I got feedback! It is as I suspected; time to evict the lovely… which gives a very different tone to some of the scenes, but it’s like I’m watching a new film. There are some subtleties and nuances to the acting and direction that weren’t coming out before I started putting ominous dark drones under a few of the scenes.
Before, these scenes were hopeful, optimistic, and promising. There was little hint that it might all go horribly wrong towards the end of the story!
Now, these scenes are quietly dangerous, tiptoeing on eggshells lest you upset the tiger prowling in the room.
That’s what music is really good for, and that’s why a good back and forth with ongoing feedback on a project is so much fun. A good director will draw attention to things that aren’t obvious or that were left ambiguous when shot. A good director knows how they want the audience to feel, even if they still want the scenes to feel ambiguous. A good director will talk clearly and in-depth about tone and emotion; they’ll leave the composition to the composer.
A good director can make suggestions about the music, but won’t write it for the composer, the same way they don’t film a scene for the Director of Photography or choreograph a dance for the movement director.
Of course, I’m only seeing it from this side of the conversation – I wouldn’t know the half of what it takes to be a good director. I wouldn’t want to. From here, it looks like a heck of a task: rallying and steering and always being available to answer so so so many questions. What a nightmare it must be!
So I’ll stick to the tunes, thanks. Back to some dark and dangerous drones.