My Resolutions for 2014

Okay 2014, I'm ready for you! Here's what we're gonna get done this year:

1. Break bread with as many interesting, creative, effective, and real people as possible.

2. Inspire, encourage, and/or enrich the life of at least one person every day.

3. Resist all negativity, distractions, and apparent defeat like Teflon, living every day by the mantra, "Stay positive, stay focused, and do the work!"

4. Complete two feature film screenplays by the end of March. (Deadlines are my friends.)

5. Entertain all manner of story ideas, however wild, woolly, or improbable. Mold, shape, and polish to a well-constructed, universally-appealing, commercially-viable luster.

6. Record one album of original songs. (Riches and glory may come along for the ride if they wish, but I'm taking the trip regardless.)

7. Finish that children's book I started when I was 19 and send it to my publisher by the end of May.

8. Get a publisher. And an agent.

9. Make at least one film, however small, about something that moves me deeply.

10. End the year healthier, wealthier, wiser, and happier than I started it.

11. Recognize that resolutions and lists are totally meaningless unless carried out in full.

You hear me, 2014? I'm comin' after ya!!

Read More

Scoring Films - Part 2: Ten Questions To Ask Your Director

I was 15 when I got my first job flipping patties for his royal highness, the Burger King. As anyone who has plied the fast food trade knows, the burger-making process is the essence of streamlined simplicity with a final product that is utterly predictable, every time.

If you've never had the privilege, trust me, it's a riot. Heel, ketchup, mustard, pickles, patty, cheese, crown, wrap, and down the chute. Over and over again. Oh, to relive those glory days all over again. I knew exactly what was expected and if I didn't do it right, my boss and I knew exactly why.

Composing a score for a movie is, as you might imagine, nothing like making burgers. The process is anything but simple, and nobody - not even you - has the slightest idea what will come out on the other side. Sure, you have a boss called the director who expects you to deliver something that will satisfy his customers. But as mentioned in part one of this series, directors often have no clear idea what they want, what their story needs, or even what they're talking about. They just want it done. It's your job to figure out what "it" is.

I have had the opportunity (though not always the pleasure) to work with directors ranging from the musically well-versed to the musically illiterate, from type A to type Z-z-z, from collaborative to downright despotic. Some did, in fact, know exactly what they wanted in terms of tone and pacing while others didn't have the foggiest. I'm fine with either. What matters to me is that they're willing to sit down together and build a plan.

For that to work, of course the composer needs to instill confidence in the director that he or she is up to the task. (We'll talk in Part 3 about some of the basic and necessary groundwork a person must do before they're qualified to start composing.) A productive composer-director relationship also requires that you clearly understand why a score exists, which is primarily to serve the needs of the film and satisfy the director's vision. But let's assume for now that you get all that, you've been approached to score a production, and you're good to go.

Rule #1: Before you take another step, meet with your director. (Not the writer, the producer, or the music-lovin' sound editor. The director.) Rule #2: Don't let them leave the room until you've had the following questions answered (or they need to use the washroom). Don't just let someone pass you a DVD with a rough cut of the film and wish you good luck, trusting that you'll just magically "know" what to do. If no one else has bothered to do it, call a meeting immediately.

Then, with pen and notepad at your side, ask the following 10 questions to help clarify your objectives and get you to the composer's chair as soon as possible:

1) What format/venue are we dealing with?
Is this a short film, feature film, TV show, web series, radio commercial, video game, audio book, corporate promo video, etc? While not radically different, each format or venue tends to have it's own unique flavour, function, and set of audience expectations.

2) Who’s your intended audience?
Not all productions are designed for general audiences. Who is the director hoping will watch this? Sometimes, a production is targeting a specific group of people. For example, a flashy promotional piece designed to wow buyers will probably seek to arouse a different set of emotions than would a documentary about mosaic tile artists. (And remember, manipulating people's feelings is what the music is all about!) Know who they are and be prepared to tailor your music accordingly.

