ISSN (print) 1087-7142 ISSN (online) 1758-860X
Journal of Film Music 3.1 Music 3.1 (2010) 98-101 doi:10.1558/jfm.v3i1.98
Jeff Je ff Rona, Rona, The Reel World: Scoring for Pictures San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, 2000. [xi, 272 pp. ISBN: 0879305916. $24.95 (trade paper)] Illustrations, music examples, tables, figures, appendices, list of resources, resourc es, index.1
Richard Bellis B ellis,, The Emerging Film Composer: An Introduction Intr oduction to to the Peopl People, e, Problems, Problems, and Psycholo Psychology gy of the Film Music Business Los Angeles A ngeles:: Richard Richa rd Bellis, 200 2 006. 6. [xix, 158 pp. ISBN: 0615 0615136230. 136230. $24.95 $24.95 (trade paper)] Illustrations, tables, appendix (list of selected resources). PATRICK WOOD Princeton University
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hese days, it is likely that many people have1 experienced the sound of a symphony orchestra in a movie theater rather than in a concert hall; likewise, many would instantly recognize musical passages not from Wagner or Beethoven, but from the film scores of John Williams (Star ( Star Wars, Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ark, Catch Me If You Can) Can) and Howard Shore ( Lord of the Rings). Rings). But aside from big budget films, most commissioned music accompanies video games, movies and series for cable and satellite television, and the advertisements advertisemen ts associated with them. In addition to the explosive growth of these music markets, advances in digital technology have enabled more people people than tha n ever before to create elaborate electronic scores without lengthy musical education, apprenticeship, or training. The doors of film, video, v ideo, and television television composition have been opened, and today’s field includes many composers with technological 1 The appendices “Thinking in Reel Time” and “Orchestral Instrument Ranges and Transpositions of Popular Instruments” are reproduced from Inside the Music ©1999 Dave Stewart.
expertise, but no formal musi musical cal training. Stepping up to fill in this disparity d isparity of knowledge knowledge are numero numerous us “how-to” “howto” guides and manuals, ma nuals, on everything from MIDI to notation and orchestration. Although neither neither book purports purports to be one of of those guides, both target that audience of newcomers to film, video, and television composition, offering advice and guidance to composers at the very beginning of their careers. For the scholar these books provide valuable perspectivess on the practical aspects of media musi perspective musicc from two practicing, professional composers’ points of view. While neither author ventures deeply into their creative processes, processes, both offer approaches to film scoring procedures such as spotting sessions, demos, getting cues approved, and budgets. It soon becomes clear how inseparable these are from the music composed: a small and limited music budget may not allow for more than a handful of live musicians, musicians, which could increase the presence of sampled instruments in the score; stylistic choices today are most often made not by the composer, but by an executive group made
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up of director, producer, music supervisor, and music editor. While these film score and music sound track details may be well known to some film music scholars and those interested in composing and performing film music, the vast extent to which they affect a score—and consequently any study of it—is brought very much into the foreground by these authors. Jeff Rona is an accomplished film and television composer, with numerous credits, including the television series Homicide: Life on the Street, Chicago Hope and Ridley Scott’s White Squall (all originating in the 1990s in the U.S.). He is also the columnist of “The Reel World,” which appears monthly in Keyboard magazine. Rona’s book is mainly a retrospective compilation of these articles. Each of its three sections (“The Creative Process,” “Technology,” and “Career”) has broad chapter headings that are divided into shorter topics. For example, “ House of Style: Cultivating a Unique, Identifiable Sound” or “ ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’: Working with Exotic Musicians.” It is not difficult to reconstruct the original context of these sections as magazine articles. The first parts of these titles, retained from Keyboard magazine and entirely in keeping with its style, are catchy references to pop culture: House of Style was a television show about the fashion industry which ran through the 1990s on MTV; “Walk Like an Egyptian” is a song from The Bangles’ 1986 album, Different Light. Each of the three larger sections of the book closes with a set of interviews, primarily with composers (including John Williams, Carter Burwell, Hans Zimmer, and Basil Poledouris), but also with others in the film industry: a music editor, a music executive, a composers’ agent, and a music contractor. Some of these interviews were spread out over several installments in consecutive issues of Keyboard. Rona’s style is personable and informal, and since there are many anecdotes in the book, he gives readers the impression that he is a generous, kind, and encouraging adviser. But the episodic structure of consecutive anecdotes, as suited for a magazine column, and which often conclude with a moral akin to a punch line, is precisely a point of weakness in the book: those brief morals often constitute each article’s most valuable advice, and the information of most interest both to budding composers and to scholars. Those ideas could have been more fully and systematically developed in book format, but instead they are either overshadowed by the surrounding anecdotes, or dealt with in too short a space to do them justice. The set-up of an entire studio, entitled “Plugging It All In,” is covered by
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barely two pages of text and a diagram which is by no means self-explanatory. Practical recommendations on budgeting time and money, or on collaborating with filmmakers and musicians, are imparted in a sentence or two only, an evident remainder of the magazine’s original punch lines. It is a shame that an opportunity was missed here to expand on these ideas, and share them with a different audience, without the magazine column’s constraints. As a result, Rona fails to present the most useful lessons in a clear, direct, format; thus these lessons lose the prominence (and readers’ attention) they deserve. Occasional marginal notes provide the URL of the book’s website. Sometimes this is in order to provide audio examples, such as Rona’s reworking of his theme for LA Doctors, or his beautiful cues for Chicago Hope. Also online is a list of resources on orchestration and music notation (curiously, with links to retailers, but no annotations as to their content or use), and sample music budgets of varying sizes. Naturally, one wonders why, if these resources don’t call specifically for non-print media, they weren’t printed in the book’s pages. It appears that they weren’t printed in the magazine column for lack of space, and the format was retained when formatted as a book. Nearly all of the book’s shortcomings are a result of the author’s retrospective compilation approach: in other words, it includes one