电影配乐音乐家Mychael Danna访谈——》
Film Composer Mychael Danna has scored some high profile and groundbreaking films in his remarkable career, recently including such projects like Atom Egoyan's award winning film The Sweet Hereafter and Felicia's Journey and the films Ride with the Devil and The Ice Storm by Academy Award winning director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is also one of Ang Lee's monumental directorial efforts). Mychael's most recent score is for the Stephen King inspired drama, Hearts in Atlantis, directed by Scott Hicks (Shine, Snow Falling on Cedars). In addition to other films such as Girl, Interrupted, Regeneration, Joel Schumacher's 8mm, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love and Exotica to name a few, Mychael also has a number to television scoring credits to his name. I had the opportunity to have a most stimulating discussion with Mychael about his career and his knack for creating his unique film-scores.
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RM: How did you first get started in film scoring?
MD: Pretty well by accident. I started out, you know, I studied, I did all the usual classical music beginnings, piano lessons, choirs. Your typical suburban Canadian boy kind of upbringing in that musical way. I played in bands, started becoming interested in electronic music in the mid-70's when I was growing up and then ended up going to university and studying composition. I didn't really know where there was a place to make a living writing music and I didn't really consider film music that much - I didn't actually like film that much. I never really watched films and I wasn't really interested in them at all. When I got to university I ended up getting involved in various music making schemes, and worked with the theatre department and various theatre groups at school as well as all kinds of other things. The planetarium was right next door and I ended up getting hired there as a composer in residence at the end of my undergraduate degree, so I basically went right next door and started as their composer in residence. Then at that time I had met people in theatre and one of those people was Atom Egoyan. We ended up doing a film together and really, that's how it happened. I certainly never planned on it, and I certainly never modeled my life after you know, John Williams or somebody like that.
RM: What was the first film that you did?
Atom Egoyan's Family Viewing
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MD: Family Viewing, which was also Atom's first kind of major feature. Well, I mean his first feature, he'd done smaller 8mm things before. We kind of started out together knowing absolutely nothing, and he knew nothing about film, like literally, he'd never watched films. He came up through theatre and I had never watched films. I had come up through other areas of music and I had always been really interested in ethnomusicology - that was much more interesting to me. So you know, when I started doing film music, I ended up just working in stuff I was interested in. So in Family Viewing, there are Nae and Indonesian drums and things like that. You know, just stuff that I was interested in. I had no idea that you weren't supposed to put that kind of stuff in films - I didn't know any better.
RM: Do you think that what you have learned through your education has been of great benefit to you as a composer and writing film music?
MD: Well, you know, that's a tough question actually because the answer if you'd asked me after I graduated would have been absolutely not, I didn't learn anything. But as time has gone on I think I learned more than I thought I did. Obviously orchestration and ethnomusicology and things like that, but also discipline. Is it worth going or not? I can't answer that, I don't know the answer. All I can say is that I did learn a lot more than I thought I did. When I'm writing music I still can hear the words of one of my professors in my ears while I'm writing. Just having your music criticized every week and torn apart, it is very useful and basically in film, that's what your whole life will be is going through that. So yeah, I think it is very valuable and I think back then the music composition programs were so ivory towerish, now they've changed completely. At UofT here, I've been talking with the dean about starting up a film music program.
RM: I'm sure that would be awesome.
A Celtic Romance
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A Celtic Tale
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MD: It would be awesome and you know, come on, this is one of the few ways that you can make a living writing music. So, hello, it's maybe about time that they figured that out. And you know, to give them credit, they have figured it out and there's a lot of those programs beginning and so the face of academic music has really changed in 20 years since I was there. Back when I was there it was of limited value, but I think now it's more in basic practical ways as well as kind of meeting people and just the general social activity and contacts that you make at a place like that.
RM: When you begin to compose a score for film, how does your composition process usually start?
