Film Score Friday 8/7/98
by Lukas Kendall
Yesterday, Jeff Bond, Doug Adams and I mailed out all the Poseidon
Adventure CDs to the hundreds of people who ordered them. So, everybody
should have their copy by the end of next week!
Also next week we will be opening an awesome (for us at least!) "shopping"
section of this site where you can order CDs and subscription on a secure
server for credit cards. We rock.
Folks, I know we've had way too much rambling on this site about our
personal lives, as if anyone cares. Well get ready for something you really
didn't need to know. Late last night I kinda tore tips of my fingertips
(dept. of redundancy dept.) off of the index and middle fingers of my right
hand trying to open, of all things, the antiquated mailbox at my apartment.
It really hurts to type so today my comments will be brief. I'll be fine
by next week. By the way, those "contoured" fingertip bandaids
are terrific.
Williams on Stepmom
From: James Luckard <jjl4h@server1.mail.virginia.edu>
I noticed that both of the people who wrote in about "Stepmom"
wondered why John Williams was scoring such a "comedy." I saw
the trailer playing in theaters, and it does make the film seem like a
comedy, much like "The Truman Show" teaser made it look like
just another Carrey comedy. The reason, though, that "Stepmom"
has a composer like Williams on it, and the reason it was put in the Christmas
pre-Oscar season is that it is more drama than comedy.
The trailer does explain that Susan Sarandon is trying to teach
her ex-husband's younger wife (Julia Roberts) how to be a mother to her
children. It fails, though, to explain why. Maybe this is some kind of
marketing decision, but to leave out this fact, which I have seen publicised
in other places, is strange.
Sarandon's character is dying. That's why she has to prepare Roberts
to be a mother. The film is Sony's big Oscar hopeful for the fall, and
I hear it's quite a powerful tear jerker. It is certainly not a silly "Home
Alone" type comedy, but more along the lines of "Mrs. Doubtfire"
as a drama with comedy. In fact, I read that "My Best Friend's Wedding"
screenwriter Ron Bass was brought in to take out some of the comedy and
make it more serious.
To my best understanding it'll be like "Sabrina," which
I loved -- a drama with very light comedy throughout and scattered jokes.
From: Joe Kraemer <zaphod98@earthlink.net>
Just thought I'd remind everyone that John Williams has worked with
Chris Columbus twice before, on the HOME ALONE movies - the director and
composer have a working relationship. That may have had some influence
on the switch from Doyle to Williams.
Halloween Water
From: Alex Cope <acope@aristotle.net>
I knew Marco beltrami was credited as writing music for this film,
but i was surprised to hear many scenes temp-tracked with pieces from his
score for Mimic. Much of the finale uses this temp- tracking, and the music
is good and fits with the scenes. But has Beltrami actually written anything
original just for the film?
Yes, he did write some original music. I may go see this movie, but
I have things I'd rather do, like pour acid in my eyes.
Trailers
From: Jeff Allen, Fruit13@aol.com
I don't know if you've had anyone ask this yet, but I was curious
as to what the music is for the first trailer to Snake Eyes that's being
shown on TV. The one with the fast-paced frenetic, scary music. Whatever
it is, it's a real nice piece of music. Anyone know what it is?
I do not know. Anyone?
From: Alex Cope <acope@aristotle.net>
If somebody is wondering about the music used in the trailer for
Return of Paradise starring Vince Vaughn, I've seen a trailer for this
film and it contained the often-used music from Dragon:The Bruce Lee Story.
Rykodisc
From: "David Guay" <DGuay@casdn.neu.edu>
I have two questions about the new MGM/United Artists classics series:
1). What has prompted the release of these titles now? and 2). The CDs
say they are "newly remastered"--does that mean from the original
master tapes?
1) The MGM series has been something the studio has wanted to do for
several years, and it's finally happened now that they've found a record
label, Rykodisc, to be partners with. 2) "Newly" remastered means
the albums are being equalized and tweaked for sound quality specifically
for the new CDs, from the best possible source. Most of the CDs are being
mastered, to my knowledge, from the original album master tapes.
Musicians
From: Julwest@aol.com
I
was struck by your comment in August 4th's article on Lalo Schifrin,
that "when we listen to a film score, we of course attribute it to
Goldsmith or Williams or Schifrin or whomever..." at the expense of
the players. I once had the pleasure of speaking with a gentleman who does
orchestration for film scores, and he told me that the Los Angles session
players form a core group of musicians who are specialists in picking up
music fast and playing it not only well but in time with the picture. He
said that composers tend to form associations with the individual players
and use them from film to film; so that many of the performers used on
"Logan's Run" are the same as on "Air Force One" (both
being Jerry Goldsmith scores) and so on. Considering the speed at which
they have to work, I think these people do amazing work.
They are truly incredible. No joke.
Events
From: Brett Aplin <b.aplin1@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au>
I wanted to thank you (and Andrew P. Carr) for the alert regard
the Cinesonic conference here in Melbourne Australia last week. As a result
I managed to get a ticket for both myself and a friend to see Carter Burwell
discuss his ongoing collaboration with the Coens. He shared with us some
of his inspiration in scoring certain scenes in each of the Coens' movies,
showing us before and after shots and rejected music for some of these
scenes. Of particular interest was his relationship with sound designer
Skip Lievsay, especially in Barton Fink and how this sort of symbiosis
can enrich the picture. In addition he discussed some of the difficulties
of temp tracks and the differences he has encountered working within the
Hollywood studio system. Mr Burwell was an engaging and entertaining speaker
and truly an inspiration to fans and aspiring composers. Thanks again.
Glad this helped! In other event news, there will be a panel on film
music at Visible Evidence, an upcoming film conference in San Francisco.
Neil Lerner will be the chair. It's 8/13 through 8/16, with the music panel
that Sunday morning. See http://www.sfsu.edu/~visevcon/VisibleEvidenceConferenceVI.htm
Legend
From: Brian Belanger, Blbelanger@aol.com
With the recent spate of notable composers' scores being dumped
and replaced by other notable composers' scores, how about a reprise of
that Jerry Goldsmith story, back when his work for Ridley Scott's LEGEND
was replaced by Tangerine Dream? I've known about this now-legendary (sorry)
debacle for some time, but don't know any of the details... how about reprinting
something in the Past Film Score Artictles section of your Web page?
We were not around in 1985 doing this magazine when Legend went down,
but there is a terrific story on the two scores in CinemaScore #15, a great
magazine which Randall Larson published at the time. Basically Goldsmith's
score was rejected by the film's U.S. distributor because they felt they
needed a more "commercial" sound, and hired Tangerine Dream,
and Ridley Scott was too tired to fight on Goldsmith's behalf.
Gerhardt RCA Albums
From: LogieD@aol.com
These
have always been in the front of my compilation collection and only
yesterday while working I took out my Sunset Boulevard (just about my favorite
of the series) to play for I needed some intensity. Prince Valiant has
always been a great start to this CD but it is The Bride of Frankenstein
I am always impressed with. It feels like Les Preludes meets Bolero. Orchestration
remindes me of the old Flash Gordon serials. It is a great piece for creation.
That Waxman CD in particular is terrific. (Ow, my fingers hurt.)
Elmer Thing
From: Andy Dursin <dursina@worldnet.att.net>
Cool Stuff Next Week!
Well we haven't written it yet, but there will be cool stuff of some
sort, I promise. Send your questions if you have any, I will do my best
to answer them, even if it means doing work.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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