Winding Down a Film

02. May 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: composing · Tags: , , ,

Films are tricky animals.  Comlex beasts with tentacles and teeth.  Winding down the composing project becomes less a matter of creativity or musicianship and more a matter of making sure all those little details are working together.

I’m mastering the finals for “The Next American Dream.”  Which means I’m at the stage in the process where it’s really easy to find things I don’t like as much anymore but the producers plan on using in the film.  It’s the point at which you remember that this isn’t yours.  So you just have to burnish the edges, make it sound its best, and then release it.

I’ll be anxious to see the finished product, and see if I did a good job of being unnoticed.  Because that’s the mark of good writing for film.

Mac McCaughan the film composer’s sage

11. March 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: composing, heros · Tags: , , , , ,

“One good minute could last me a whole year.”
– Mac McCaughan

When Mac McCaughan, one of my favorite song writers, wrote those lyrics, I don’t think he realized he was describing the plight of a film composer.

Fifteen minutes into scoring The Next American Dream and one thing is certain, one good minute really can last me the whole year.  Without getting too much into the minutia of the process, it’s amazing how far many different directions one minute of music composition can carry you.  A few well-chosen chords, and the right melody can lead you in so many different directions.

The key to the whole thing is finding that one good minute.   Finding the minute in the film, and hearing what it sounds like.  What song it’s singing.  Then, you let that one good minute lead you through the film musically.

I’m not trying to make this sound like it’s rocket science, because it’s not.  It’s not “easy” per se, it’s just that you have to listen.

Scoring “The Next American Dream”

16. January 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: composing · Tags: , , , , , , ,

So I’ve been asked to score a documentary. It’s called The Next American Dream. (this is the trailer I scored) Of course I accepted. The film, set to air on PBS in April, is a documentary about how we will build our environment in the future. It features Chris Lienberger of the Brookings Institute

The question is, how does one compose music for the future? Or I guess, how does one conceive of a soundprint for what America will be like in 50 years?

Right now, where we sit, with all the ugly news, it sure seems like the tendency is to write something dark. But I’m an optimist now aren’t I?

What I know now is that we’re looking at America as a family. A great big family full of good and . . . well . . . mistakes. And families have a past, a present, and a future. Families all have their share of mistakes and screwups. We all have our crazy uncles, and bizarre moments in our history.

So a lot of what I’m thinking about for the score is built around the music of family. I think that will always be there. The kind of music a family surrounds itself with will change, but it will always be there. The instruments may change, the songs will be varied, but they’ll be an ever-present part of how we continue down this experiment we call America.

It’s a great opportunity, and when I think about it in the terms of America as family it seems much more promising.