MD: I really like to begin with concept. That's really the most important thing to me. And again, maybe that comes back from composition teachers that I've had. You know, figuring out what it is before you start going "Ok, music starts here and ends here and hit this door closed and do that". You know, what exactly are you trying to say with the music and what is the purpose of the music? What is the film trying to say, how can the music help the film communicate tha? Is the music a story? Is it a character? What is the music? Just basically stripping down, wiping the blackboard clean and starting from scratch to find out: what are we doing here? That's step one. Once you have a concept, the concept dictates the instrumentation; the orchestration that you're going to do, whether it's electronic, or medieval, or Indonesian, or 19th century Western orchestra, or what. That's dictated by the concept and then you get into the nitty-gritty of: "How can we afford that?" [laughs], where does the music start and end and what does it do in this scene and that scene? That's when the inspiration ends and the perspiration begins.
RM: Do you generally write our your scores by hand on manuscript or do you use a MIDI sequencer?
MD: I've done both. I'm set up here in a studio where I have the ability to mock up orchestral or whatever kind of instrumentation that will be recorded later. And so generally when that happens, directors are now pretty used to hearing mock-ups, and they pretty well all want to hear them. So now that means at that point, you might as well just print it out from the computer. I have written some stuff on manuscript, but generally most of the work happens on computer now.
RM: What platform and sequencer do you use?
MD: Logic Audio Mac.
RM: Do you use samplers and synthesizers at all?
MD: Yes I do, I've got a whole bunch of them. I mock-up with the Roland family of samples. I like their samples, even though they're old now, I still really haven't heard anything better. I have GigaStudio but I have a love/hate relationship with it, mostly hate. It's just so poorly designed in every way, and you can quote me on that. Yeah, the Roland stuff is really great and I just got the 5080, to hold even more. I've got a bunch of 760s and 750s, so I mean I'm kind of like old fashioned that way but I mean I still go to them instead of the GigaStudio. Even though I have it sitting here, I don't use that very much.
RM: Do you find that hardware is more reliable than software?
MD: It's not so much that, it's really the architecture of it. I mean GigaStudio is just so arcane. I mean, I thought Roland stuff was kind of weird logic, but it's really straightforward compared to GigaStudio. So, basically Roland stuff is where I prefer living if I'm mocking up for orchestral scores. Then, when you're getting into other scores, who knows, everyone is different. If you're working on Iranian music, well, you're obviously not going to be able to mock that up. Then you're in a whole different realm.
RM: Do you usually create your own samples, or do you use commercial sample libraries?
MD: Well, for mock-ups I usually just use commercial ones, because I don't really care how it sounds. In fact I don't try to make it sound good. I don't really want it to sound good. But for exotic instruments, I do all that recording myself and I often travel. I've been to pretty well every corner of the globe in search of various things. It's the only way to do it. You can buy a disc called Morocco or you can just go to Morocco. There's just no comparison.
RM: So you can live the culture and find out what the music is all about?
MD: Absolutely.
RM: What other equipment do you use in your studio?
MD: Hmm what else. I have a Mackie D8B desk, which is amazing, the digital board. It's got all kinds of great plug-ins and Logic plug-ins. I have a lot of outboard gear, but increasingly like everyone else I don't use it that much anymore because the plug-ins are just easy and fun. I have a bunch of old analogue synthy stuff and newer things like Virus and whatnot.
RM: How did you first get started in film scoring?
MD: Pretty well by accident. I started out, you know, I studied, I did all the usual classical music beginnings, piano lessons, choirs. Your typical suburban Canadian boy kind of upbringing in that musical way. I played in bands, started becoming interested in electronic music in the mid-70's when I was growing up and then ended up going to university and studying composition. I didn't really know where there was a place to make a living writing music and I didn't really consider film music that much - I didn't actually like film that much. I never really watched films and I wasn't really interested in them at all. When I got to university I ended up getting involved in various music making schemes, and worked with the theatre department and various theatre groups at school as well as all kinds of other things. The planetarium was right next door and I ended up getting hired there as a composer in residence at the end of my undergraduate degree, so I basically went right next door and started as their composer in residence. Then at that time I had met people in theatre and one of those people was Atom Egoyan. We ended up doing a film together and really, that's how it happened. I certainly never planned on it, and I certainly never modeled my life after you know, John Williams or somebody like that.
