communication

The Spotting/Cue Sheet in progress...

Being organized is glamorous and sexy!

… well, maybe if you wear a sequined dress while filing (remember to shave your pits if it’s strapless, gentlemen)…

The spotting session is one of the first things a director and/or producer will do with the composer on a project. During this session, which usually lasts 3 – 8 hours, you watch a fine cut of the film. Scene by scene, frame by frame, the filmmaker will talk about what they want in terms of music – the style, genre, mood, emotion, dynamic, and importantly the function of the music in a scene. The composer takes detailed notes, usually saying quite little, unless asked for input.

Whadda I do with this chicken scratch??

Something I learned while apprenticing was the value of creating a Spotting Notes/Cue Sheet document. This document is the distillation of your notes and lays out the detail of every cue: for each act, for each reel. It contains all the ‘vitals’ including timecode IN and OUT points, length of the cue, format and output notes, and notes on what the director wanted, as well as your ideas. When you are finished, it is your Holy Bible for your score on this project; at any point, you will know EXACTLY where you are at, and what you need to do. You’ll even know, pretty much exactly, how much music you need to write.

Spotting notes should be transcribed as soon as possible, while still fresh in the mind. If left too long, there may be trouble interpreting ones own notes, and one doesn’t want to appear flakey by calling and asking what the director wanted over the speedboat chase with the explosions again? Solo oboe?

Here are some things you’ll find on this type of Spotting/Cue sheet:

Cue Number – more details on this in a moment

Cue Name – something that will bring to mind what is happening and what the cue is for. Some composers are famous for their hilarious cue names.

IN and OUT points – when you review the film, make sure you tighten up your IN points to the frame!

Time - the total length of the cue

Notes – what the director said… what you thought of – your brilliant musical ideas. The scene – what’s happening? Function – what is the music supposed to do – from the mundane to sublime.

Other things – A/B reel indications, Stereo/5.1 etc., and Type – source, library, location, song, etc.

When you are in the heat of creating music under a deadline, this little bit of non-creative housekeeping can save you time and mental strain. You can forget about keeping any data on how a cue relates to something two acts down the road, because you already made detailed notes on this. You know that you have finished 12 cues and 23 and 1/2 minutes of music, and have 7 cues and 16 minutes of music left to write. You made a note that cue 2m06 will be mirrored in 3m01, so you should write that now which shouldn’t take long since it’s just a slight variation. The cue sheet is key to freeing your mind to do the creative work of writing music, while making you efficient and organized. I personally believe it will make your score better, because you’ll have laid out the framework of the WHOLE score, and can see it from a distance. This helps you keep track of how the score fits together as one musical thing, as opposed to a procession of unrelated cues written without a solid plan which was thought out in advance.

Do you use something like this when you work?   Any other time-saving, insanity-offsetting practices you employ?

Photo by Roger Do Minh used under CC liscence

In a recent article, I detailed the journey I took with a director, crafting a cue through several versions to arrive at the final product which worked with the scene just the right way. More than knowledge of music, talent, or ability on an instrument, very important is your ability to effectively communicate with the director, and your ability to analyze, understand, and translate their vision and story into musical ideas which work to picture.

Don’t even say ‘crescendo’!

You should be able to do this without speaking one word of musical jargon.

The language of film music is primarily the language of emotion, and when speaking about how the music can/should work in a scene, you want to use these terms as descriptors – laymans terms, non-academic speak. Words like afraid, stubborn, furious, joyful, mysterious, distant, dark, hopeful, etc. Words that describe the film, the themes, actions, characters… not the music.

This isn’t a dumbing down of musical concepts for someone with no knowledge of music – the director may well be versed in music, even to a high degree. The point is that you are there to serve the vision of the director, and the director is telling a STORY. You have to set up a framework for talking about the story, and I have found it makes it easier, more efficient and consistent, and pleases directors, if you speak in their language – the language of emotion, character, themes, and story. It’s your job (and happy challenge) as a composer to turn those ideas into music.

“He really GETS me, you know?”

