shieroz

How to Approach Scoring a Horrible Project

It’s Halloween so I thought I’d have some fun and discuss a horrific topic we all deal with, especially early in our careers. How to score a horrible movie & deal with horrible situations.

So you’ve been contacted to score a movie. Congratulations, how exciting. You read the script and you connected to it. You met with the filmmakers and the meeting went well. The money is great/sucks/anywhere in between and you worked out a deal and said yes. Good for you, you’re doing better than most, this is so very exciting!! You finally get the film to start working on it and to your great horror, it sucks. It’s really quite terrible. The actors can’t act, the director clearly doesn’t know what s/he’s doing, the cinematography looks like your 4 year old nephew shot it, the editing is clunky, the production sound is practically inaudible. This is one of the worst things you’ve ever seen. The panic sets in, what have you gotten yourself into? How could this happen? The meetings went so well; the script was fine, it all sounded like it’s going to be good. Now what?

As I see it you have two choices. Choice A back out of the project. Choice B embrace the challenge and figure out how to make it work. I seem to be a glutton for punishment because I always choose option B. I view difficult situations as an opportunity to expand my level of experience and ability to deal with varying challenges, which I believe ultimately makes me better at what I do.

Still with me? You’re going to do it? Good for you! Here are some things to keep in mind that might help. Making a movie is incredibly difficult. From writing a script to revising it to raising the money to development to casting & staffing to shooting and through post so many things need to go right just to get a movie made that it’s an impressive feat just to get it done. I don’t think anyone sets out to make a bad movie, it’s just so difficult to make a movie in the first place that making a good one is a small (or not so small) miracle. Keep that in mind – these filmmakers, good or bad, did not set out to make a bad film. This is the best they were able to muster and they’ve poured months or longer into getting this far. Respect that effort and commitment and always keep it in mind when working on the film.

Now that you respect the film and filmmakers, it’s a lot easier to care about the film even if it’s not great. It’s just an attitude adjustment but it makes a huge difference both in your approach to the movie and generally how you feel about the situation. And now that you have a positive attitude again, approach the film as you would a masterpiece.

Treat the filmmakers and every scene as if they are gold. Write the best music you know how to write for the scene. If the acting is wooden during a tender scene this is your chance to soften it. If an action scene just doesn’t put you on the edge of your seat here’s your change to have the music elevate it and engage the audience. Not scary enough or tense enough or funny enough or sad enough or whatever the case may be, here’s your chance to bring it with the music. I think writing music for a great movie is pretty easy, all you have to do is not suck and it’ll be great because the movie is already great. Writing music for a bad movie is harder, but also offers you an opportunity to shine and really elevate it. Embrace that opportunity and write the best damn music you can.

Don’t ever make the mistake of saving your better cues for something else. You’ll never get discovered or noticed by writing bad or mediocre music for bad films. The reality is that most people will never see the film, but if those are the tracks on your demo reel they won’t be interested. But if you write great music for bad films, you will get noticed because you’ll be creating an incredible reel for yourself.

Another possible outcome is that you’ll start winning awards for you music as the film goes to film festivals, which never hurts. There are countless festivals and a lot of mediocre or even bad films out there in the film festival circuit. Many of them have bad or mediocre music. If your bad film has great music people might not think it’s so bad, and they’ll definitely notice the music is a notch or two above the rest. Most festivals don’t have music awards, but if your music stands out you’ll earn the accolades in those who do. I’ve seen great scores to short films win best score over feature film scores at some festivals.

Another issue that often comes up when working on bad films is that you’re working with inexperienced filmmakers and they’re making mistakes and learning as they go. This can lead to all sorts of frustrations. It’s easy to feel like you’re the pro and they’re a bunch of hacks. But if that’s how you feel then I hate to break it to you, there’s a good chance you’re not a real pro yet. A real pro understands that we work with people of varying degrees of experience, knowledge and depth of understanding of the process. A real pro respects the filmmaker regardless of his/her level of experience and ability and helps guide them through the process. Remember sometimes you have to suck at something for a while before you get good at it.