RM: What was the first film that you did?
Atom Egoyan's Family Viewing
MD: Family Viewing, which was also Atom's first kind of major feature. Well, I mean his first feature, he'd done smaller 8mm things before. We kind of started out together knowing absolutely nothing, and he knew nothing about film, like literally, he'd never watched films. He came up through theatre and I had never watched films. I had come up through other areas of music and I had always been really interested in ethnomusicology - that was much more interesting to me. So you know, when I started doing film music, I ended up just working in stuff I was interested in. So in Family Viewing, there are Nae and Indonesian drums and things like that. You know, just stuff that I was interested in. I had no idea that you weren't supposed to put that kind of stuff in films - I didn't know any better.
RM: Do you think that what you have learned through your education has been of great benefit to you as a composer and writing film music?
MD: Well, you know, that's a tough question actually because the answer if you'd asked me after I graduated would have been absolutely not, I didn't learn anything. But as time has gone on I think I learned more than I thought I did. Obviously orchestration and ethnomusicology and things like that, but also discipline. Is it worth going or not? I can't answer that, I don't know the answer. All I can say is that I did learn a lot more than I thought I did. When I'm writing music I still can hear the words of one of my professors in my ears while I'm writing. Just having your music criticized every week and torn apart, it is very useful and basically in film, that's what your whole life will be is going through that. So yeah, I think it is very valuable and I think back then the music composition programs were so ivory towerish, now they've changed completely. At UofT here, I've been talking with the dean about starting up a film music program.
RM: I'm sure that would be awesome.
A Celtic Romance
A Celtic Tale
MD: It would be awesome and you know, come on, this is one of the few ways that you can make a living writing music. So, hello, it's maybe about time that they figured that out. And you know, to give them credit, they have figured it out and there's a lot of those programs beginning and so the face of academic music has really changed in 20 years since I was there. Back when I was there it was of limited value, but I think now it's more in basic practical ways as well as kind of meeting people and just the general social activity and contacts that you make at a place like that.
RM: When you begin to compose a score for film, how does your composition process usually start?
MD: I really like to begin with concept. That's really the most important thing to me. And again, maybe that comes back from composition teachers that I've had. You know, figuring out what it is before you start going "Ok, music starts here and ends here and hit this door closed and do that". You know, what exactly are you trying to say with the music and what is the purpose of the music? What is the film trying to say, how can the music help the film communicate tha? Is the music a story? Is it a character? What is the music? Just basically stripping down, wiping the blackboard clean and starting from scratch to find out: what are we doing here? That's step one. Once you have a concept, the concept dictates the instrumentation; the orchestration that you're going to do, whether it's electronic, or medieval, or Indonesian, or 19th century Western orchestra, or what. That's dictated by the concept and then you get into the nitty-gritty of: "How can we afford that?" [laughs], where does the music start and end and what does it do in this scene and that scene? That's when the inspiration ends and the perspiration begins.
RM: Do you generally write our your scores by hand on manuscript or do you use a MIDI sequencer?
MD: I've done both. I'm set up here in a studio where I have the ability to mock up orchestral or whatever kind of instrumentation that will be recorded later. And so generally when that happens, directors are now pretty used to hearing mock-ups, and they pretty well all want to hear them. So now that means at that point, you might as well just print it out from the computer. I have written some stuff on manuscript, but generally most of the work happens on computer now.
RM: What platform and sequencer do you use?
MD: Logic Audio Mac.
RM: Do you use samplers and synthesizers at all?
