 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And besides, An American Werewolf in London is not a major DC summer blockbuster and Rupert Gregson-Williams is not Elmer Bernstein. Completely different cases, and there is no way RGW was going to put his foot down and tell DC he knows what's best for their expensive property (and keep his job).
That's another thing I'm tired of. People give examples -- maybe things that occurred to them when better ones didn't -- and instead of talking about that, people just shoot down specific examples.
It's an inapt comparison though and that's all I was pointing out. In the 80s, Elmer Bernstein was a much bigger composer (presumably with considerably more clout) than Rupert Gregson-Williams is today. And An American Werewolf in London was a vastly smaller production with much less riding on it than a DC summer blockbuster. You simply can't compare the two fairly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sorry Justin, I didn't mean to come off preachy, just that we aren't privy to knowing all of the mechanics of what goes into making a score or even a film the size of WW.
You have to admit that there's a pervading tone to this forum where people make assumptions about what this or that composer did when none of us have a really good idea of what went on during the making of their music. We do know Hollywood is big business and an industry that has many depts and cogs in the proverbial wheel. Some of the stuff written on here has ultimately alienated the few professional composers who used to frequent here and we are all the poorer for their absence.
RGW provided the score that his employers wanted. Did he raise any concerns during it? Maybe. Did he want or perhaps even present music that differed from the end product? Maybe. It's really up to the director and producer to grant a composer a degree of creative latitude at the end of the day. If the filmmaker is hold, he will let you write There Will be Blood like PT Anderson did with Jonny Greenwood, or David Fischer did with Goldenthal on Alien3 (don't ask what happened on public Enemies...) or even as recently as Captain Underpants where the director clearly let Shapiro loose with a plethora of ideas and approaches.
The only reason I asked if you had written music for money is that it's an eye opening experience. I had lofty ideas about film music until I began getting paid work. Technique had to take a back seat to communication and diplomacy. No one wants nor cares if you can write something on the same level as a Mahler symphony, except of course film score fans. They just want the music to appropriately affect their film and nothing more. Grand Symphonic music only has a welcome home in animated movies because somewhere along the line, modern audiences and filmmakers deemed that late romantic style to be too affected for most genres. Modernist techniques are reserved for the horror genre. So that leaves music that has to conform to certain tried and true harmonic idioms to underscore most big blockbuster films. Do you think most of these composers really want to follow these compositional tropes? Probably not. But they need to ensure they have careers and do what needs to be done while trying to find some form of artistic and creative fulfillment as well. We might not hear it sometimes but I'm sure it's there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
An observation from someone who has yet to see this or the last two DC movies (not boycotting, just haven't):
I'm listening to the score on Spotify because of all the huballoo in this thread. And I've been immediately struck by how much emotion and variety there is in the score in just the first few tracks.
I get that some people here don't care for the current trend in scoring. But I'm hearing a lot of classic approaches in this score, a wide range from the last 30-40 years.
I'm not hearing anything much new, but I find this has real interest on a moment by moment basis, certainly a lot more than I expected. And I'm finding it enjoyable enough that it makes me more interested in the movie.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Jun 14, 2017 - 7:02 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
SchiffyM
(Member)
|
Can anybody cite me an example, hell, maybe three, out of the millions of scoring assignments and thousands of composers, where a composer stood up and got canned and his or her career suffered?
Of course it happens. I've been told some specific examples by people in the know, but I don't know that it's my place to tell those tales. There are threads that come up around here – why can't composer x get work anymore? Several of those have mentioned composers I'd been told were "difficult," or "stubborn," or "didn't play ball." (Not all! I'm not referencing Bill Conti, whose name just came up in this way recently!)
In my own very small way, I've done it. I was producing a television pilot and I kept telling the composer what I wanted and he kept coming back with something else. He told me he liked it that way, and that's his right, but I disagreed, and so did the network. And going back to the network and saying "The composer really likes the music you don't" is not an option. It just isn't. So we found a new composer.
And that's as it should be, honestly. It is a poor director or producer who doesn't listen to a composer's perspective. But hearing a composer out and agreeing with his choices are two different things.
I once hired a costume designer – a well known one – on a pilot. There was a running joke in the pilot about one character wearing a New York Jets tie. This designer objected – she didn't see the character that way. (No matter that I had written that character!) She found a green tie, which she thought was the closest she could come. I told her I appreciated her eye, but the script made three references to the Jets tie, please get a Jets tie. She said "You don't hire me to buy football ties," and refused to do what I asked. So we got a new costume designer. Do you feel we shouldn't have fired her?
Of course, I have no idea what happened on "Wonder Woman," a score I haven't heard a note of. For all I know, it's exactly what Gregson-Williams wanted to do from the bottom of his heart. But a composer's job on a movie is to give his bosses what they want. It doesn't mean he shouldn't voice his creative opinions, or that the bosses shouldn't hear him out, because both of those things should happen. But ultimately, Herrmann couldn't get his score into "Torn Curtain," Goldsmith couldn't sell Scott on his main or end titles (or much of anything else) on "Alien," and on and on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anybody know if the album is chronological?
Yes it is, and it's all the better for it!
Good to know, thanks!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I´m eating my hat here - well, at least part of it.
I decided to give the score a decent chance and wanted it to win me over after my disappointment with the samples.
And while there are many examples of the usual MV sound which I could have done without, the score does offer some delights and manages to be much more than the usual bombast.
Also, the Zimmer-theme for Wonder Woman remains pretty catchy.
So, I apologize for my prejudices. Of course, I will not be able to buy everything to give it a chance after listening to samples that disappointed me. But this score definitely is misrepresented by the samples.
|
|
|
|
|
|
...as I was not able to buy the soundtrack...
Of course, I will not be able to buy everything to give it a chance after listening to samples that disappointed me. But this score definitely is misrepresented by the samples.
Why are people unable to buy the soundtrack? Is it not readily available through Amazon?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spoiler alert: My budget is limited.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gotcha. Two mentions in a row of not being able to purchase the soundtrack just triggered my out-of-print-'dar.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of course, I will not be able to buy everything to give it a chance after listening to samples that disappointed me. But this score definitely is misrepresented by the samples.
Spotify is good for sampling the entire score for free.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
