# Why HZ got the Job, and you didn't



## reddognoyz (Jul 10, 2013)

I saw this on a fellow composers face book and googled it and found it on hz's webbie. I don't know if its original to there, and forgive me if this is not new, but I think to offers lots of insights for film composers.

Here's a LENGTHY messaged posted by composer/musician Michael A. Levine, who worked at RCP :

"Why Hans Zimmer Got The Job You Wanted (And You Didn't)

I worked for Hans Zimmer for about 8 years, 5 of which were in a studio at Remote Control, his facility in Santa Monica. Since leaving Remote, many people have said to me, usually in a conspiratorial tone of voice, things like this: Hans doesn't really write his own music. The studios only give him work because he's famous. He's not a real musician. He just gets his clients drunk and all the work is done by guys in the back room. And so forth.

The underlying implication is that this underhanded semi-musician has Hollywood in his thrall due to Svengali like powers and maybe, someday, they'll wake up and hire a "real" composer - like whoever is whispering to me.

No other composer seems to stir up this kind of ire - I never hear people say, "Yeah, that John Williams only writes 12-line sketches and it's up to his orchestrators to make it into real music!"

Well, I hate to break it to you, but Hans gets what he gets because…he deserves it.

Here is why:

1) HANS IS A VISIONARY. In films there is a process called "spotting" in which the composer and director decide what kind of music is needed where. Hans is the best spotter I've ever observed. He has an extraordinary sense of what will work. But long before spotting, he will spend weeks writing a musical suite which is the source of the musical themes of the film. Oddly, this isn't really about music - it's about the essence of what the story and the characters are. Film composer great Elmer Bernstein (Magnificent Seven, To Kill A Mockingbird) once said to me, "The dirty little secret is that we're not musicians - we're dramatists." Hans is an outstanding dramatist.

But he also fearlessly pushes himself, challenging the limits of what is acceptable in our medium. In Batman: Dark Knight, long before we had footage of the film, Hans asked Heitor Pereira (guitar), Martin Tillman (cello), and me (violin and tenor violin) to separately record some variations on a set of instructions involving 2 notes, C and D. This involved a fair amount of interpretation! For those who are familiar with classical music, it was John Cage meets Phil Glass. We each spent a week making hundreds of snippets. Then we had to listen to each other's work and re-interpret that. The end result was a toolbox of sounds that provided Hans with the attitude of his score.

Later, he asked me to double every ostinato (repeating phrase) pattern the violins and violas played. There were a LOT. And a great studio orchestra had already played them all! I spent a week on what I considered an eccentric fool's errand, providing score mixer, Alan Meyerson, with single, double, and triple pass versions of huge swaths of the score. Months later, I joked with him about how "useful" my efforts had been. Alan told me that, actually, they had turned out to be a crucial element of the score, that he often pulled out the orchestra and went to my performances when something needed to be edgy or raw.

The attached video shows something from Man of Steel. Hans assembled a room full of great trap drummers to play the same groove at the same time, each with tiny variations. Is it a stunt? Maybe. But does it deliver a sound you've never quite heard before? Definitely.

2) HANS WORKS VERY, VERY HARD. When working on a project - which is most of the time - Hans usually arrives at the studio at 11 am and then works until 3 or 4 in the morning. 7 days a week. For months. As the deadline approaches, everything else fades away. Harry Gregson-Williams once told me you could tell how far into a project Hans was by the length of his beard - at some point, he stops shaving.

His late-night hours provide welcome relief from badgering studios and the noise of running a business. They proved to be a challenge to my metabolism when I was getting up at 6 a.m. to go to yoga. Which leads me to a the title of another post, "Never Keep Different Hours Than Your Boss." But I digress.

Hans is not as fast as his one-time assistant, Harry, or his current go-to arranger, Loren Balfe, both of whom work at superhuman speed. Hans once suggested that I worked too fast. I was puzzled at the time, but what I think he was really saying was that I needed to pay better attention to the little details that, cumulatively, make all the difference.

3) HANS IS THE BEST FILM MUSIC PRODUCER IN THE BUSINESS. We're not talking about technical music skills. Hans is a so-so pianist and guitarist and his knowledge of academic theory is, by intention, limited. (I was once chastised while working on The Simpsons Movie for saying "lydian flat 7" instead of "the cartoon scale.") He doesn't read standard notation very well, either. But no one reads piano roll better than he does. [The piano roll is a page of a music computer program that displays the notes graphically.] Which gets to the heart of the matter: Hans knows what he needs to know to make it sound great.