MD: Yes I do, I've got a whole bunch of them. I mock-up with the Roland family of samples. I like their samples, even though they're old now, I still really haven't heard anything better. I have GigaStudio but I have a love/hate relationship with it, mostly hate. It's just so poorly designed in every way, and you can quote me on that. Yeah, the Roland stuff is really great and I just got the 5080, to hold even more. I've got a bunch of 760s and 750s, so I mean I'm kind of like old fashioned that way but I mean I still go to them instead of the GigaStudio. Even though I have it sitting here, I don't use that very much.
RM: Do you find that hardware is more reliable than software?
MD: It's not so much that, it's really the architecture of it. I mean GigaStudio is just so arcane. I mean, I thought Roland stuff was kind of weird logic, but it's really straightforward compared to GigaStudio. So, basically Roland stuff is where I prefer living if I'm mocking up for orchestral scores. Then, when you're getting into other scores, who knows, everyone is different. If you're working on Iranian music, well, you're obviously not going to be able to mock that up. Then you're in a whole different realm.
RM: Do you usually create your own samples, or do you use commercial sample libraries?
MD: Well, for mock-ups I usually just use commercial ones, because I don't really care how it sounds. In fact I don't try to make it sound good. I don't really want it to sound good. But for exotic instruments, I do all that recording myself and I often travel. I've been to pretty well every corner of the globe in search of various things. It's the only way to do it. You can buy a disc called Morocco or you can just go to Morocco. There's just no comparison.
RM: So you can live the culture and find out what the music is all about?
MD: Absolutely.
RM: What other equipment do you use in your studio?
MD: Hmm what else. I have a Mackie D8B desk, which is amazing, the digital board. It's got all kinds of great plug-ins and Logic plug-ins. I have a lot of outboard gear, but increasingly like everyone else I don't use it that much anymore because the plug-ins are just easy and fun. I have a bunch of old analogue synthy stuff and newer things like Virus and whatnot.
The Ice Storm
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The Sweet Hereafter
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RM: What is your favorite project that you've worked on卛t doesn't necessarily have to be a film score?
MD: Hmm, favorite, now that's a tough one. I mean, the ones that turn out artistically well are often the most painful to bring about because they're just so tortured. And just coming up with the concept can be a long and torturous trail. The Ice Storm, I'm very, very proud of how that score turned out, but it was brutal to work on. Ang [Lee], is a brilliant director and I love my collaboration with him but it's tough to work with him. I mean, it's really tough. He's very hard on everyone including himself in the sense that it's a process and he's relentless in finding the absolute best solution.
RM: So, would you say that he is a perfectionist?
MD: All directors are perfectionists, but he's even more than a lot of them. But, it's also a matter of just the sheer kind of relentlessness of him and he just won't give up until it's the best it can be. Which you know, I respect that. Like I said, I think some of the work that I've done with him is some of the best things that I've done. But could I call The Ice Storm a favorite project? Well, it's a favorite now when I listen to it on DVD or CD. When I was working on it, I was in hell. The Sweet Hereafter was probably the most fun thing I've ever worked on because Atom, who is also a perfectionist and relentless in his search for excellence gives me a lot more latitude for things. You know, basically he's a lot more trusting than a lot of directors I work with and so that makes the project more fun. And I think I work just as hard for him, but it's just a different kind of experience. It's more driven by my excitement rather than by someone else's excitement. But you know, I'm very proud of both of those collaborations. They're the best things that I've done probably, those two films.
RM: What would you say the most challenging project that you've worked on is?
MD: Again, it's hard to say that because the sweet hereafter was a great challenge, but I think we solved that in a really wonderful way and the same with The Ice Storm. Probably The Ice Storm was one of the most challenging ones because it took a long time to figure out how to score that properly. When we did, I think it was a great success, but it was a long and tortured road, so I would say The Ice Storm.
RM: On the films that you've worked on, do you find that re-shoots affect your score in any way, and how do you deal with them?
MD: They're one of the worst things to happen to big films. They're brutal. That's a very good question. I think it's gotten to the stage now where it's getting so it's almost impossible to make what I would consider a good score for a big film. Meaning that you've got a concept and score that is organically whole and conceived as an entity of itself which makes sense in itself. Films get so re-arranged and ripped apart and re-shot now that the music is also ripped and shredded and it's just made a mash of. The big films that I work on are all like that. They all do re-shoots, they're all re-cut after the recording and it's just absurd.