article after another with very little if any editorial changes that would have improved the original, added explanation and clarification, and addressed specifically the readers of this book. Readers who are knowledgeable of Rona’s columns in Keyboard magazine would be the only ones initially aware that this book is mainly a compilation. Nowhere else but in the epilogue—not in the contents, introduction, or front and back covers—does Rona show his hand. Had this been mentioned early on, readers might have been better equipped to follow and understand the book’s content and organization. Whatever value each segment may have, the experience of consulting or reading the same material gathered into a whole book presents a number of problems. Ideas are often repeated, which testifies to their importance when they appear in more than one issue of a periodical. But when they are separated by only a few pages, that importance is diminished by a sense of editorial carelessness, which is compounded here by the alarming number of spelling and grammatical mistakes (“Aaron Copeland,” twice, for “Copland,” “undo attention” for “undue,” “independant” for “independent,” and “Wimbleton” for “Wimbledon”). More specific technical terms
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might have replaced descriptive phraseology such as, “from the pre-shoe box-sized ‘Megaplex’ theatre days” [ sic] (p. 141), or “analogue-esque arpeggios, and the occasional odd tension and angst-filled weirdo sound” (p. 28). While there are a handful of changes from the original of each article that is reprinted, either Rona or an editor would have presented the book’s material much more effectively through more vigorous editing, not only for terminology and spelling, but especially for a streamlined, concise, and systematic presentation of content. For those looking to this book for instruction, Rona serves as a capable mentor who obviously enjoys sharing his experience composing for film, video, and television. Although it falls short of being the “practical guide,” as its cover claims, The Reel World provides novices with a broad sense of the industry, and Rona’s approachable writing style is engaging. Readers may have to do some keyword searching to find exactly what they want to know from these articles, although the limited index makes this difficult. Richard Bellis’ The Emerging Film Composer, by contrast, frames its audience in a more specific and pragmatic way at the outset. In his introduction, Bellis points out that A-list movies and films with modest budgets “utilize about eight to ten percent of the media composers worldwide” whereas “composers in the remaining 90 percent work on games, movies for television, television series, theme parks, independent features (low budget), documentaries, industrial films a nd commercials” (p. xviii). Assuming that the emerging film composer will fall under one classification or the other, Bellis addresses this readership. He also limits the scope of his book to the “people, problems, and psychology involved with being a film composer” (p. xvii). Bellis aims to deal with extramusical and non-musical topics such as interpersonal relationships, how to foster an image of competence, or negotiate fees. Assuming that readers are motivated and have sufficient musical knowledge, the author mostly refrains from imparting any musical or technological advice, leaving discussion of writing techniques, orchestration, and technology to other sources specifically dedicated to these subjects. As a consequence, the book is admirably concise, dealing only with the subject matter the author intends to cover. The book’s appendix provides information about film scoring courses as well as the performing rights organizations ASCAP and BMI, but gives no suggestions for further reading.
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Bellis’ detailed recommendations for the emerging film composer are equally instructive for film music scholars, outlining clearly the standard practices and expectations that form the procedural background of a finished score. Also very revealing is his assessment of the composer’s priorities: in a section on allocating time for composing, Bellis defines “the Meat” as “writing the cues that are the most important—to the filmmaker (first) and to the film (second)” (p. 83). On a similarly political note, he points out that film music is a craft, not an art. “Art is a form of self-expression and the last thing a director wants is some composer coming in and expressing himself all over the director’s film” (p. 68). Bellis has had considerable experience as a teacher, having served on the faculty of the University of Southern California’s prestigious Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program, and holding the annual “ASCAP Television and Film Scoring Workshop.” He communicates his ideas with the conciseness and directness that comes from such experience. The book’s eight chapters are laid out clearly, and flow logically and elegantly, from preparation and pricing to writing, recording, and delivering the music. The final chapter consists of stories drawn from Bellis’ experience and those of his colleagues, including film composer Bruce Broughton (Silverado, released in 1985, Tombstone, 1993), and television composers Alf Clausen (The Simpsons), and Adam Fields ( Dawson’s Creek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). While Bellis’ style is informal and frequently conversational, there is never a wasted word. The writing is both congenial and extremely informative. Although both books address the same audience of novice composers and offer some of the same advice, Bellis’ suggestions are more oriented towards methods and strategies and would continue to be of some value to composers at every stage in their careers. His ideas for avoiding distractions while writing are useful even for non-composers, and his breakdown of a music budget is methodical and comprehensive. Overall, the book is an outstanding combination of the pleasant, the pragmatic, and the edifying. For scholars, each book offers different rewards. Bellis’ volume, finely aimed at professionally-minded student composers, articulates not only the processes involved in being a film composer, but also some of its anxieties, such as writing on a schedule or dealing with aspects of the business that are just blind luck. One of Bellis’ evident gifts as a teacher is the soundness of his advice: “When you realize that everything good comes ‘out of left field,’ your
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job is to go to the ballpark everyday” (p. 54). Rona’s writing lacks Bellis’ keen sense of audience, as well as his lucidity, and tends to be diffuse by comparison. At the same time, Rona’s candidness about his own experience and compositional process provides a helpful resource for thinking about how media music is conceived, composed, and produced. is the Roy D. Welch Graduate Fellow in Musicology at Princeton University. His areas of scholarly interest include 19th-century chamber music and 20th-century American music. Also an accomplished violinist, he performs regularly with pianist Holly Chatham in The Chatham–Wood Duo. His debut album of the unaccompanied violin works of German virtuoso Thomas Baltzar (d. 1663) was released earlier this year to critical acclaim. Patrick Wood
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