For the release of the soundtrack to “In My Sleep”, Mikael Carlsson sent me a questionnaire. Below are my full responses to his questions.
When I first heard your music for “In My Sleep” I felt that the score had a very sensual and sophisticated quality, in a way that reminded me of Jerry Goldsmith’s ingenious score for “Basic Instinct”. What was your main ambition with the score for “In My Sleep”? And what were the first steps you took to fulfill this vision?
I’m flattered by the comparison. Jerry’s score is elegant, thematically, and sophisticated harmonically. Musically memorable and dramatically effective, the score helps convey the underlying sexual tension which propels the movie’s story and draws the audience into “other’ world which lies beyond society’s conventions. It is a model, at least for me, of the “perfect” score and something to which I aspire
Any degree to which my score contributes to heighten the sexual mystery and tension that underlies “In My Sleep”, I’m delighted. I wanted the music to convey, over the course of the film, the unraveling of Marcus’, the main character’s, life. Truths that have been long buried in his unconscious, but of which he gradually becomes aware, are the engine for creating profound and devastating consequences that drive the film. This psychological pain and confusion form the emotional core of the movie and, therefore, had to be at the heart of the score as well.
As the film opens with a dream, it seemed a good starting point to take a childlike lullaby and spin the music out from there, until we “awake” to the darker music of the character’s current reality.
When beginning a film score, the first steps are always the same for me. I ran the entire film many times, then watched it multiple times with the director Allen Wolf, and then listened closely to Allen’s thoughts about both the film and the music to the film. With “In My Sleep, I had the chance to see the film in a “preview” with an audience and a “temp score” which gave me a sense of the “energy” of the film’s narrative and develop a feel for the places in which music could be most effective. Then I went home and began to “snail” my way through the music, always trying to incorporate Allen’s vision at every stage.
There are a number of thematic ideas in the score. Can you make a brief analysis of their relation to the story and its elements? You are also using some interesting orchestral colors in the score, such as the flute arpeggios.
A brief analysis would be that there is a main motif that a music analyst might describe as a “cell”. This cell appears with different rhythms and harmonizations. Most often it might be described as the “antecedent’ phrase which always has a different “consequent” answer.
Rather than an overt theme which would “announce” itself at key moments, I felt this rather oblique way of threading something “familiar” yet always “different” through the score would capture the protagonist’s quest as he uncovers and assembles the various pieces into which is life has been shattered.
That said, the shape of the overall score is one that follows the story. While there are these recurring elements, the score is “through composed”. That is, I like I try to save overt repetition of music for dramatic moments, introducing new elements for when the character is discovering something new. The score is “old fashioned” in a sense, as there many more distinct, differently crafted pieces of music than one is accustomed to hearing in films currently. Of late, the monothematic score is more the norm. I was quite pleased that Allen allowed me to try some more ambitious with the musical story telling.
The flute arpeggios I felt was a color that could offer some mystery as they seem “disturbing” when they are used in the rather low register where I’ve written their “spinning” figures. Also, the flutes provide a sensuous sound as well as an “innocent” sound—keeping in the spirit of an adult story with its roots in a troubled childhood. This color becomes a “leitmotif” of a sort, whenever Marcus finds clues and begins to piece things together.
The orchestral parts of the score were recorded both in Bulgaria and in L.A. How come?
We recorded the more lyrical parts of the score in Sofia, the more energetic ones in Los Angeles. The goal with any project is to maximize the impact of every dollar spent in producing the score. Splitting the burdens between the two orchestras seemed the most efficient use of the resources of the show’s music budget.
The director, writer and producer of this film, Allen Wolf, has a very strong determination and vision. What specific thoughts did he have on the music and what it should do and, perhaps even more interestingly, what it should not?
Allen does have a very strong vision. I was blessed in that he loves and knows music. The ghost of Bernard Hermann was always present as well as the specters of more contemporary masters. Again, it was good to be encouraged to write ambitious music to “In My Sleep”. Allen wasn’t afraid of music in his film. It was refreshing not to have to write what Jerry Goldsmith referred to as a “stealth score”.
Allen always kept me with the POV of Marcus. Occasionally, I would want to “stray” into some “cool” musical idea, only to have Allen remind me that I was beginning to lose focus on Marcus and his emotion at that moment.
Allen is wise in that he knows the old Hollywood adage: “Stay with the money”. It works in the story and in the score as well.
When you score a film, how much of the composition process is coming out of your intuitive response to the story and screen action? Also, how do you write usually? Pencil, paper and piano or sequencers and Sibelius?