3) What's the genre?
Is this going to be a comedy or a dramatic piece? Are we in horror territory or is it a spy thriller?

4) What's the tone?
Somewhat understandably, people sometimes confuse genre and tone. However, they're not the same thing. For instance, compare the equally excellent scores of The Ring and Drag Me To Hell. While both are horror movies in terms of their genre, tone-wise, Hans Zimmer's gentle and understated approach to the former is utterly unlike Christopher Young's intentionally bombastic, cliché-riddled take on the latter. Even within a franchise, tone can often shift as the story and characters evolve. Compare John Williams' relatively light and playful score for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone with Alexandre Desplat's brooding requiem in The Deathly Hallows Part 2 and you'll know what I mean.

5) What’s the story?
As mentioned in my previous post, a good score is much more than background music: it's a critical part of telling the story and conveying key emotions at the right times. Which means you have to know what the story is. If a rough or final cut of the production is not available, get a hold of the script or have your director walk you through the story. Besides further clarifying the tone, this will help you determine what kinds of people your characters are, what's at stake, how and in what ways the action rises, where the conflict and tension should be, and how it all goes down in the end. It will also give you a bit of a head-start mapping out the timing of your tracks and big dramatic moments.

6) Who are the characters (especially the protagonist and antagonist) and what do they want?
Composers often assign themes or motifs to major characters, depending on their personalities, what they're chasing after, and what is motivating them to do so. John Williams' soundtrack for The Empire Strikes Back or Howard Shore's for The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring are classic examples. Williams' assigns unique melodies and even instruments to Luke, Leia, Yoda, and most famously, Darth Vader, while Shore gives not only characters but entire kingdoms their own anthems. While not absolutely necessary, these assigned themes and motifs can be powerful tools for a composer, especially when interwoven in scenes where characters either clash or come together.   

7) Can you think of a film, or films, that have a score similar to what you're going for?
Some might feel nervous asking this one. After all, you don't want to rip off another composer or sound derivative. It can also add unnecessary confusion to the process as the director racks his brain for answers that may not exist. And in the end, even if they can point at a particular film's score, it may be absolutely wrong for the film you're making. But I still think it's a good question to ask because if you do get a solid answer, it can save you a whole lot of time figuring out where the score should go. Feel free to make a few suggestions of your own, by the way. My approach is to get answers to the previous questions, then refer to film scores I think fit the project's story and mood. Not to copy, just to get in the ballpark.

8) How do you see the film's music and visual elements working together to tell the story?
Some productions are highly stylized, rely heavily on visual storytelling, or for other reasons require a closely choreographed relationship between sight and sound. Animation, kids' shows, and screwball comedy are also great examples. On the other hand, some films work best when the music and visuals are free to move in their own directions and yet still work together, kind of like jazz musicians. This includes knowing where not put music, so the audience's brain can take a rest or because the suspense of a scene is better-built in silence. In the beginning your director may not know or care, but it's still worth asking.

9) How soon will I get to see a rough cut and the final edit?
Even though I've listed this as my final question, it's always my first. If I have a copy of the film, I'm off to the races. I still meet with my director, but now the meeting is fast-tracked as we watch and map out the music together, answering every question along the way. Very important to ask about that final edit, by the way. If you've timed, scored, and locked everything to a rough cut, be prepared for some changes. The editor has invariably shortened, extended, and/or completely altered certain scenes for the final cut.

10) What are our deadlines and when am I getting paid?
In most cases, there will be a final deadline and several milestones attached to future meetings along the way, all determined by the size, scope and stakeholders involved. Rate of pay will be similarly determined by the amount of music you write, the size of the production's budget, your experience and standing in the industry, and other factors. Contract and payment may or may not have been sorted out already prior to your first meeting, but either way, it's wise to confirm here.

Other questions require attention, including post-production considerations such as the format in which your sound editor prefers to receive recorded tracks and "stems". But these should get you started.

