# The true power of scoring composers



## Patrick de Caumette (Sep 22, 2004)

Here's something different, not a theory topic.

I was recently finishing the score for a psycho drama feature named "The Shore" and found that the movie ending was not as strong as the rest of the flick. In the last scene, a mother that loses her daughter at the begining of the film sees a vision of her daughter by the sea shore, smiles and runs towards her. End of the movie. The whole movie is pretty dark and that ending really bothered me. Telling the editor about it, I suggested including a clue that might suggest the mother is going crazy and both he and the director liked the idea. The movie score is ambient so I used Atmosphere, Distorted Reality 1&2, Atmosphere and Absynth to create a spooky, schizophrenic vibe. 
Amazing what a cue can do to a picture! The whole scene was transformed. What could have been a sappy, hollywood ending was now a twisted, deeper ending.
Us composers might have to endure directors tandrums, be the last wheel of the car, be abused by producers ...etc ...but we have the power to completely alter a movie, to turn it into crap or to energize and reinforce it. It never ceases to amaze me. I would say that to be a successful scoring composer, one needs to have great insight into the film process and be able to grasp story concepts and possible developpements.

I'd be interested in hearing about your personal experiences as well so please share with us...


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## Craig Sharmat (Sep 22, 2004)

well that must have made you feel good as it should. Sounds also like you have a very open minded director.


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## Patrick de Caumette (Sep 22, 2004)

Craig Sharmat said:


> well that must have made you feel good as it should. Sounds also like you have a very open minded director.



Not really. Halfway through the movie, he tells me we should now have some orchestral cues versus only ambient ones. That made me happy.
I get to work and start sending in orchestral cues weekly. They receive the cues, tell me they love it. Everything is great, only 4 weeks later I receive a VHS with the full movie & all the cues I had written at that point.
Surprise, ALL the orchestral cues are gone, only remains the ambient stuff. The director had forgotten to tell me he had changed his mind while I was putting out orchestral cue after orchestral cue... :evil: 
I ended up writing ambient cues for the rest of the movie and all is now well...
This is no big deal, I am actually glad I went through this as it is a small preparation for what is to come in case I manage to grow my career.
I was listening to a Scott Smalley interview (orchestrator for Elfman...etc) and he was saying he first intended to become a movie composer until he had his first movie scoring gig. He had to make a choice between going to jail for director homicide (would have been a nice moment at "America most wanted" Sharmy  ) or the scoring career...so he became an orchestrator :wink:


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## Craig Sharmat (Sep 22, 2004)

"He had to make a choice between going to jail for director homicide (would have been a nice moment at "America most wanted" Sharmy ) or the scoring career...so he became an orchestrator "

Would have been funny, i go to Jack, his dad, who occasionally I take orchestration from, and say "hey, I'm scoring your son's segment this week, thanks for the gig".


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## Patrick de Caumette (Sep 22, 2004)

:lol: :lol: :lol: 

You lucky dog get to learn from a bunch of great guys! :roll:


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## Edgen (Sep 23, 2004)

patrick, 

I think its great that you balls'd up and actually told the guy what you thought. I think most directors/editors have a vision and they stick to it and the fact that he actually went with your idea to change the overtone was.. I guess a good move on his part.

I think directors get so caught up in a project that the outside world's opinions don't mean shite.

Makes you think.. "Dangit.. You hired me to do a project because you believe in my work as a composer. Now by god, let me compose!" (with a broad direction of course)

One example that comes to mind is movie, "Troy". James Horner took over from G. Yared and imo.. did a pretty lame job. Then, I listened to Yared's interpretation and you could tell it so much more "feeling"... I guess everyone sees a scene differently.


/j


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## CJ (Sep 23, 2004)

Horner played it safe by sticking with stuff that's worked in the past. Yared's interpretation was much better compositionally and emotionally imo.


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## Patrick de Caumette (Sep 23, 2004)

Justin,
you and Craig are right, this director is pretty open minded afterall. He was constantly asking for feedback on the current cut, would take the movie to art houses and listen to viewers feedback and make changes. As a result his movie got so much better over time.
I understand some directors have a strong vision of what they are after and nothing will alter that (see Terry Gilliam in the Don Quixote docu drama)
In the case of Troy, we have two artists (director and composer) that get along and work side by side for a whole year. Comes the movie studio and the clowns that run it. They have a viewing with feedback from a selected audience. The feedback is very negative-----> they fire Yared and hire Horner that writes a score in 3 weeks. The movie bombs.  

What a messed up business! :(


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## Frederick Russ (Sep 23, 2004)

..which goes to show that politics isn't just set in washington dc - Hollywood seems to have its own political fallout as well :x The fiasco surrounding Yared's firing... it still burns me up! Oh well, a shot of reality I guess.


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## Vincent Pompe (Sep 29, 2004)

I guess it really depends on the way you bring these kind of changes. As my main job is directing i have some experience from the other point of view, and I find it very rewarding to take other peoples views on a project to make it a better film together. (sounds a bit 'fluffy bunny'... sorry for that)

If there's something I don't know a lot about and someone who does tells me this or that will work better, I allways at least give the idea a chance. 

Cant do much harm, right? (exept maybe for the budget :roll: )

Vincent


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## Patrick de Caumette (Sep 29, 2004)

Vincent,

I think it is a great attitude. Unless you know what effect the suggestion might have on your work and you don't want that, different approaches can really help the final result.


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