RM: Do you find a lot of films that used temp scores and temp tracks, and how do you deal with that?
MD: Yeah the temp. That is closely linked in with the other reason of why it's almost impossible to make a good film score now and that's the incredible dominance of the temp-track in the process.
Ride with the Devil
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Regeneration
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RM: In a lot of your scores, you seem to take a more dissonant approach to writing (for instance Atom Egoyan's Felicia's Journey). Although in your score for the film Ride With the Devil, you chose to take a more romantic approach to the music. Do you necessarily prefer lushly orchestrated thematic scores that use more "traditional" instruments as opposed to more atonal writing using unique and exotic instruments and instrumentation?
MD: I enjoy doing both. They both have a certain fun level. But there is no question for me that the most fun scores that I have are the ones that are unusual. Those are the ones that I'm most proud of. You know, I love the sound of Ride With the Devil, and I think it's original in its way but I love the fact that Felicia's Journey is just so bizarre and yet I think it fits in with the movie so well. It's a score that I guess other people could write, but I don't think it would be anything like what that was. So yeah, I find that much more satisfying. It's fun to use techniques, you know, twelve tone technique or early music writing technique or all these things that you kind of know about and enjoy and it's a wonderful tool, why not use it in a film score? Writing big, sweeping scores, that's fun too but to do that all the time would just be really boring.
RM: You've written for both television and film - how would you say the process of writing for each differs in comparison of film to television?
MD: Lately only film. I haven't written for television in years. I'm probably not the person to ask, because I haven't really done very much. Obviously the timeline is just so different - instead of three months it's a week or two. I wouldn't say that there's so much of a dividing line between TV and film, there are probably films that are like working on TV and vice versa. Some of the TV I've worked on really wasn't that different than working on a film. The odd episodic stuff that I've done was kind of fun in a way, because you'd get the thing on Monday and finish it by Friday.
RM: How much time are you usually given to score a film?
MD: It varies from three weeks to three months. If it's a horrible re-shot behemoth that just won't die it can be a bit more.
RM: What do you look for in a film before you agree to write the score for it?
MD: Something that excites me somehow. Either the film or the possibilities of the musical aspect of it. There are a lot of films that I see that I think are excellent but I don't do them because I don't think the score would be something that would be particularly fun to do.
The Sweet Hereafter
RM: What is your favorite project that you've worked on卛t doesn't necessarily have to be a film score?
MD: Hmm, favorite, now that's a tough one. I mean, the ones that turn out artistically well are often the most painful to bring about because they're just so tortured. And just coming up with the concept can be a long and torturous trail. The Ice Storm, I'm very, very proud of how that score turned out, but it was brutal to work on. Ang [Lee], is a brilliant director and I love my collaboration with him but it's tough to work with him. I mean, it's really tough. He's very hard on everyone including himself in the sense that it's a process and he's relentless in finding the absolute best solution.
RM: So, would you say that he is a perfectionist?
MD: All directors are perfectionists, but he's even more than a lot of them. But, it's also a matter of just the sheer kind of relentlessness of him and he just won't give up until it's the best it can be. Which you know, I respect that. Like I said, I think some of the work that I've done with him is some of the best things that I've done. But could I call The Ice Storm a favorite project? Well, it's a favorite now when I listen to it on DVD or CD. When I was working on it, I was in hell. The Sweet Hereafter was probably the most fun thing I've ever worked on because Atom, who is also a perfectionist and relentless in his search for excellence gives me a lot more latitude for things. You know, basically he's a lot more trusting than a lot of directors I work with and so that makes the project more fun. And I think I work just as hard for him, but it's just a different kind of experience. It's more driven by my excitement rather than by someone else's excitement. But you know, I'm very proud of both of those collaborations. They're the best things that I've done probably, those two films.