Sometimes, that is the right musicians. Sometimes it is the right sample library. Sometimes it is the right room, or engineer, or recording technique, or mixing technique. All that counts is the end result. And it always sounds spectacular.

4) HANS WORKS WITH GREAT PEOPLE. Take a look at the composers who have worked for Hans: John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams, Heitor Pereira, Henry Jackman, Steve Jablonsky, Lorne Balfe, Trevor Morris, Ramin Djawadi, Jeff Rona, Mark Mancina, Atli Orvarsson, Geoff Zanelli, Blake Neeley, Stephen Hilton, Tom "Junkie XL" Holkenborg and on and on. And Alan Meyerson, his mixer. And Bob Badami, Ken Karman, his music editors. (Bob's credits alone dwarf about everybody in the business). His great percussionists, Satnam Ramgotra and Ryeland Allison. Sound designers, Howard Scarr and Mel Wesson. Not to mention Steve Kofsky, his business partner. And all the tech whizzes he's had over the years: Mark Wherry, Sam Estes, Pete Snell, Tom Broderick. Even his personal assistants - Andrew Zack, then Czar Russell - are remarkable.

Of course, the really amazing talents are the ones he works for: Chris Nolan, Gore Verbinski, Jim Brooks, Ron Howard, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Jerry Bruckheimer. But he would never get the chance to work for them if he didn't hold up his end of the bargain.

5) HANS IS A CHARMER. The first time Jeffrey Katzenberg heard Hans' love theme for Megamind he said, "It sounds like 1968 on the French Riviera." It was not a compliment. And it wasn't wrong. Actually, what Hans realized - and Jeffrey hadn't - was that the heart of the love story in the movie was right out of A Man and A Woman and La Nouvelle Vague. Rather than point this out, Hans said, "Let me work on it some more." Over the next two weeks he played revision after revision for Jeffrey, each time making small changes to the arrangement or structure, but keeping the same basic tune. A couple of weeks later, after Jeffrey tore apart the music for a different scene that we'd worked pretty hard on, he said, "Well, at least we have a great love theme!" The rest of us looked at each other. When did that happen!

Hans is acutely aware of the presentational aspect of our business. His capacious control room, rather than being the strictly functional wood and bland fabric of a typical studio, is a lurid red velvet - a 19th century Turkish bordello as Hans describes it. With a wall of rare analog modular synthesizers in the back. At dinner, he serves his guests fine wine, and gives others cleverly appropriate (more so than lavish) gifts. As one of his clients said to me, "Hans makes you feel like a great chef is inviting you into his kitchen."

Not all of us can afford HZ level dog and pony shows. But most of us can use what we do have better.

6) HANS DELIVERS. Hans often gets hired for massive projects. The reason he uses an army of people is that he needs them to keep up with the demands of the directors and the studios. Halfway through Rango, Gore Verbinski suddenly changed direction, threw almost everything out, and we started over. Without a team to carry out the new directions, we'd have been dead.

Look at what happened to Howard Shore on King Kong, Marc Shaiman on Team America, Maurice Jarre on River Wild, Gabriel Yared on Troy, or the great Bernard Herrmann on Torn Curtain? In each case they were fired because the studio or director lost faith that they could shift direction quickly enough once their original approach was rejected. In 150+ films this has never happened to Hans.

BTW, he is also very aware of what the power structure is - who really makes decisions. I was fired - or more accurately not hired after a trial period - from a film because I jumped through hoops for the director who had hired me while not spending enough time figuring out what the producer - the actual power - wanted. Rather than being sympathetic, Hans told me I had failed in a fundamental task: determining who was my boss. He was right, and I haven't made that mistake again.

So, is Hans my favorite film composer? No. He's not even Hans' favorite film composer! (I'm guessing that would be Nina Rota or Ennio Morricone, but you'd have to ask him.) And he can be dismissive, condescending, arrogant, exploitative, and just plain mean. Like me. And, I suspect, you.

But he is exceptionally smart, gifted, accomplished, and hard-working. And here is the hard truth: outside of a few rare exceptions, the people who are successful in the film business are successful because they deserve to be. They have earned it. Yes, they have been lucky. But everybody gets lucky eventually. The question is what do you do when good fortune arrives. If you want to be as successful as the people you admire, you need to be as smart, resourceful, and determined as they are. As Hans is."