When you started playing your instrument as a child you probably produced some awful noise before you got good. But you most likely had teachers to guide you and help you get better. And you practiced and learned from your mistakes in order to get better. I would imagine your first composition was no masterpiece either, nor your second or third. It’s the same for filmmakers, especially new ones. They’re practicing, they’re making mistakes and they’re learning. Some of them may go on to great things, and some won’t. The same is true in any craft. But treat them with respect and support their efforts regardless of where they are in their careers or level of talent. At the end of the day how you behave in any situation is a reflection of who you are, not of the situation. Your job is to help guide the filmmaker to make the best possible musical choices, and you won’t always agree, but you need to figure out how to do the best possible job within the given situation. Having worked on everything from masterpieces to amateur films I can tell you disagreements happen at all levels.

So remember when scoring a bad film – nobody sets out to make a bad film, it’s incredibly hard to get a film made in the first place and just having a finished film is quite an achievement. Poorly made films offer a great opportunity for the music to make a huge impact and truly shine. Bad music makes for bad demo reels and great music makes for great demo reels. Treat the film and filmmakers with respect and if you don’t like it pretend it’s great. See in it what they were trying to achieve rather than what they actually achieved and then score that.

---

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Forest Man

I saw a short documentary about a man they call Forest Man, who lives in a remote part of India, where he has been planting trees since the 1970s on the island of Majuli. The island loses land to erosion from annual river flooding and has been a barren wasteland. Yet through this man’s individual efforts, the island now has a forest larger than New York’s Central park!

It occurs to me that building and maintaining a career is analogous to what this man is doing. If you want to grow a plant or a tree you need to plant a seed, and you need to cultivate it. If you want to grow a forest, you need to plant lots of seeds over time and keep doing it. The same is true in the entertainment industry. In order to build a career you must plant seeds and cultivate them, and keep doing it.

Every time you go to an industry event you have an opportunity to plant seeds. Every person you meet is an opportunity to do so. Have a conversation, get to know new people a little, exchange cards – there you planted a seed. Now cultivate it! Follow up, establish a rapport – you have a seedling. Keep cultivating the relationship, stay in touch, get together for drinks, and find out what they like to do, where they like to hang out – your plant is growing.

I’ll offer a personal example. A few years ago I heard about a company called The Asylum. Their business model is to make a lot of low budget movies quickly, pre-sell them and turn a profit. For the most part they don’t make hits, I hadn’t even heard of any of their films, but they were very successful and very busy (since I first heard of them they released Sharknado and its sequels, which have done incredibly well).

I tried to find a way in. I saw that one of the development executives at the company was going to be at a Film Independent event and would be available to talk to participants at the event. I registered for the event, attended and was able to speak to him. We had a good initial conversation and I immediately followed up. After several emails and conversations we met up at his office. He introduced me to some of the principles at the company and we went to lunch. He also introduced me to the person who handles the music for them.

I continued to follow-up with him, and the music person I had just met. That lead to more lunches, more emails and more conversations, all the while they kept telling me they have a go-to composer that does most of their films. So I got an introduction to this composer and met him and began developing a relationship with him, too.

When my string quartet had it’s world premiere performance, I invited them all to attend. It took over 2 years, but thanks to that seed that I had planted and cultivated I finally got my chance to score #FollowFriday. I continue to cultivate my relationship with those folks and hope to work with them on future projects.

That was an example of a seed that became a beautiful tree and bore fruit, but not all seeds germinate. Some become seedlings but don’t survive to maturity. Some grow for a while but end up dying due to disease, natural disaster, or whatever other reason. The same is true when building relationships. You have to work at them and not all of them work out. Some fizzle out, some just don’t click, I’ve built relationships with people that have left the business, and other relationships prosper and lead to great things.

Think of your career as a forest. If you want to have a forest, you need to plant a lot of seeds. And you need to cultivate them, and keep planting more. And like a forest, where nature will take its course and seeds will fall from trees creating new trees on their own, the same is true for your career. Relationships can lead to new relationships, people will introduced you or recommend you to other people.