Happy scoring!

NEXT POST: 7 Steps to Becoming a Film Composer
LAST POST: Where to Begin?

Read More

Mandela to Me

I still remember the first time I bought a "Free Mandela" pin.

Sting concert, BC Place in Vancouver, 1987. Amnesty International had a table of assorted pamphlets and wares and I picked the button partly because it was the most colourful thing they had, but mostly because it was hip to display back then - even if, like me, you had no idea who Nelson Mandela was.

The pin did, however, get me thinking. Who was this person the world seemed to think had been treated unjustly, I wondered. So, as we did in those primordial pre-Wikipedia days, I went to my local library and spent an afternoon looking into the life of the man who, by then, had already spent over two decades in prison.

Quickly, words like "apartheid" and "keffer" and the grim reality of state-sanctioned racial segregation in the modern world were burned into my consciousness, sad reminders that we still had a long, long road to walk en route to Mr. Lennon's dream of a universal brotherhood of man.

That same year saw the release of Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom, with Denzel Washington as Stephen Biko. Now it was on. I tore through the biographies and published writings of the real Stephen Biko, then Gandhi, then Bishop Desmond Tutu, then Martin Luther King. With each passing page, new light was shed on the historical, worldwide struggle for equality and human rights.

And yet South Africa as a nation, as a people, remained an unfathomable mystery to me. My girlfriend at the time (coincidentally a native of Pretoria) tried her best to bring me up to speed on how and in what ways racism had managed to sustain itself for so long as a part of the national fabric, but I still didn't get it. It merely convinced me that whatever else was true, Mandela was never, ever going to be set free.

And then, in 1990, he was. Finally, I could throw that old pin away. (I didn't.)

For a while, no one could believe it. I wondered secretly how long it would take before the government realized what it had done and throw him back in prison. But then he was meeting with every world leader on the planet regardless of political or philosophical stripe, from the Pope and Fidel Castro to Muammar Gaddafi and President George H.W. Bush. In 1993, he and South African president F.W. de Klerk jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Then in 1994, the unthinkable happened: the people of South Africa elected him as their President. That same year, he published his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.

He was 76.

Then things got really scary. After all, in a country with a black-to-white ration of roughly 4:1, one could reasonably assume that payback was about to become, as I believe Plato put it, a "nastly, old bitch". It was then that Mandela ceased being just a profoundly important political figure to me and became my hero.

Determined to prevent a bloody civil war and help South Africa become a bona fide multicultural democracy, Mandela worked hard to rally black support for the reviled national rugby team, the Springboks, at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, then followed it up by forming the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body committed to investigating crimes committed by both the government and his own African National Congress during the apartheid years. Forgiveness and healing would come, but only after properly reckoning with the past. We're going to do this the hard way, he seemed to be saying, because that's the only path to a true and lasting peace.

The rest is history.

On December 5, 2013, he passed away at the age of 95. Earlier this evening, I attended a candlelight tribute in his honour. Though it's sad to know he's gone, it's hard to stay so for very long, given the life he lived and the powerful legacy he left behind.

Bottom line: Forget DC or Marvel; Mandela's life is real superhero stuff.

*                     *                    *

Catch Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom starring Idris Elba, in theatres now. 

You can also see Mandela's life portrayed in:

• Invictus (starring Morgan Freeman) 
• Mandela (starring Danny Glover)
• Mandela and de Klerk (starring Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine) 
• Goodbye Bafana (starring Dennis Haysbert)
• Mrs Mandela (BBC telefilm starring David Harewood)  

Read More

Scoring Films - Part 1: Where To Begin?

Visit Paul's YouTube channel to hear his music in films 

Occasionally, over a glass of this or that, I get asked the question: "When you scored that last film, how did you know what music to put where? And how did you come up with that stuff in the first place?"

I wish the answer was simple. It would sure make me sound smarter at dinner parties. But as any songwriter knows, creating music always involves some strange dance of mathematical, mechanical, and mystical processes that leaves even us scratching our heads half the time.