The other aspect to this complex relationship is trust. If you can watch the film, read the script, and accurately analyze it with an attention to detail and passion that shows you really GET the film and care about the project, you will be on your way to earning the trust of the director. Try to see it from their point of view – it’s their baby – they love the characters, they believe in the story, the message, the themes. They know the work inside out. If you demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the themes, make connections between a characters actions and what that means to scene 237, if you see how a camera angle or a prop has a deeper meaning that connects the film together, they will be more apt to trust your musical instincts and ideas.

Sorry, what was that again? I said, learn to be a GREAT listener

I try to get directors to talk about the film, their motives for making it, what they love about it, and the characters, themes, and story, before anything else. I want to discuss and analyse their film, to make sure I really understand their vision. Only after this, once I have established some basic trust and rapport, do I say, ok, let’s talk about the music. What did YOU have in mind? What my ideas are, what I want to have happen, this comes pretty much dead last. Again, this is a part of the business that you have to be ok with – I love the collaborative process, and I love having parameters, a framework within which to work. I absolutely ADORE analyzing films and literature. And, I almost always find a way to satisfy my own artistic desires within this process. But don’t forget, you are there to serve someone elses vision – it’s not a servile position – you are an expert, but your own desires take a back seat.

Literally speaking…

Knowing the story, the themes, the characters and their motivations inside out can be a great help to actually writing the score, especially in terms of overall structure. Shorter forms are easy to deal with, but the score to a feature film can be likened to a symphony, where as much as 60 minutes of music and more might be required. How do you ensure a consistent, balanced, and thematically connected work emerges? One thing I like to do is look at what is happening in the film and apply it quite literally to musical ideas. There is a micro and macro aspect to this – scene by scene, in moments, and also in terms of the story as a whole, the arc. Once you have written a theme for a character, for instance, it may be that the character becomes more broken, alienated, hollow as the film progresses. Think of the musical theme – can you write a variation that will sound this way? Can you ‘break’ the theme, and alienate it from it’s harmony? Can you orchestrate something which sound hollow? Of course! Now you have a simple framework for creating something quite quickly, which will give the audience a subliminal insight, a deeper emotional understanding. This particular example might not work in all cases – sometimes, you play counter to the action or theme, so a different tack might be needed. But consider it – work out some descriptors for characters, themes, storylines, and see if you can’t find a sophisticated way to incorporate those.

Capisce?

When you return with your first cues in hand, you can impress a director and solidify their trust by actively demonstrating that you’ve been listening, that you understand what they are doing – especially if you talk in their language. It’s the same as when you visit a foreign country – the people that are native will be very impressed and happy when you demonstrate a knowledge of their language and customs – it’s simple – it shows respect and a desire to communicate.

Do you have some interesting ways of working with directors? Do you use the story in interesting ways?

Photo by Sam Javanrouh

Here’s an interesting little experiment.  I like to call it that, because it’s how I feel about it.  When someone offers an idea, my philosophy is to say ‘ok, let’s try it’ before nixing it outright – unless I have direct experience with something similar which did not work in the expected way.  Of course, when you are working on a film as the composer, you are working collaboratively with the director/producer.  You are going to be taking a LOT of suggestions!  And that’s not a bad thing – I always have a gut feeling about the people I work with – I know it will work or not, I know it will be an enjoyable challenge or an unmitigated drag.  If it works, I love getting ‘notes’ – in most cases, the work I subsequently produce is better, and I often learn something.

This particular clip was interesting, because it was intended as a ‘teaser’.  But it functions in many ways like an opening/credit sequence – a young woman is shown lovingly preparing food for a dish to be served at a banquet.  The visuals are beautiful and sensual, and it has a very peaceful quality.  The film however, deals with themes of family, pride, and death/loss, and how we don’t always see each other for who/what we really are, and sometimes can’t communicate what we really need.  It’s a dramatic feature, and these themes are very powerful in the film.  The challenge was, as I was only scoring this short teaser – should the music reflect the visuals, or speak to the underlying themes/story, or was there a way to do both?

