway, so Adam and I had a discussion about the opening of The Lost Book and we talked about when the first music cue should stop. I had synchronized the music to end just after the big moment when you can read THE LOST BOOK on the screen. We were wondering if the music should finish when the letters disappear or whether it should continue a bit so that it acts as a kind of bridge between the titles and the first scene. When you see the film you can see if we got it right.

Ok back to the piano.