Score: A Film Music Documentary Page #3

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Well, I mean, unless you

were planning on waiting

[PORTMAN] There's a change

of direction in the scene.

And that's often a prompt

for where music will come in.

[MAN #1] Well, they don't

care for 'em much

here in Columbus, either.

Is that gonna be problem?

[MAN #2] No sir.

I just came here to run.

[MAN #1] Well then,

for the next 28 months,

you're either in a classroom,

or you're on that track,

every hour, every day.

[ORCHESTRA MUSIC SWELLS]

[CHRISTOPHE BECK] As a composer,

when you're sitting

there watching a film,

it's not like watching

a play or real life.

There's camera

positions, there's cuts.

It's an incredibly

artificial medium in a way,

and it's really nothing

like real life.

We have to find clever ways

to introduce something familiar.

["CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF

THE THIRD KIND" MOTIF PLAYS]

[DEBNEY] A motif

is a group of notes

that might highlight

what a film score is.

A good example would be

"Close Encounters."

[SHIP PLAYS MOTIF]

[SINGS MOTIF]

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun

["CLOSE ENCOUNTERS" MUSIC PLAYS]

Beethoven was one the first

composers

to really take a theme or motif

and spin it out in a huge way.

[BEETHOVEN'S

"FIFTH SYMPHONY" PLAYS]

Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony,"

[MOTIF CONTINUES]

The entire piece is based

on that ya-ta-ta-ta rhythm.

Simple hooks, just

like a pop song.

But you're then casting

them in different lights.

["LORD OF THE RINGS"

SHIRE THEME PLAYS]

[HOWARD SHORE] By using motifs,

it helps you to understand

the relationships in the story.

- [SHIRE THEME CONTINUES]

- Dear Bilbo.

[SHORE] When you hear a certain

motif, you connect it.

[SHIRE THEME CONTINUES]

And it actually helped you

follow the story.

- ["LORD OF THE RINGS" FELLOWSHIP THEME]

- Nine companions.

[BECK] By the time you get

to the end of the film,

when you play that music

in its full glory,

it's already familiar

to the audience.

[FELLOWSHIP THEME CONTINUES]

We're kind of building things

up to that main course.

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

[BELTRAMI] The director

is not a huge fan

of strictly orchestral elements,

so we're exploring.

In here, this is Buck.

He's working on a movie

now called "The Gunman"

that we're working on together.

We're a little bit

under the gun,

and that's nerve-racking.

One of the things

we were working at was

processing these kalimbas.

[PLAYS KALIMBA]

It's a simple

African instrument.

The next week we'll be

here quite a bit.

I'm pretty relaxed about it.

[LAUGHS] Buck's not.

There's a lot of work to do.

["THE GUNMAN" MUSIC PLAYS]

That's the kalimba you hear.

He's following a mystery

to find out what's happened.

The music needs to have

a bit of intrigue.

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