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## reddognoyz (Jul 10, 2013)

Hans happens to be one of my favorite composers and I so wish I could learn to delegate and direct as he does. What he said about who is boss is very important.


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## ghostnote (Jul 10, 2013)

read this while eating breakfast. my muesli never tasted more exciting.

thanks for the share.


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## wlotz (Jul 10, 2013)

Great article about a great man. Now haters, come out, come out wherever you are :mrgreen:


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## Hannes_F (Jul 10, 2013)

Great read, food for thought.


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## musophrenic (Jul 10, 2013)

Great read indeed, saw it on Howard Scarr's FB this Australian morning  Just as great as HZ's own behind-the-scenes posts on VI-C. I just don't get people who envy success and present themselves as the superior solution. It's an arduous journey which they've really only caught the tail-end of: the results, the gigs, the success. When I get a gig, even though I'm nowhere near an amazing composer/musician, I can see the years upon years that have had to come to get there. And that's my little tiny insignificant piece of success. Can't even begin to imagine the journey for someone like HZ, JNH, BT, JW, RP, JP etc.


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## Martin K (Jul 10, 2013)

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing.

best,
Martin


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## germancomponist (Jul 10, 2013)

What a great read!


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## bbunker (Jul 10, 2013)

Thanks for sharing this...apparently my FB friends haven't caught up on this, because this is the first I saw of it!


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## antoniopandrade (Jul 10, 2013)

But VI-C readers already know this... just read what the man himself writes and make your own conclusions.


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## dcoscina (Jul 10, 2013)

Stuart a very good read.
I hope you don't mind that I posted this on FSM to provide some perspective. It's a good perspective check for anyone though whether they are working in the industry or just a soundtrack lover. 

Thanks for sharing.


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## guitarman1960 (Jul 10, 2013)

That was great!
All the jealous haters please take note!


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## EastWest Lurker (Jul 10, 2013)

Michael is a friend of mine and a Logic guy. Trust me when I say if he didn't mean it, he wouldn't post it.


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## Teal Seal (Jul 10, 2013)

There's a lot of great stuff in this.


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## asilagy (Jul 10, 2013)

Well Written


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## Lex (Jul 10, 2013)

Great read, thanks for sharing. 

alex


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## sluggo (Jul 10, 2013)

Thanks, great read. As if things weren't bleak enough, now I can no longer feel special about my moderate piano skills. Well, at least I am a visionary too. Last week I sampled the sound of a wet tennis ball being shot out of a bass clarinet. (Take THAT Rimsky-Korsakov!) I used the custom samples in a steam-punk movie but the director felt the sound was more appropriate for a children's film. 

Please support my new kickstarter campaign for a children's steam punk movie starring Lindsey Lohan and James Deen.


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## givemenoughrope (Jul 10, 2013)

Since ever pulling all-nighters or just doing whatever it takes to meet deadlines I've always thought that the amount of time it takes to get anything done is equal to about one beard.


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## germancomponist (Jul 10, 2013)

As I said elsewhere, I think Hans would be also a good politician!


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## Peter Alexander (Jul 10, 2013)

What Michael Levin has described is how an ad agency works. It's all about customer service, knowing who's in charge/where the power is, AND, the ability to turn on a dime and make change when the customer wants/demands changes.

I did this for years before coming back to music full time.


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## Ryan (Jul 11, 2013)

> He doesn't read standard notation very well, either. But no one reads piano roll better than he does. [The piano roll is a page of a music computer program that displays the notes graphically.] Which gets to the heart of the matter: Hans knows what he needs to know to make it sound great.



This really made me happy. Me and the piano roll is like one. 

Great read!!


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## Studio E (Jul 11, 2013)

Yeah but does he have a large dog in the studio that practically lifts people off the floor by their crotch when he greets them for the first time? I do and it has worked out really well. Damn, I'm giving away my secrets now.


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## dgburns (Jul 11, 2013)

Studio E @ Thu Jul 11 said:


> Yeah but does he have a large dog in the studio that practically lifts people off the floor by their crotch when he greets them for the first time? I do and it has worked out really well. Damn, I'm giving away my secrets now.



gives new meaning to the term "Dog and Pony show"


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## MikeH (Jul 11, 2013)

Studio E @ Thu Jul 11 said:


> Yeah but does he have a large dog in the studio that practically lifts people off the floor by their crotch when he greets them for the first time? I do and it has worked out really well. Damn, I'm giving away my secrets now.



