Composition lessons
July 19th, 2010Starting now, I am offering one-on-one film composition lessons over Skype!
Animated Feature – Update and First Samples!
May 18th, 2010Well, there you have it. We are going in to final mix this Friday, over at Sharpe Sound. This is very exciting, and although there were some minor hiccups along the way, things have gone smoothly overall and the final result is a score I can be very, very proud of.
So now comes the time to reveal some audio from the film!
Click here to go to the music page and check it out!
Animated Feature – April 19, 2010
April 19th, 2010Well, today is a big day, I am laying down all the tracks to create the complete score for Silk Boy!
I have just completed four days (from Thursday to Sunday) of intense mixing with Mr.Wizard Brian Campbell over at Sharpe Sound. Brian did wonders mixing the orchestral score and made it sound fabulous!
I picked up part of the mixes today from Brian and spent the afternoon and evening doing some editing to get them ready for the OMF.
And now it is time to build the OMF of the score! It’s 9:30PM, Monday the 19th and I am finally reaching the end of the journey.
Finally! It’s been a long road with lots of ups and downs but I seem to be ending on a high note, so all is well.
Now I just hope the score sits well in the mix…
Silk Boy Post Mortem #3
April 6th, 2010A theme can do many things in a movie.
In this animated film I had read the script and started planning the score as best I could, which meant deciding which character, places and events would have themes.
But, as always, having a script is one thing and the final film is another. I ended up needing fewer things than I had planned on.
My composition teacher would often tell me that a good composer does a lot with a little. It always made sense to me somehow, and I do understand why now: because then the elements all feel like they “belong” together for the listener.
In film scores, it’s the same idea, to make a coherent musical landscape that supports the drama, and there as well it is good to use limited musical material.
In Harry Potter, John Williams uses the Quidditch theme for the snake’s escape earlier in the film.
This was an eye-opener for me: even though a snake and Quidditch are not related story wise, the music worked in both instance, and the end result is the use of limited material, a more coherent score, and melodies that get repeated more and thus become more memorable.
So in Silk Boy, this meant that certain themes which I initially conceived as being for a single character (in Prokofiev-like fashion) became themes for relationships.
These relationships are between the protagonist, Silkboy, and some of the other characters; grandfather, Tammy and Anya.
What that meant is that I had fewer themes and that, interestingly, Silkboy doesn’t really have much of a theme, only a guitar riff that plays when he is first presented and that is it!
The bad guys in the film have themes for their character, especially Filthington, the main baddie, which has the most developed theme of all. And also the mushrooms, which represents all of them, although I thought of one specifically as I wrote it: Puffball, which is actually quite a funny character.
But I digress; the bottom line is themes in a movie should be kept to a minimum, and that a theme can be used to support story elements that they were not initially intended to support.
Animated Feature – April 5, 2010
April 5th, 2010So the music was done and gradually being mixed and edited, but things have been dragging on in part because the film was not done and we had the time.
But that is no longer the case.
I am very excited to report that the sound effect and foley work is set to begin any day over at Sharpe Sound (on of the top post houses in town), which means music has to be done and delivered very soon.
I was asked by the director to bring the final animation video over to Sharpe Sound, which I did this morning. Got the tour of the place (which is fabulous) and spoke with Kirby (the post sound supervisor) about our schedule and requirements.
So this is the home stretch and almost done!
Alain
Silk Boy Post Mortem #2
March 31st, 2010One thing that became clear while working on Silkboy was that melody and the function of a scene are intertwined.
Some scenes are more important than others in a movie: some scenes are big, important, flashy scenes, while others are transitory, functional scenes that take you from point A to point B so that the story makes sense.
Both of course are important and part of storytelling, and very often the skill of actors and directors shine the brightest in making those functional scenes become interesting and alive and not simply functional.
Since Silkboy was animated, that meant wall to wall music, and I had to navigate these transitional scenes musically. For advice I turned to the master of themes, John Williams, especially the Harry Potter and Indiana Jones films, both of which had a similar musical approach to the score I was writing.
The bottom line is this:
Giving a big thematic moment to a transitional scene goes against the grain. It is better to write transitional music instead, e.g.: a bridge in a song, or an episode in a fugue or invention.
The transition scene can use secondary musical material, development of main material or simply a sequence (a musical one) or something that leads to the next scene. It is a case where musical structure again supports film structure!
