# Three questions for Hans Zimmer



## Sebastianmu (May 16, 2014)

Dear Hans!
In a time, when the interest in film music was still significantly smaller than it is nowadays, there was a section on the MediaVentures website called "Ask Hans" - and since you've been posting here regularly I thought I give it a shot and revive that by throwing in the three questions I'm most curious about:

1) When you write music, is your thinking guided by certain conscious aesthetic judgements or is it mainly intuitional? 

2) Being someone who kicked off major trends in film music history himself, do you think (and care) about the direction film music evolves into these days and does it affect your writing, or is your own musical development mainly based on what you did before and what you haven't tried out yet?

3) For centuries the young artist's training consisted of imitating the masters of their time until they were so good, that eventually they would surpass them by creating something completely new and original. Today, it seems, originality is demanded at a much earlier stage, which might make it more difficult to develop true craftsmanship. What's your opinion on having and emulating role models? (Did you have some yourself earlier on your way?)

Thanks a lot for your time & for being awesome in general!
All the best,
Sebastian


PS If there's any need for a young philosopher at RCP for general distraction & procrastination purposes or just to bounce ideas off, please let me know.


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## Hannes_F (May 16, 2014)

Hello Sebastianmu,

first, welcome to this forum.

Secondly, while we appreciate very much to have great and famous composers among us it is generally not very well received if they are called out in thread titles. This is, actually, already close to_ EDIT bad word taken away by HF, no harm meant /EDIT_. HZ might or might not answer but please think again.

Thirdly, there is very much material and information available on the mentioned topics, in form of video interviews and also by already existing posts. I think if you do your homework you will find plenty of answers and statements.

Thank you for your understanding.


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## artsoundz (May 16, 2014)

(Edited)

I thought his post was entirely appropriate given HZ visits here. 

How can you fault an otherwise gracious attempt to ask an important composer for insights into his process? Im pretty sure he is prepared to not have his questions answered but it doesn't hurt to ask. Good for him.

(More editing.)


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## Hannes_F (May 16, 2014)

artsoundz @ Fri May 16 said:


> If anything, your heavy handed response is inappropriate.



Yes, maybe, I see where you are coming from and admit being heavy handed sometimes. But please still consider that such a thread basically leaves the prominent member with two options:

- not to respond and come over as repellent
- to respond and by this encourage more 'Hans Zimmer please look at me' threads

Not a nice choice. It would have been much better if the questions had been brought up in a general way and if prominent members then choose to participate without being called out then all the better.

That being said I think the questions themselves are good and relevant (although parts of them have been covered before), I just wish they had been asked without calling somebody out.


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## artsoundz (May 16, 2014)

Edited out of respect -

No one would think anything of HZ not responding.
Im pretty sure HZ would be the first one to encourage asking questions but I sincerely doubt he would feel uncomfortable not being able to respond for whatever reason.

Keep the questions coming. Best way to grow.


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## Hannes_F (May 16, 2014)

OK artsoundz, you have made your point clear and I can appreciate it. My point is that everybody deserves his bit of leisure. But I could certainly be out of line here and HZ is maybe an edge case because he decided himself to drop his anonymity.

That being said perhaps we can now discuss something else than me and my comment.


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## artsoundz (May 16, 2014)

Fair enough. Btw I happen to think you are an awesome guy which is why I find this so odd. 
Moving on.


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## Daniel White Music (May 16, 2014)




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## Jdiggity1 (May 16, 2014)

I'm kinda with Hannes on this one.
It's a bit like a "which is the best keyboard", or "best string library" thread. These answers can be found in multiple other places.
While some of us are happy to re-answer the same questions time and time again, it's generally good 'forum etiquette' to research your questions before you post.


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## artsoundz (May 16, 2014)

Yes, that's reasonable. Ive since had conversations w/Hannes and I can see his POV, particularly as it relates to past experiences here as a mod which I had not considered. However,..
As you say, they are the kind of questions that get asked regularly. But they are good questions that only a conversation can add to. Its a fluid situation- more insight as time goes by. I mostly objected to a couple words that spoke to Sebastians character which have since been removed. 
I dont know Mr. Z at all but the impression I get is he is a very gracious guy and probably comes here to chill anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if those questions continually stimulate him rather than irritate. I also wouldnt be surprised if Sebastion has already scoured the web for all things said by the great Mr. Z. 

I know I have and am interested in more, please.

But what do I know. Not much and clearly there is room for improvement.
P.S. I do have a lot of stars. Can we trade those in for cash? Or sell them? Ebay?


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## Rctec (May 16, 2014)

...It's 4.30 am here - and with a healthy dose of jet-lag thrown in, I might have to answer this another day. But I will have a go...
Best,
-Hz-


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## emid (May 16, 2014)

We are very lucky....

Looking forward.


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## artsoundz (May 16, 2014)

Awesome. Get some sleep. 
See you in an hour.