:mrgreen:


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## Sasje (Jul 11, 2013)

I think there is more to it than just "hard work". Many people work hard, and never get anywhere in life. Many have skills that remain unseen or unappreciated, many great composers never rose to fame until after their death. Some of the greats never tasted success.

I think success is a mixture of many different ingredients. Not a recipe, but rather a simulacra of who the composer is: background, passion, experience, knowledge, skills, temperament, personality, patience, trust, persistence, resistance, imagination, vision, meeting the right people, timing, hard work, and a pinch of good luck. A unique configuration.

I'm not complaining though, it's just that not everyone will get the success he has no matter how hard you work. So I hope none of you will overwork yourself into a burnout just because Hans works so hard. It simply isn't that easy, there isn't a recipe for success. If there was, you and I would be successful by following it. I would probably denounce it, because I don't like the limelight.  

I learned this from running a business. A long time ago I ran my own business, worked harder than everyone I knew, got the best quality, best products and most innovative. Did it for 18 years and I got nowhere, because I lacked the proper network of people I needed. In fact, it burned me out just because I followed such stupid advice as: "work hard". Blah, it's just not real. If it was that easy...


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## Dan Mott (Jul 11, 2013)

Sasje @ Fri Jul 12 said:


> I think there is more to it than just "hard work". Many people work hard, and never get anywhere in life. Many have skills that remain unseen or unappreciated, many great composers never rose to fame until after their death. Some of the greats never tasted success.
> 
> I think success is a mixture of many different ingredients. Not a recipe, but rather a simulacra of who the composer is: background, passion, experience, knowledge, skills, temperament, personality, patience, trust, persistence, resistance, imagination, vision, meeting the right people, timing, hard work, and a pinch of good luck. A unique configuration.
> 
> ...



I'm guessing you pretty much need to work hard at everything to get somewhere. Work hard at your chops/networking/marketing your self, ect.

These days, networking is probs the best thing you can do. Get to know composers, ect and ask questions as well as showing people what you can do. 

I guess you could work your ass off, but if you don't know anyone in the biz then yeah... probably won't get anywhere


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## MaestroRage (Jul 12, 2013)

It's a fascinating read, and it leaves me to wonder something. Hans works very hard, but he does so because I assume (and hope) this work gives him great joy. He can still enjoy his life working away this many hours a day endlessly.

I for one, can't do that. I imagine few of us can which probably is a key factor to his success. Unless you were truly and 100% devoted to your craft such that it is basically your life, it is simply not possible to remain happy while you spend your life on it. For me I cannot spend all my time on work. Certainly it means I will never accumulate the wealth and power some of the elite possess but i'm okay with that.

We need movers and shakers like Hans to keep the industry shifting. I just wish some people I knew took the entire picture into consideration before getting on the jealous/hate band wagon.


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## snowleopard (Jul 12, 2013)

Just a great read. I don't love all of his music, though some I really do love and admire, and envy. But I agree with everything written there. The vision, the spotting, also surrounding yourself with greatness. 

I do have to agree with Sasje and Dan about hard work. I've been obsessed at times and worked many very long days, very, very hard, for years. I can't say it didn't get me nowhere, but I simply don't have the networking or people skills (or talent, or confidence, to be honest) to get to Hans level, or even close to it. 

Hans is better at all that than me. All of it. Not just the networking but the spotting, vision, all of it. So are all of his disciples. That's why they get work, and I have a job and do scoring on the side. And you know what, I have no problem with that. What I need to do to improve has everything to do with me, and nothing to do with Hans.


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## MarkS_Comp (Jul 12, 2013)

reddognoyz @ Wed Jul 10 said:


> In films there is a process called "spotting" in which the composer and director decide what kind of music is needed where. Hans is the best spotter I've ever observed. He has an extraordinary sense of what will work.



Hans, if you are reading..... your German, right? So, therefore, you like beer, right? :D Tell you what - I will buy you a keg of whatever you fancy, if you videotape and post your next spotting session. o-[][]-o 

Ok, that's for sure not going to happen, but OMG what we all could learn from that.... o/~


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## snowleopard (Jul 13, 2013)

Another thing I didn't mention, but was hinted on by others, is that Hans is pretty original. What we all are aware of is that often in order to get work in this business we're asked to sound like someone else, frequently because of "temp love". Even some of Hans' disciples have scored films that sound a lot like Hans work, we've pointed it out here on VI. Hans has pretty much forged his own path over the years, leaving others to follow. Not 100% original perhaps, I'm sure he has his inspirations too, but pretty original. You usually know Hans' sound when you hear it. 