Truth is, we know and we don't know where the music comes from. Dreams, memories, rational thought, random emotions, skill, impulse, self-flagellation, booze, and more than a little "borrowing" from our fellow artists and heroes, let's be honest. It all goes in the soup. And in the end we, too, are often surprised by how it tastes.

But it's not all muses and pixie dust. Composing, particularly for commercial entertainment purposes, is also a carefully applied science. Certain rules apply, even if those rules are subject to wild and woolly tinkering. And of course, there are expectations. From the director, occasionally from the producers, and always from the most important people of all: the audience.

A good score isn't just filler or background noise. Sure, it used to be back in the era of silent film and Max Winkler, but those days are long gone. For a long time now, movie soundtracks have performed a very specific function - namely, to give directors "superpowers" as they tell their stories. How so? By drawing the audience's attention to certain things happening on the screen and manipulating them to feel a certain way, often without them realizing it.

Sidney Lumet said it best: "Almost every picture is improved by a good musical score. To start with, music is a quick way to reach people emotionally. Over the years, movie music has developed so many cliches of its own that the audience immediately absorbs the intention of the moment: the music tells them, sometimes even in advance." (Making Movies)

I mean, just imagine the following scenes without the music: 

• A woman jumps into the ocean for a midnight swim when suddenly a shark's fin appears.
• The words "Star Wars" burst forth in neon yellow then fade into a starry background, followed by a slow, seemingly infinite crawl of story background details.
• A little girl dressed in red weaves in and out of a crowd in a Warsaw ghetto as Nazi soldiers round everyone up for extermination.
• William Wallace breathes hope and courage into his troops with a pre-battle speech that would make Bill Clinton jealous.  

That's right, composers play with audiences' emotions for a living. And, of course, the audience loves it!

Which brings us back to our original question: How do composers know what music to put where? Or more precisely, How do they know what music will create the desired emotional effect at any given point? 

I pause here to mention a little cheat I have. Some might even call it an "advantage". You see, I'm also a screenwriter, trained in the art of storytelling and more specifically, story structure. I understand approximately where a good story should start, where it should go, and how it should end - in terms of the audience's reaction, that is. Does this experience help me when it comes to scoring? Without question, just like it can help you. Therefore, while not absolutely necessary, I always recommend composers spend a little time studying the art of effective storytelling.

So, here it is - my process for scoring a film. Everyone is different, of course, but this is what works for me. Notice the recurring theme:

1. Sit down and talk with the director.
2. Do some basic research on the film and story.
3. Sit down and talk with the director.
4. Experiment with a few initial ideas and sounds.
5. Sit down and talk with the director.
6. Start building major themes, usually around key characters and events.
7. Sit down and talk with the director.
8. Watch the completed film (with the director) to nail down the big dramatic moments, the associated emotional ups and downs, and those parts of the film where silence is golden.
9. Sit down and talk with the director.
10. Draw up a "map" indicating exactly when music will start, stop or change direction based on #8 above.
11. Sit down and talk with the director.
12. Compose and record!
13. Sit down and talk with the director.
14. Change, fix, edit, revise, or modify until the director is happy.
15. Mix down the final product into the required stems/format (usually .WAV).
16. Forward files to sound editor (and the director).

By the way, when it comes to all those meetings with the director along the way, be aware that he/she may not always know (a) what he/she is talking about, (b) what he/she wants, or (c) what the film actually needs in terms of music. So take it for what it's worth. After all, you're the expert - that's why they hired you!

At the same time, this is their baby. So listen to their ideas and give them an honest try at the keyboard (or whatever default instrument you score with). Just don't be afraid to present them with something completely different that you think might work better.

Communication, balls, and teamwork are everything. Well, that plus a muse and some pixie dust!

NEXT POST: 10 Questions to ask your director when preparing to score a film

Visit Paul's YouTube channel to hear his music in films

Read More