For thoughts of score most random
How awesome would it be for Tratticus to do Peer Gynt, Opus 23 (the piece that In The Hall Of The Mountain King is from) in full?
For thoughts of score most random
How awesome would it be for Tratticus to do Peer Gynt, Opus 23 (the piece that In The Hall Of The Mountain King is from) in full?
"Impromi...IMPROVISE a little."
"My wonderful lif....WIFE."
Love that guy.
saw bond last night... would be sweet if TR/AR scored the next one, with theme by NIN. won't happen, but man...
Atticus is going to be at the LA Film Festival doing a Coffee Talk. Tickets: http://www.lafilmfest.com/festival-e.../#.Ua8pYUCG2So
If anyone goes and feels like recording it, that would be totally cool~*cough*
The Coffee Talk was really interesting. There was a person with a video recorder in the front row, so there may be some video clips posted on the LA Film Festival website later this week. I saw some people whom I've seen previously at NIN concerts, but the audience was mostly film makers and composers.
The three composers were Brian Taylor (Iron Man 3, Fast Five, The Expendables), David Sardy (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengenance, End of Watch, Zombieland), and Atticus Ross. The panel was moderated by Doreen Ringer-Ross from BMI. All three have different backgrounds in music and composition. Brian Taylor has done mostly film work, while David Sardy has done production on a bunch of albums, and Atticus Ross has done a mix of both.
Here's a summary of the questions and AR's responses, along with the time codes; if he didn't answer the question, I haven't listed it. The coffee talk was about 45 minutes of discussion between the composers and the moderator, followed by 15 minutes of Q&A from the audience. The responses of the other two composers were interesting and funny and I think that it's worth listening to the whole discussion. Taylor especially had some funny cracks about people basically using his previous music for temp music and him being forced to essentially copy himself, or how he'd hear music in a film and realize that it was something that he had written previously and that the studio had licensed for another film. He also talked about writing a score when sections of the film had no visuals, just text that said "space ship flies by" for nine seconds. AR seemed to have had more control over the music and sound design than the other two, but he's also worked with only two directors. It also could have been the type of films that he has worked on as well. He also seemed to be more interested in art for the sake of art.
The first question asked was how they got into music and film composing.
(7:34) AR talked about about his childhood, how he got a degree in art history, and the interplay between music and art. He then discussed how he had connected with Trent Reznor/NIN through 12 Rounds, along with some bitching about the legal mess that resulted in the still unreleased 12 Rounds record.
The next question was about the use of temp music for film scores and whether the composers were composing music after seeing the movie with the temp track.
(20:35) AR said that he had mostly used the script for composing and that he'd usually gotten involved before the film was shot, so he didn't use a temp track.
This question was about how the director gave direction to the composer.
(30:15) A director told him that the music "... should sound like a screaming bird."
The next question was about weaving together sound design and the music. This question showed the difference in control over sound design and music between the three; Sardy and Taylor both focused on the music working around the elements of sound design like explosions. For example, Sardy said "There's a lot of bombs going off here, you might want to stay high." However, I don't think that there have been many explosions in the films that AR has done.
(32:43) AR talked about how the sound of the floor cleaner before the blowjob scene in TGWTDT was worked into the music leading into the scene.
The next question was if they tended to study the masters to get ideas.
(35:50) AR talked about this in which Angelo Badalamenti discusses the composition of Laura Palmer's theme from Twin Peaks.
The next question asked about how styles of music go in and out of fashion and how the availability of digital recording equipment for low cost has made music more egalitarian.
(42:12) AR talked about how the current recording technologies have leveled the playing field. However, he didn't think that they had lead to better music. He said that great music is timeless and then cited the sound tracks from Taxi Driver, Midnight Express, and Risky Business.
At this point there was a Q&A session.
Someone asked how composers connected with the director.
(45:07) AR responded that the score was a collaboration between director and composer.
Someone asked about how much control the composer had over the score during the editing process.
