I have to be honest.
It’s day 8 of the 30 Day Challenge to myself to blog a-post-a-day and I was completely stumped on a topic.
So today’s subject comes from John Hunter, my lovely man. Ta!
8 Points to Keep in Mind…
When it comes to chatting to the director during the initial meetings for a project, it’s good to keep a few things in mind:
- Keep an open mind and hold off on making any assumptions. Even if you’ve already read the script, the film you may see in your head could be very different to that of the director.
- Allow the director to describe the film to you. Don’t interrupt; listen. Make notes. Encourage them to go into detail. This is what the director envisions for the film. Remember – it’s not your film, it’s his/hers.
- Encourage the director to describe the overall tone of the film, its ‘feel’, in terms of emotion (happy, sad, dark, quirky) and emotional journey (hopeful, apprehensive, relief, release, climactic, downward), its scope (big, small, intimate, superficial, profound), its pace (fast, slow, changing)
- Ask if there are other films that are similar in tone to this project, or if there are particular soundtracks/musics that the composer likes or that is similar in feel.
- Check if there are any instruments/sounds/scores/films the director hates!
- Ensure the director understands the collaborative process you’ll go through, that the first draft, mock-up, of any cue is not set in stone, and if it’s not to his/her taste you can change it. In fact, he or she may not even know until they’ve heard it, so it’s great to have this back and forth process to refine the music.
- If in doubt, ask more questions, but don’t expect the director to discuss musical terms (keys, time signatures, etc). In fact, in my experience, it’s better if they don’t try and get into those specifics – that’s the fun part of your job, after all ;-).
- Get specific with cue and sync points, and be honest and realistic with schedules (don’t forget your contingencies!).
First Time vs. Repeat Clients
This process gets easier the more times you work with a particular director, as you begin to understand how they like to work and what kind of films and score they like and don’t like. These pointers also apply to other projects such as theatre and multimedia work. Of course, they’re all from my own experience and you may have more to add to this list – let me know and I’ll add them!