I believe it's in Jeff Rona's book where he interviews Elfman, and Danny says something very real. That if you want to just get work in this business, learn to imitate others, be a chameleon almost to the point of plagiarism. You'll get some work. But if you want to really be someone of substance, you need to be original, your own style, your own sound. It's a lot harder to do, and a lot harder to sell. But I believe it's true, and you hear it in nearly all big composers' work. Hans and Elfman included. 

Even music libraries reflect this. Hans creates original "big" music, using real musicians, and original ideas as Michael pointed out, and libraries follow suit, some even with his name on it. We buy them up to sound similar to him. Often because producers and directors want that sound, and we acquiesce, because we need the work.


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## Rctec (Jul 13, 2013)

I'm on holiday. There goes the theory of working very hard. It's the first time in a week I switched on any Internet thingy, so I hadn't seen this before.
But I don't really get tired writing music. Meetings make me tired. I have a good act, but I'm really pretty insecure and shy. I get nervous unleashing some insane idea onto either my musicians or the director. I don't network. Ever. I found out that I truly loath parties and the shallow self-serving chatter that goes with them. I can't stand the self-congratulatory dinners that our industry is so fond of. So I tried to create a place that people wanted to come to. What's more irresistible than a safe heaven for directors where we play music and have a serious, uninterrupted conversation about the things we feel passionate about?
But I was at the right place at the right time. London was great in the late 80's, and I made a cautiously calculated decision to not go to L.A. until I was offered a job there. I just had a vision of me being the worst waiter amongst twohundred thousand other aspiring composer. So, really my first time in L.A. was for a big studio movie, and since I didn't know anyone, that whole score was done in the cutting room, which the director and the editor loved. ...and so did I.
I always managed to get work from people hearing something in a film. I never send out show reels , and I know that very few people listen to them. And I tried not to get typecast. An "As Good As It Gets" is balanced against a "Gladiator", very much on purpose. I've always driven my agent crazy by ignoring the budget restrictions you get with a "Thin Red Line", for instance. I like working on movies and with filmmakers that let me be part of the whole conversation. I'm no good with movies made by commitee.
And I like a bit of a laugh and a good glass of wine.
I'm quite possibly the only German that can't stand the taste of beer. It's a character flaw, but I can live with it


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## mr (Jul 13, 2013)

Rctec @ Sat Jul 13 said:


> I'm quite possibly the only German that can't stand the taste of beer. It's a character flaw, but I can live with it



Actually, there is two of us 

Enjoy your holiday!


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## Kejero (Jul 13, 2013)

Well there's German beer. There's US beer. And then there's... genuine beer.

Sorry, I'm from Belgium. I'm genetically obligated to utter that stuff


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## Tatu (Jul 13, 2013)

Rctec @ Sat Jul 13 said:


> I'm on holiday. There goes the theory of working very hard. It's the first time in a week I switched on any Internet thingy.



Good for you! Nothing beats a time well wasted. 
I also spent a nice couple of weeks of the grid; It can do wonders for someone who usually sits around computers 24/7.


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## Hannes_F (Jul 13, 2013)

About the beer thing: three. Just saying.

Other than that ... it becomes more and more obvious that Hans is a strong thinker, combined with musically being an "Urviech" (this is untranslateable but it means an original and un-oversophisticated aproach) - which is truly an admirable combination. 

I like the avoiding parties part (in contrast to me, I *love *parties and dancing . . . just not empty patter), and especially the 'not stopping there'. For many it goes like problem -> moaning (I'm not excluding myself here sometimes). Here it goes problem -> solution.

EDIT re-reading my post it sounds pretty fan-boy-ish. Meh. But it is like it is - then be it.


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## snowleopard (Jul 13, 2013)

I like the idea of the safe haven, creating a place where people want to come to. It keeps things real I imagine. Where you can be honest and yourself, for both the filmmakers and composer, and not get up in trying to rub shoulders, impress, pretend you're someone you're not. I would think aspiring, struggling, composers, and filmmakers, could take a real tip from that, if they opened up a little. 

