Working with Composers

I'm having a lot of fun. "Glimpse" (the feature I directed in August) is in the final stages of post-production, which means I'm busy discussing color with the colorist, sound with the sound editor, and music with the composer. The music meetings, in particular, have been thrilling for me because I finally get to work with my friend, Aaron Symonds.

Aaron is a musician, of course, but he's also a storyteller. When we discuss music cues, he keeps the conversation sharply focused on the narrative, and on the role music can play in the narrative process. Most of our conversations aren't about the music itself, but about the emotional and narrative beats of a scene. What's happening here? What is that character thinking right now? What are we supposed to remember at this moment?

Over the course of the last couple of years, I've had some rougher interactions with composers. Usually, the friction came about as a result of my trying to talk in the composer's language, addressing issues with the music by talking about the music. I have enough of a musical background to have a basic music conversation, so I assumed that would be the best way to communicate what I needed. Turns out most composers (or, at least, the ones I've worked with) don't respond well to suggestions about the music itself. They're looking for the director's vision of the story, and technical musicspeak doesn't provide them with that.

By the time I got to work with Aaron, I had learned to adjust the way I talk about music. Although we do talk about the music itself sometimes, most of our conversations are in the director's language rather than the composer's. I've discovered that this new approach suits me very well, since I think about other aspects of the filmmaking process in very narrative terms, too. Cinematography, to me, is all about how the camera's position and movement best serve the story. The props, the costumes, the pace of the edit, they are all actively engaged in the storytelling process. Nicole Wittman, one of my favorite makeup artists to work with, always starts by asking "what's happening in this scene?" She understands that even the makeup can serve a narrative purpose.

"Glimpse" will be finished in a few weeks, and looks like it'll be screened to an industry audience in early January. That's when I'll find out if my technical/narrative focus pays off. Until then, I get to have more creative meetings with my post-production team!

-Arnon Shorr