Enough words.  Let’s take a listen to Version 1:

Note that I did not send this to the director – at first.  I decided it played too upbeat – it worked to the visuals of the piece, but if it were an opening, it would give a completely false impression of what the film was going to be about.  “Practical Magic” springs to mind (a musical guilty pleasure), as a reference I thought of when I reviewed the music against picture.  More on what the director said about this version shortly, as they did not hear it until after Version 2.  It’s decidedly major, with a rhythmic figure in the strings that gives it a ‘running’ movement, and has a slightly mysterious, searching melody based on the Lydian scale.

Here is Version 2:

I took the basic structure and figures from V1 and made the harmonic progression minor.  It wasn’t a straight inversion; some of the original progression just didn’t function the same way.  I managed to get some interesting movement in some parts, and I liked the development of interplay between sections – I wanted it to sound like a conversation – a back and forth kind of thing that would mirror the conversations/arguments that would happen in the film.  Each section wants to ‘be heard’.  After watching the fantastic 2003 film ‘Zatoichi’, I took the idea of matching actions on-screen with stylized rhythmic motifs – so when she is peeling a vegetable or chopping garlic, the woodblock and shaker figures come up.  I thought this might inject a bit of humour back into the scene, as the film is really about hope, and has it’s funny moments too.  The theme of death and loss is addressed as the music climaxes in intensity, becoming very mournful.  It then returns to a quiet simplicity, the french horn line representing quiet hope and acceptance of some truths.

The director’s feeling was that the string figure made it seem too urgent, and that the overall music, while beautiful, seemed in conflict with the calm energy of the scene (a gentle jazz tune was used to temp the scene).  Overall, the music seemed too dramatic and dense – when sparse and intimate was what she wanted.  I thought, hmmm – maybe my first instinct was off – maybe she will like the first version better, as it addresses her concerns – I fired that off, commenting that I felt it spoke to the character of the cook – youthful, optimistic, confident.  To my slight surprise, she felt as I did about version 1, and went a step further – she felt it was very “mainstream”, and reminded her of the Tom Hanks vehicle, ‘Big’.  At that moment, the term “mainstream” sounded like a dirty word to me.

We talked, and decided that the basic material comprising version 2 was good and I would work from that, to produce something slightly more spare, less urgent and suspenseful, with more of a focus on the solo instruments.  There was a lot of material and ideas in V2 that I really liked – the rhythmic string motif being one.  I moved towards a compromise; here is Version 3:

In this version, the music holds off a bit until the visuals set a bit of the pace.  The tempo of the piece was reduced from 120 to 110 bpm – to bring a bit of calm.  Instead of the urgent string motif, I have only the harp (playing half time from V2) and a solo flute and cello.  When the rhythmic motif does come in, it’s for a few bars only, and at a reduced dynamic – the strings alternate to long, legato bowing instead of the staccato they played throughout in the previous versions.  I reduced the intensity of the build, and in general re-arranged some of the sections to play in lower, darker registers, to lessen height of the climax.  I was very happy with this version, and felt it improved not only how it worked to picture, but it became much more interesting as a piece – it had more variation in rhythm, texture, and dynamic.

I got final approval from the director on this version, with a few small changes – the harp would come in 2 bars early as an introduction to the melody, and the first solo would be taken by the violin instead of the flute – the flute reminded her too much of those warbly soundtracks for the National Film Board of Canada’s 1970’s nature documentaries.  It was quite humorous – definitely a product of our age – she said, “I don’t know about the flute… it kind of reminds me of…” and I said “Wait, don’t say it, I already know”.

All in all, I enjoyed this process of carving away at the block.  If I were on my own, I would likely have stopped at version 2 and begun the process of finessing the piece.  I can’t deny, however, that the final product is qualitatively better than version 2, and I’m very pleased by that.  I enjoy the collaborative process – it’s not for everyone; you really have to let your ego go while maintaining your position as an expert in your field.  It’s very important that you find a way to effectively communicate with your director/producer/client, and that you keep focused on win-win solutions to all problems.  If you can do this, it’s a very rewarding experience where you get to do good work, learn something, fulfill (some) of your own artistic desires, and make your client happy (which has positive side effects for you as well!).

To hear the final piece and see the recording session of the orchestra at CBC studios, click here:

http://adrianelliscomposer.com/AdriansBlog/?p=116