Also noticed that Hans' methods fit into Steven Covey's 7 Habits, for anyone who has read that book. (Seek first to understand, then be understood; think win-win; synergize; etc.).


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## germancomponist (Jul 13, 2013)

Rctec @ Sat Jul 13 said:


> I'm quite possibly the only German that can't stand the taste of beer. It's a character flaw, but I can live with it



It is certainly not a character flaw. You just have not tried the best. 

BTW: German beer isn't the best beer..... . o-[][]-o o=<


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## MikeH (Jul 14, 2013)

David, look what you did! 

http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts ... &archive=0

You're going to make the FSM board implode upon itself. :mrgreen:


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## Tanuj Tiku (Jul 14, 2013)

wow!

Vi-control seems so much nicer now! That forum is a club of film music haters it seems. First time I ever paid a visit. 

The one thing I never understand is this:

People say Hollywood has changed, film music has been dumb down and that there is no real film music.

But, I never hear people talk about how films have changed and what effect that has had on the music for it. 

We are not writing concert music. You have to serve the picture. You perhaps don't need a complex score all the time. The fidelity of audio and the lines between sfx and music have changed/blurred. 

The looks of films has changed. The vfx has changed and we are watching films on a different level now. 

The visuals are that much more detailed and complex sometimes. 

I think film music is perfectly fine as such - there is a lot of epic trash out there but I think that is in part because everybody is not writing Star Wars or complex orchestral scores - you do not need to for every movie. Films have invited different kind of music into their world. There are many typical orchestral scores built on previous scores but they sound boring at times. Hans and so many others have got in a new style of music.

You can score a scene with a drone and also with complex chord progressions, it depends on the movie, the scene, the story - so many things.

I thought Chris Bacon's Source code was brilliant. It seemed like a great movie for anyone at RC to score but he went with an orchestral score primarily and it sounded great and fresh once again. 

As to why everyone is using ostinatos and Batman/Inception style music - that is not because Hans is holding a gun to anyone's head. In fact, I think he did mention how detrimental it was for the Batman series because now everyone else was doing it. 

John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard, Thomas Newmann, Mychael Danna, John Powell, Michael Giacchino, Alberto Iglesias, John Ottman and countless other composers still write the way they used to and in their own style. 

I don't think the other A-listers ever changed what they were doing - may be occasionally they were forced to follow a temp cue but they still write brilliant music which is nothing like what Hans does. 

The main problem is video games, trailers and other such things where composers are forced to write in the latest most popular style.

If YOU can write better, go ahead. But the rule is that you have to play by the rules. You need to be a part of the industry and change it if you think it needs changing. 

Sitting in your bedroom without having to work hard and face the producers, directors, take responsibility for big projects where someone else is putting in a lot of money is easy. 

And all the great composers faced the same problems back then. As I understand Herrmann was not happy with Hollywood even back then and was always cribbing about the standards. I saw a documentary on him once and one of his wives said that he did not even want to write film music all the time. He was doing it as a way to better his conducting. As Williams has said countless times that there is more than film music out there and he has proved that. He has written music for so many different things not only film. This will find you a balance and perhaps it could satisfy the serious composer outside of film in you.

The moment someone puts in a huge amount of money into something, they want to make sure they make that back and then some more. They get insecure. Its natural. 

Making a movie can be a risky thing. I am sure none of us want to loose money on anything really. Producers are not our enemies. If you can calm them, boost them, encourage and assure them of what you are doing, they do come on board and be a part of something great.

Some people are just not worth working with and to them you can always say no!


Tanuj.


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## MikeH (Jul 14, 2013)

vibrato @ Sun Jul 14 said:


> Making a movie can be a risky thing. I am sure none of us want to loose money on anything really. Producers are not our enemies. If you can calm them, boost them, encourage and assure them of what you are doing, they do come on board and be a part of something great.



A fantastic (and very true!) statement if ever I've heard one. 

I love collaborating. Is it frustrating at times? Yes, for sure. But it can also push you in directions you wouldn't normally go.

Look, the grumpy cluster of film music fans will never, ever, ever understand this business. It is very easy to sit back and say, "Why did such and such composer do this?" or "Geez, that's so easy I can do it." It's not about being just a musician, it's also being a psychologist! There are so many facets to this business that extend beyond knowing the notes.

So if a handful of people think the only way to be a good film composer is to do one movie a year, write on paper with a pen so you can't erase, do every orchestration yourself, write something totally original every time, and not listen to your director, then whoop-de-doo.


