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.
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Originally Posted by cynicmuse