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## AC986 (May 17, 2014)

Rctec @ Fri May 16 said:


> ...It's 4.30 am here - and with a healthy dose of jet-lag thrown in, I might have to answer this another day. But I will have a go...
> Best,
> -Hz-



*DON'T DO IT HANS!!! YOU'LL REGRET IT!!!*


Alright. Go on then.


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## Giant_Shadow (May 17, 2014)




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## Rctec (May 18, 2014)

My writing is based on 'Story' and the style the film will be shot and edited in. Pretty obvious. I always have an aesthetic and intellectual concept before I start writing.

Trends in film-music don't effect me. I don't pay attention to them, I'm not even aware there are any. I try to a.) serve the story, and b.) find the most fun and interesting way for me to do it. So, whatever style or medium I'm personally interested in exploring for myself at the time - sometimes regressive, where I think there is still something not quite finished in playing with some idea I've liked before, sometimes just throwing it all out and trying something that is completely new to me.

Most of my musical heroes don't come from the film-music world, other than maybe Ennio Morricone, who's obvious hero is Bach. I have the usual: Mozart, Bach, Mahler, Elgar, Strauss, Beethoven, etc. But I was much more interested by the Electronic composers and bands in Europe in the 60s, 70s and 80s. My actual knowledge of film-music is very sketchy. I'd rather listen to Verdi and Richard Strauss, Schoenberg and Joe Zawinul and Muddy Waters than Max Steiner or any other composer of the "golden age" of film-music.

-Hz-


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## artsoundz (May 18, 2014)

Joe Zawinul! 
So miss that guy....


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## Sebastianmu (May 18, 2014)

Thank you so much, Hans!


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## Giant_Shadow (May 18, 2014)

Joe was a big influence on me as well. Miss him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcqQ1pYWtlM



artsoundz @ Sun May 18 said:


> Joe Zawinul!
> So miss that guy....


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## EastWest Lurker (May 18, 2014)

Rctec @ Sat May 17 said:


> My writing is based on 'Story' and the style the film will be shot and edited in. Pretty obvious. I always have an aesthetic and intellectual concept before I start writing.
> 
> Trends in film-music don't effect me. I don't pay attention to them, I'm not even aware there are any. I try to a.) serve the story, and b.) find the most fun and interesting way for me to do it. So, whatever style or medium I'm personally interested in exploring for myself at the time - sometimes regressive, where I think there is still something not quite finished in playing with some idea I've liked before, sometimes just throwing it all out and trying something that is completely new to me.
> 
> ...



Respectfully, that is kind of an odd statement tome as Max, Korngold and those guys were _so_ influenced by some of the Romantic period composers you named that Albert Harris told me his fellow orchestrators jokingly referred to 20th Century Fox as 19th Century Fox.

I don't share your deep affection for '60's-80's electronic bands and unless a director insisted on that approach I would avoid it like the plague but that is possibly cultural or just my personal taste (or lack thereof

But I like that you always let the story determine the style and tone. I think you can be a good composer perhaps without doing so but you cannot be a good _film_ composer without doing so.


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## wst3 (May 18, 2014)

Well whatever it is that you are doing, I think it works quite well. I just took my son and a friend to see Amazing Spidey 2 yesterday, fun film, and I was very pleased with the music, it fit the story line so well, and it was fun to listen to.

I'm not sure there is anything right or wrong about skipping a generation with respect to influences, I think it is just a choice each of us makes. Most of us, I suspect, have a rather broad range of influences from multiple generations.

And I do want to say thanks for all that you share here, and elsewhere... I just think that's cool!


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## aaronnt1 (May 18, 2014)

+1, it's great to have Hans on here.


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## snowleopard (May 19, 2014)

Sebastianmu @ Fri May 16 said:


> Today, it seems, originality is demanded at a much earlier stage, which might make it more difficult to develop true craftsmanship.


This is interesting as I believe quite a few of us might say what's quite often asked in socring a film is to imitate other music. Be that your previous work, or someone elses - often presented to you in the form of a temp track the filmmakers have fallen madly in love with. 



EastWest Lurker @ Sun May 18 said:


> Respectfully, that is kind of an odd statement tome as Max, Korngold and those guys were _so_ influenced by some of the Romantic period composers you named that Albert Harris told me his fellow orchestrators jokingly referred to 20th Century Fox as 19th Century Fox.


Good point. Henry Mancini used to joke that in the early days they were so busy they'd often just drastically re-arrange classical pieces. Even doing crazy things like turning sheet music from a classical piece upside down, changing it's meter, or re-arranging the assigned instruments! 



> I don't share your deep affection for '60's-80's electronic bands and unless a director insisted on that approach I would avoid it like the plague but that is possibly cultural or just my personal taste (or lack thereof


Funny thing is that the classics Hans loves sometimes bore me, but I will listen to contemporary classic works. Yet, unlike you Jay I love the 60's-80's electronics. Not just bands, but compsoers like Gil Melle or John Carpenter.

I guess that's why they call it taste. 
8)


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## EastWest Lurker (May 19, 2014)

The think about Melle for me is that if I listened to the score I thought he was great, but the scores almost never worked well with the film. I think he was a better composer than he was a film composer.


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