Cheers,
Alain
Silk Boy Post Mortem #1
March 15th, 2010For the next little while I will write about what I learned working on the project I recently completed: The Legend of Silk Boy.
First item will be something I learned from the director, David Liu.
David truly left me to my own devices during this project. He had a very different approach than most directors in that he would not get involved much during the music production.
There was no temp track to deal with and David did not impose any stylistic demands on me. I mean, we saw eye to eye as to what the score should be; and orchestral fantasy score.
Still, when I sent him mockups he only twice offered a different idea, to which I promptly agreed, but the rest of the time he would say “you are the expert.”
Once in a while I would get a phone call where he would ask me what my reason for doing my musical choice. I would explain and he would then just say “very good” and move on to another topic.
I was not used to this from a director, but once I understood how David worked and that my cues were getting accepted with trust in my abilities, it felt like I was set free in a field: the elation of fresh air and freedom!
The net result was that I felt my ideas were respected, that my contribution to the project was valuable, that I wasn’t going to write music that would instantly be rejected. Because of this I was able to invest myself 110% into every single note I wrote. I felt like I was allowed to me myself and do the best that I could.
Let’s face it, composers always do the best they can (at least I do) but when you are constantly second guessing the director and the producers, and work with fear and doubt, you are careful, and being careful rarely leads to all out effort, which rarely leads to your best work.
It’s just normal.
During the four days of the orchestral recording sessions I got to spend a lot of time with David, and I asked him about his approach. This was his answer:
Part of my job as a director, as I see it, is to pick the right people for the job. It is only if I didn’t pick the right person that I have to meddle and interfere and ask for changes.
So I am very careful in the people I choose, and then I give them the environment and space to do their best work.
And my best work I did.
Thanks David,
Alain
Dealing with Doubt
March 5th, 2010When composing it is normal to have doubts about the quality of your ideas, but in the business of music on demand and tight schedules, you need an approach to deal with that and make the best decisions.
This is how I deal with it
1. I brainstorm.
I have a variety of ways of doing this: at the keys, the guitar, often just walking around the house or my studio or, if ideas are slow in coming, I do laundry or a few chin-ups, anything to clear my mind and get into “play mode”. When brainstorming I find it important to just have fun.
Figuring out under what circumstances I get my best ideas is something I spent quite a lot of time figuring out, and it was not time ill spent. I never get the blank page syndrome anymore.
2. Pick your favourite.
I do this right away and I don’t wait for the next day. I make a few choices and if I have doubts about the best one to choose as I play through them, I will do a rough sequence and then sit back and listen.
If I still have doubts I will stop for a bit, do something completely unrelated to clear my head and get some distance from it, then I come back in 10 minutes or so and sit back and listen.
Even with tight deadlines, taking a short break is important, it makes everything else go much, much faster and smoother.
And let’s face it, if you have doubts about the quality of your idea, it will nag at you as you work.
Furthermore, I am sure this has happened to you; you think your idea is great, you write the whole thing in a heat of passion only to find that it is quite lame when you listen again the next day. Time completely wasted.
Having experienced that a few times, even when I think I am sure I have doubts!
So even when you think you are sure, taking a few minutes or a day to get distance and the come back to your idea with a fresh ear is an important part of the process.
Today I am writing a little 45 second ditty for my next project (more on that soon) and I had to take a break, get some distance from two ideas that I have to choose from – so I wrote this post!
Later,
Alain
Animated Feature – Feb. 18 2010
February 18th, 2010Well, the music mix is under way and I am recording all the guitar, bass, drum and synth parts now, so the music is starting to take its final shape as we head toward the final mix.
We have had to do quite a bit of EQ work on the mix because the hall was small and the acoustics were strange and the orchestra was laid out very tightly. Not ideal. But it is sounding pretty good today and we will get something good out of it.
I am recording all the rock guitar parts for the introduction of Silk Boy; he is associated with the electric guitar.
There might be some guitar added to the orchestra as well in other parts of the score where I had not originally written it in, but we’ll see, I am not sure about that.
We have a lot of time until we need to deliver, the foley and sound effect work has not even begun, but I don’t want it to drag on either, so I want to get it done.
I have a piece to write for the VMO anyway, I’d like to get going on that.
Also, I am eager to start doing a series of posts called “what I learned from Silk Boy” as way to crystallize in my mind all I have learned during this project as I get ready for the next one.
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