Not all directors know the soundtrack, and I was asked to surpass Hisaishi

Reporter | Liu Yanqiu

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When we watch a movie, in addition to the picture and plot, a good soundtrack can also drive the mood of the viewer, promote the development of the plot, and even build an independent narrative context, such as the cooperation between Hisaishi Andyo And directors such as Miyazaki hayao and Takeshi Kitano, so that the film and soundtrack have become classics. But what is the relationship between music and film? Was there a movie first, and there were moving images that the composer created music from, or did he have music first, or even music for a film that didn't exist yet?

On November 17, the German Cultural Center Goethe-Institut in Beijing held the "Seeing the Voice: Film Music Theme Series" during the German Film Festival, where German composer Ulrick Haag, musician Christian Meyer and Chinese artist Xiaohe shared their views on film music.

Both Uric Haag and Christian Meyer are committed to using the interplay of images, lines, movements and music to set off emotions and stories in their film music. In 2016, they worked for Doris M. Dolly's Fukushima Love composed the film music Asa Nisi Masa, a composition that combines recordings of piano performances, pre-prepared grand piano melodies, electronic music, and hypnotic rhythms.

Urick Haag has a lot of experience composing music for film scores, and she doesn't want to distract herself too much, so she doesn't like what kind of content to write for her, but more likes to create music according to her own preferences, and then decide which parts can be used in film and television works.

But communication and compromise are indispensable in the process of scoring the film. In the process of working with a director or choreographer, after submitting the finished product, the soundtrack creator often needs to make a lot of changes. Uriq Haag believes that this is a very interesting process. "Sometimes you create an original piece of music, but you always have to make changes of one kind or another, which requires years of experience, and it is also a challenge that you have to accept, the composer must revise and change, to take something out, and because not all directors understand music, sometimes they have to understand each other, to learn to speak in the same language, to understand what the other person is saying, what they want." 」

In Xiaohe's view, movies can have no music, but the aural element is very important, and some movies have no music, and the effect is very good, because it has actually turned sound into something with musicality. He mentioned the movie "Happy Home", which has an old man who always burps, "the whole movie has no dialogue, no music, only sound, but the effect is particularly good.".

So far, Xiaohe has composed soundtracks for more than ten films and four theatrical works, including Qiu Sheng's film "Birds in the Suburbs" and Meng Jinghui's famous theatrical work "Rhinoceros in Love". Xiaohe's experience is that music + image will produce a third party, and the important role of music in film is to make the film a new thing, rather than a work imagined by the director. "The moment good film music comes out, everyone has a common experience, and the director sometimes says that your music flies to another space with the movie." This requires the creator to have the courage to jump out of the inherent routine, "every sound and every picture is to make the audience wake up, when you use the routine, your danger may come, all the routines will make people fall into a deep sleep." ”

Before making the film soundtrack, some songs from Xiaohe's album "The Bird That Can't Fly Fast Falls on the Cow That Can't Run Fast" were used in many film works at home and abroad. In his opinion, there are many directors who do not understand music and directors who do not know how to pretend to understand, and sometimes the director feels that he is the one who decides the film, so he will directly tell the creator what kind of music he wants, and even give the creator a sample film with music. "It's scary because you're going to meet that standard or even exceed it, like he's giving you music from Hisaishi Jean."

Xiaohe said bluntly that many of the films that find his soundtrack are relatively literary and low-cost films, and generally when communicating in the early stage, they will say that the investment in this film is not much and there is not much money. "There are also times when we can't pick up the time slot, but we rarely don't pick up because the price is not appropriate, but we pay more attention to how much the investment in the film is." In Germany, there is no industry standard for fees in the field of film composition. Urikh Haag said that Germany will have some reference standards, but mainly for TV drama soundtracks, such as at least one limit, but there is no limit to the cost of film production. "There are some fixed rules, there are such a rule that composers and filmmakers know, but it is only a criterion, and it will not be publicly stated."

German musician Christian Meyer revealed that these guidelines are often not followed, and the German Composers Association often talks about the proportion of film score costs to film investment, but the actual payment is often lower than this standard. "Because there are a lot of people in Berlin who do film scores, the competition is fierce."

Not only is it difficult to make a profit, but it is also difficult for film score practitioners to become famous, because there are few awards related to the industry. According to Ulik Haag, there are only a handful of awards in the German film score category, and these awards are maintained by funds from some public institutions, so they are only a nominal award. But for the soundtrack creator, if it is pleasant to work with the film creation team, you can use the theme of the film on the cover of the music and write the name of the soundtrack creator on the movie poster, which can improve the spread of the music and is also a mutual achievement.

"Sometimes there's a struggle, there's a need to agree with the filmmakers, it needs to be emphasized, it's part of the profession. Because this is very important to us film composers, in Germany people attach great importance to film scores, and the world is paying more and more attention to this issue, which will lead to a group of composers who specialize in film scores, and they will also have the opportunity to play on stage. ”