Ideally, I try to be as intuitive and spontaneous as I can. It can be difficult today in light of the amazing way computers allow film makers to change edits, offer temp scores, thereby opening the process to not just the director and composer but, at times, to the entire production team.
I find that if I “hunker down”, concentrating on the “rhythm” of the film, listening closely to what the director wants to achieve, I’ll be fine.
I prefer pencil and paper. The first “original” feature I composed was composed with timing notes, manuscript paper, a piano and a stopwatch!
I’m of a generation, perhaps the last, before computers and synths, which was schooled in reading scores at the piano, imagining the music in your head, hearing instruments “on the page”, if you will. My training is the same as it was for anyone for the past two hundred years, though not, perhaps, for the next two hundred.
When I orchestrate for others, I still get a better impression of the expressive content of the music when they perform it on a piano than when I’m given a beautifully mixed faux orchestra “mock up”. There is still, for me, something magical that happens when a composer performs his music on a mechanical instrument that responds to their emotional, physical performance.
That said, Hollywood is an environment where one must adapt and, then, adapt again.
For “In My Sleep” I performed and sequenced all the electronic elements. The orchestral music I mocked up for Allen and then created a sketch with pencil and paper that I would then give to the orchestrator, my colleague for 15 years now, Cliff Tasner. Scoring, today, has become a hybrid process.
You have a very solid position as one of the most prolific orchestrators in Hollywood. You’ve been working for John Williams for almost two decades, and orchestrated a lot of great scores by Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman, James Horner, Mark Isham, Alexandre Desplat... All A-list composers. How important for you is it to compose your own music as opposed to work with other composers as an orchestrator? How much input do you have on the scores you orchestrate?
How solid anyone’s position is in Hollywood, I can’t say. Hollywood strikes me as place where careers can be sand castles built on earthquake prone soil.
I’ve had the great, good fortune, as you point out, to have worked for many of the finest composers whose music has graced the screen and enriched our lives. In addition to the composers you named I would add Jerry Goldsmith and James Newton Howard.
For that I’m grateful.
However, the rather “rosy” picture must be tempered with the fact that I’ve worked with some rather unstellar talents as well.
Nonetheless, orchestration was my “Plan B”. My goal has always been to compose for film. When I first came to Hollywood, some 20 years ago, it was suggested, as I wasn’t a member of a successful band, or a successful songwriter, or a celebrity of any note, that, perhaps, I might get a foot in the door by orchestrating for others. Even to do that proved difficult. However, with some luck and kindness on the part of others, together with my basic training and knowledge I was finally able to gain a foothold.
I still compose indie scores and actively seek projects but I find myself increasingly concentrating on concert scores. I was a composer long before I was a Hollywood orchestrator. Sadly, I feel my aspirations as a composer have suffered due to my rather unexpected success as an orchestrator. One can find oneself “type cast” quite quickly.
How much input do you have on the scores I orchestrate?
It depends as much on the project as it does on the composer. As a friend of mine once said: “What’s Orchestration? Orchestration is anything you say “Yes” to!” A project can range from being a glorified secretary to being handed pages of blank bars and being ordered to “fill them up”--- using, of course, the themes which you’ve been given.
In that case, “orchestration” can be regarded as all the “un-fun” aspects of composing: that is, deciding the details and committing to them.
As a craftsman, one must be able to deliver in any style. I often fear that my chameleon talents, while having insured my work as an orchestrator have invited many to see me as simply and solely as an orchestrator.
That said, my work on so many films, in so many capacities, as a composer, orchestrator, arranger, and conductor has been a blessing as well. Since the collapse of the studio system and the loss of true “music production” music departments at the studios, there are few opportunities for a composer to develop their skills in a broad spectrum of music and musical styles in a professional setting. Seen in this light, my experience as an “in demand” orchestrator has honed my command of a wide musical vocabulary, giving me the musical “tools” and “grammar”, if you will, to tell any story effectively. For me, that’s the thrill of film music, the musical storytelling. Each new film presents a new and special challenge. The story, the performances, the cinematography, the pacing of the editing, are unique to each individual film. This requires the composer to find the tone, color, and rhythms, which will complement and counterpoint the images and action particular to that film. To do this, a composer must first have the capacity to understand and absorb the film’s drama and nuances, and then possess the “tools” to go and create music embodying the emotion and energy individual to that work. Then begins the collaboration and “back and forth” between the composer, director and the filmmakers, summoning yet another level of technique and musical vision so that one can incorporate their input without compromising the integrity of the music. And that can be challenging indeed. However, the process is exhilarating. When it all works together, it can be magic and like no other experience.
For that reason, composing is where I’ll continue to focus my energies and creativity whenever I can.
