Composer Roundtable: The Need for Diversity and the Agony of Waiting for Inspiration to Strike

[toothless 963]

I came across this on twitter (havn't read it yet) :

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/composer-roundtable-need-diversity-agony-waiting-inspiration-strike-1057759

 

Quote

Six top musical talents open up about the horror of the temp track, the best way to talk to a director and the power of a well-executed film score.

 

(I don't know if there is a thread dedicated to random articles about film scoring ?)

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I barely recognized Burwell in that picture.

[Dixon Hill 4,232]

Nice discussion.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

It was.  The composer roundtables for the Hollywood Reporter are all kind of the same, though, understandably.  Psychoanalyze the director, fight the temp, etc.  But it was nice to get a couple of new voices in there.  Glass isn't often included with more film score centric things like this, and I'm definitely going to check out the Mudbound score from Tamar-Kali.

[Thor 7,463]

14 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

It was.  The composer roundtables for the Hollywood Reporter are all kind of the same, though, understandably.  Psychoanalyze the director, fight the temp, etc.  But it was nice to get a couple of new voices in there.  Glass isn't often included with more film score centric things like this, and I'm definitely going to check out the Mudbound score from Tamar-Kali.

 

Exactly. They are about the same thing year after year.

 

The big draw of this particular roundtable is Glass. The others, I'm not really interested in. OK, I like some Burwell, and I think Pemberton is a promising guy, but that's it. My opinion on Desplat and Giacchino is wellknown, and the last person I've not heard of. If the video is released, I'll probably just fastforward to the Glass bits.

[James 119]

A funny thing is that the temptracks are not as bad things as they mention. Perhaps those imposed by the filmmakers are bad because they are pointed by who do not fully understand the role of the composer (some understand). But it is easy to point in the work of those best known when they are repeating an idea of an old score or even giving a quick eye blink at another composer's work. I agree with everything they say, but it's funny. I say this because they vehemently claim they do not listen to temptracks.

 

[publicist 4,643]

It would be more interesting - if impossible to actually address in these fluff piece situations - to give them a good temped scene before the taping and then let them explain how they musically attack it and how they would deviate from the temp. As it is no one ever gets into any detail WHAT is wrong about temp pieces and why the filmmakers continuously louse it up when it comes to musical choices, i. e. favouring easy to cut stuff etc., there is just no point in listening. 

 

Also critical questions regarding, say, a guy like Ridley Scott basically making a mess of the composer's work on any given score would be appreciated. Desplat is probably bared by NDA's from Di$ney speaking about the R1 situation but addressing what happens in such situations where, after long and laborious discussions about musical matters, the score is dropped...it's really easy to come up with something more interesting that what they often end up with (and don't have John Powell at the table).

[Arpy 4,145]

I wish they had this discussion a year ago when I was writing my essay. Although, I agree @publicist this discussion seems so tame and lacks any in-depth inquiry about the issue, although you can definitely sense that Desplat is more pissed off. 

 

It also doesn't help when Zimmer comes out and says the industry doesn't have studio interference when it comes to scoring, the heart of most of these issues, of composers being ousted and rewrites is often entirely because of studio interference, test screenings and studio screenings/focus groups all have a say in the score, let alone what a director wants. We'll never get any in-depth discussions because these composers have laser sights pointed directly at their temples waiting for them to say it was something far more innocuous than simply 'creative differences'. For now it's the spectacle of the current big names talking about their woes.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

These composer roundtables do always come across a bit whiny, something Williams never lets himself get caught doing (publicly at least).

[Richard Penna 3,669]

2 hours ago, Arpy said:

I wish they had this discussion a year ago when I was writing my essay. Although, I agree @publicist this discussion seems so tame and lacks any in-depth inquiry about the issue, although you can definitely sense that Desplat is more pissed off. 

 

It also doesn't help when Zimmer comes out and says the industry doesn't have studio interference when it comes to scoring, the heart of most of these issues, of composers being ousted and rewrites is often entirely because of studio interference, test screenings and studio screenings/focus groups all have a say in the score, let alone what a director wants. We'll never get any in-depth discussions because these composers have laser sights pointed directly at their temples waiting for them to say it was something far more innocuous than simply 'creative differences'. For now it's the spectacle of the current big names talking about their woes.

 

Yeah there are times when Zimmer should keep his mouth shut, simply because he's not talking from the perspective of the average composer.

 

When he did the roundtable a few years ago, when asked about his biggest challenge, he actually did the exact opposite and started banging on about how easy two of his other scores were (Rush and 12 Years a Slave), coming across really smug in the process.

[leeallen01 2,133]

I'd be really interested to see a discussion between Giacchino and Desplat, considering the whole Rogue One elephant in the room.

[Arpy 4,145]

I'd like to think it would be amicable seeing as it was out of their control. No doubt Desplat would feel hurt by the experience, but his output and frequency of projects hasn't diminished.