The more seeds you plant, the more trees will grow and bear fruit. And as you grow your forest it will attract other wildlife, just as Forest Man’s tree is now home to elephants and many other animals that weren’t there before. If you grow a forest, people will want to come and spend time in it. If you build great relationships, and build a career, others will start reaching out to you.

So plant many seeds, cultivate them all as best you can, and you’ll bear more fruit. The more you do this, the more opportunities will come your way. Sometimes things don’t work out – some fruit will sour or never fully ripen. Sometimes relationships fall apart, or the chemistry just isn’t there. Sometimes people don’t respond when you follow-up on that initial meeting – not all seeds will sprout.

But if you make sure to plant lots of seeds, and different varieties of seed, you will eventually create that forest. So make sure you meet producers, directors, editors, music supervisors, composers, orchestrators, agents, music executives, the list goes on and on. The more varied your network, the better off you’ll be. And don’t be discouraged when not all your seeds sprout or bear fruit. Sometimes no matter what you do, things just don’t work out. Just keep planting.

To watch Jadav Payeng’s (aka Forest Man) inspiring story click here or watch below.

---

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

How to Talk About Music With Directors & Producers

“Talking about music is like dancing about architecture” (source unknown).

Many directors and producers who work with me explain that they don’t really know music that well and that they struggle to discuss it. Some feel intimidated by it because they feel they don’t know musical terminology. Or worse, some know a little bit of music terminology, sometimes not really understanding the correct meaning of what they’re saying and misuse it.

I tell my directors and producers not to use music terminology at all. I ask them to speak to me about story, drama, emotion, colors, feelings, shapes – anything that helps them express what they’re after, forget music terminology. It is my job to translate what they are looking for into music. Just as when they discuss the framing of a shot, or the lighting of a scene, or coach an actor they talk about what they’re after, not how to achieve it, I ask them to do the same with me. My view is that we are all storytellers, the actor does it through acting, the cinematographer does it through his/her camera work, the set designer does it through his/her set design etc. My job is to support, enhance and advance the story through music.

I’ve found this works really well for several reasons. First it puts them at ease. They seem to appreciate that my approach is that of a storyteller whose medium happens to be music rather than as a composer or a music editor. It makes them feel comfortable discussing things in more abstract terms. Second it prevents unintended miscommunications. I’ve had people give me very specific music directions using musical terminology, which turned out to be completely wrong. By speaking about drama, story, emotion etc. I make it my job to interpret what that means musically instead of relying on them. I also find this very freeing because it allows me to bring more of my personality into the process.

When I was a student a teacher told me a story of a client he had that heard a cue he had written and asked for it to be more dissonant. My teacher thought that was an interesting and bold direction and set off to rewrite the cue. When he played the new version for the director, again the director wanted it to be more dissonant. When he presented the third rewrite to the director, the director’s frustration was palpable; he felt it still wasn’t dissonant enough. My teacher was perplexed because by now his cue was quite dissonant and unusual, so he asked the director “when you say more dissonant, what exactly do you mean?” The director replied “faster!”

Now imagine if my teacher had followed up in the first place and said something like “when you say you want it more dissonant, what exactly are you looking for? More tension? Something darker? Are we trying to make the audience more uncomfortable?” It would have become immediately clear that his director was misusing a musical term.

I once had a director tell me a temp cue I used sounded t0o plastic and he wanted something more metallic. I’ve had directors use colors, for example – something feels too dark and brown and they want it to be brighter and lighter and redder. I once had a director respond to a temp cue for a very tense and suspenseful scene saying the cue made him very uncomfortable, which was good, but it wasn’t scary enough, he wanted it to make him “shit his pants.” These are all wonderful descriptions that all make sense in context. I’ve watched directors grunt and pace across the room waving their hands as a scene played, almost as if conducting the shape of the music with barely a word being spoken.

So whenever working with directors and producers, I highly recommend always steering the conversation to the abstract rather than musical terms. Remind them we are all storytellers and that it is your job to translate what they want emotionally and dramatically into music.

---

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.