(47:28) AR said that he could insist on there not being a music editor, at which point Sardy said, "You can?" AR definitely seemed to have had more control here... I'm not sure if it was due to the directors with which he has worked, the type of movies on which he has worked (aka not summer block busters like IM3), or if there were fewer people working on the music in these films.
Someone asked what the earliest stage was that the composer had become involved with the process.
(51:32) As AR had previously stated, he had been involved after the script was written but before the movie was shot.
Someone then asked about how foreign tax credits were influencing the choice of composer and the location where music was recorded (aka not in LA). I'm not involved in the film or music industry, so I hadn't realized that this was a problem for musicians in the area.
(57:14) AR agrees with Taylor's assessment that music is being recorded elsewhere due to these tax credits, and they are affecting the music industry.
At this point the moderator wrapped up by asking the composers to share their one piece of advice for aspiring film composers.
(59:26) AR said that you have to be happy with being able to write music and then put it in a drawer and no one else seeing it; you have to be happy doing art for its own sake.
Last edited by cynicmuse; 06-17-2013 at 09:15 PM. Reason: grammar, file location
Many thanks to cynicmuse for the comprehensive coverage of the Coffee Talk. I had tickets already to see Atticus' little brother Leopold and IO Echo in San Francisco, else I would have tried to make the trip myself.
Dragon Tattoo and Social Network can be a perfect background music for reading books.
For example, I'm currently deep into Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow and combined with TGWTDT music, it just gives me goosebumps. The setting of the book (Denmark/Greenland) match the tone of music perfectly.
I think it would be fun and interesting if Trent and Atticus did a score for a Pixar movie. My random though..
I'd like to see Atticus score Michael Mann's upcoming Cyber as it's the kind of high-tech thriller I think either he or Trent (who's busy elsewhere obviously) would be perfect for.
So all three TRAR scores will be to films based on books. I don't know if that means anything. But that's statistically unusual.
Three films isn't enough for statistics, I'd say. This is also not so much TRAR scores, but rather David Fincher project choices.
And does it really surprise you? I mean, Hollywood is running out of good original ideas, hence relying more on adaptations.
David Fincher is directing a biopic on Steve Jobs. Wonder if they'll ask T&A to do the score?
http://www.slashfilm.com/david-finch...e-jobs-biopic/
That biopic already sounds so, so much better than the Ashton Kutcher one. It would be awesome if Trent and Atticus continued their streak of Fincher films.
http://www.screendaily.com/festivals...ontentID=40295
Los Angeles Film Festival will present a series of Master Classes, kicking off with composer Atticus Ross, who will perform an original electronic soundscape created for the festival and discuss his creative process scoring films such as The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
So, jealous of everyone who can go, bring a recording device if you do, etc
This should be fun. I'm glad I stayed on the mailing list for LAFF. I'll definitely do my best to get a ticket. I really enjoyed his coffee talk last year.
I'll give it a shot. I should have access to ticket pre-sales tomorrow.
After experiencing beautiful weather this past weekend, Mother Nature decided to shit all over that and give us an inch of snow last night. Slightly depressed, I decided to do something today that I haven't done in a while: listen to the entire Girl With The Dragon Tattoo album from beginning to end.
Does anyone happen to know what's being said in the last third of Eventually We Find Our Way? There's a female voice speaking under all the layers (ala A Warm Place), but for the life of me I can't quite make out what she's saying. That's probably the intent, but I figured the geniuses on this here board should have cracked this one by now.
^^^when I listened to that on my train commute to work I would always have to take my headphones off as it sounded like a train announcement.
my random thought - I would love for Trent and Atticus to score a straight up horror film rather than just the thrillers they seem to be doing of late
Standalone tickets are onsale for Atticus' talk/music thing at LA Film Fest http://filmguide.lafilmfest.com/tixS...entNumber=9094
Still happy for someone to buy me a plane ticket to go.
I've got my ticket. The masterclass will be on Friday June 13 at 8pm at the Grammy Museum. Tickets go on sale to the general public on May 20th.
General Public tickets for the Atticus Ross Music in Film: A Sound Journey master class are now on sale.
http://filmguide.lafilmfest.com/tixS...entNumber=9094