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## Tanuj Tiku (Jul 14, 2013)

Mike - I agree, you cannot be selfish and be grumpy about the whole thing.

I have someone in the family who is trying to make a film in Mumbai. She studied at NYU. Assisted Mira Nair (even appeared in a short role in The Namesake) and worked with Tribeca Film festival with Robert De Niro. 

She made a short film and won a few awards but how does she go about meeting people and trying to convince them of making her small film set in a small misty town in south India?

It is not a big budget film and will probably not have any stars. Even after a resume that can be as good as anyone walking out of film school plus industry experience, she is facing difficulty in finding financiers. 

She has held meetings with many people over the last 18 months and even has a line producer on board in verbal agreement.

But who will provide the money for a film that on paper may look like something that will not be a huge hit?

She knows a lot of high profile people and for some of them this money could be spare change but even then, why part with it? Just for passion? They probably get 100's of scripts every week. 

If you are going to make Iron Man, its a different thing. 

She has had to do revisions to her script, another person helping her out, just disappeared because they got another well paid job. How does a film maker go to the studio with only a short film, some experience and convince them to put money on an off-beat film?

She has assisted some big time directors in India as well but its still difficult.

There are all sorts of problems and challenges that film makers face in their own world. 

I think, in the end it's a little selfish of composers to just think about their own self, their music and what the industry of film music is doing and going through.

Of course, we are trying to create good stuff but if you open up a little and understand the process of film making not just film music, I think you will come through a little wiser. 

By the time a film is finished, the finances are not in the best shape because somewhere they went overboard - some shoot was cancelled, there was a mishap - there were too many people around, they had to re-shoot or the graphics just did not cut it, so they went somewhere else. 

Somebody got fired or whatever. 

Making a film is not an easy process and I rarely see anyone talk about the mechanics of film. 

In the end, when the movie comes to the composer - it has gone through a lot and so have the people who have worked on it. If you are going to be arrogant about everything and just complain that you know best then its probably not going to work out. 

I am always curious about films. I ask a lot of questions naturally, not just about the script but about their journey, about editing and other things. 

You have to love films and the whole process of it to be a film composer.

Otherwise, just write concert music and try and find a suitable orchestra that will perform and good luck selling that. Even there, you will find our good friend Mr. economics and struggle. 

In the end, it isn't all that complicated. If we just set our training, our hard work aside for just a second and be a little kind to the next guy instead of thinking - how is he trying to mess with me? How can I get more money for my orchestra, are they under paying me?

It will all get resolved in the end. It always has barring a few bad experiences but who said this was easy and that the world was fair?



Tanuj.


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## dinerdog (Jul 14, 2013)

+1 for "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". An important work.


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## Markus S (Jul 15, 2013)

Maybe the title is just an attention grabber, but still I feel it is not a very good choice.

"Why HZ got the Job, and you didn't"?

"Why did you lose your job and the next man didn't"?

"Why did Barack Obama got elected president of the United States and you didn't"?

"Why Beckham got super rich playing football and you didn't"?

Well, if look at life that way, sorry, not a chance you will find fulfillment in life any time soon.

Try this instead : 

"Why I enjoy my life, even if I do not work on Hollywood blockbusters"?

"What makes my life special"?

"What makes my work invaluable and fun to me"?

"What have I achieved in my life"? (any non musical field allowed)

If you are directing your mind in the direction of what you do *not *have, and what you *could *have or worse *should *have done, then the result will be negative in any case. Instead direct it in a way to show you what you have done, what you can do now and what you have in life - that encourages you to accept yourself and your life as it is, and you will find that you do not care anymore why HZ got the job and you didn't (if you cared in the first place that is).


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## scoringdreams (Jul 15, 2013)

looks like i took 5 days to read this...well it really teaches us many things..


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## Ellywu2 (Jul 15, 2013)

Nice article. Shame about the beer.


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## snowleopard (Jul 15, 2013)

dinerdog @ Sun Jul 14 said:


> +1 for "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". An important work.


Thanks. Covey, and Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence, seen on TED, etc.) are two of the most respected and revered business authors over the last quarter century. Tried and true, with numerous samples from the real world. 

And yet, time and again I come across businessmen, meetings, managers, clients, etc. that can't seem to grasp their fairly simple, logical meaning. I'm glad that Hans seems to get it (even if he's never read Covey's book).


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