RM: What would you say the most challenging project that you've worked on is?
MD: Again, it's hard to say that because the sweet hereafter was a great challenge, but I think we solved that in a really wonderful way and the same with The Ice Storm. Probably The Ice Storm was one of the most challenging ones because it took a long time to figure out how to score that properly. When we did, I think it was a great success, but it was a long and tortured road, so I would say The Ice Storm.
RM: On the films that you've worked on, do you find that re-shoots affect your score in any way, and how do you deal with them?
MD: They're one of the worst things to happen to big films. They're brutal. That's a very good question. I think it's gotten to the stage now where it's getting so it's almost impossible to make what I would consider a good score for a big film. Meaning that you've got a concept and score that is organically whole and conceived as an entity of itself which makes sense in itself. Films get so re-arranged and ripped apart and re-shot now that the music is also ripped and shredded and it's just made a mash of. The big films that I work on are all like that. They all do re-shoots, they're all re-cut after the recording and it's just absurd.
RM: Do you find a lot of films that used temp scores and temp tracks, and how do you deal with that?
MD: Yeah the temp. That is closely linked in with the other reason of why it's almost impossible to make a good film score now and that's the incredible dominance of the temp-track in the process.
Ride with the Devil
Regeneration
RM: In a lot of your scores, you seem to take a more dissonant approach to writing (for instance Atom Egoyan's Felicia's Journey). Although in your score for the film Ride With the Devil, you chose to take a more romantic approach to the music. Do you necessarily prefer lushly orchestrated thematic scores that use more "traditional" instruments as opposed to more atonal writing using unique and exotic instruments and instrumentation?
MD: I enjoy doing both. They both have a certain fun level. But there is no question for me that the most fun scores that I have are the ones that are unusual. Those are the ones that I'm most proud of. You know, I love the sound of Ride With the Devil, and I think it's original in its way but I love the fact that Felicia's Journey is just so bizarre and yet I think it fits in with the movie so well. It's a score that I guess other people could write, but I don't think it would be anything like what that was. So yeah, I find that much more satisfying. It's fun to use techniques, you know, twelve tone technique or early music writing technique or all these things that you kind of know about and enjoy and it's a wonderful tool, why not use it in a film score? Writing big, sweeping scores, that's fun too but to do that all the time would just be really boring.
RM: You've written for both television and film - how would you say the process of writing for each differs in comparison of film to television?
MD: Lately only film. I haven't written for television in years. I'm probably not the person to ask, because I haven't really done very much. Obviously the timeline is just so different - instead of three months it's a week or two. I wouldn't say that there's so much of a dividing line between TV and film, there are probably films that are like working on TV and vice versa. Some of the TV I've worked on really wasn't that different than working on a film. The odd episodic stuff that I've done was kind of fun in a way, because you'd get the thing on Monday and finish it by Friday.
RM: How much time are you usually given to score a film?
MD: It varies from three weeks to three months. If it's a horrible re-shot behemoth that just won't die it can be a bit more.
RM: What do you look for in a film before you agree to write the score for it?
MD: Something that excites me somehow. Either the film or the possibilities of the musical aspect of it. There are a lot of films that I see that I think are excellent but I don't do them because I don't think the score would be something that would be particularly fun to do.
Felicia's Journey
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8mm
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RM: What do you think of the whole Hollywood scene, and how does it differ from productions that originate from the East Coast like in New York or Toronto?
MD: The bigger films that I work on, there is a lot more attention given to the process than necessarily the result. I would say that is sometimes the case. A lot of lines are kind of blurring now though. There are a lot of Toronto films and there are companies in Toronto that now think of themselves as studio size and so they treat you the way they think American studios will treat you, so there's no such thing really anymore between independent film vs. studio film or East and West coast. Definitely there is a difference, but it's harder to define now and I think it's maybe less useful to define that now. There are West Coast films that feel like independent films and when I worked on "8mm" which is a Sony film, it was me and Joel Schumacher and that was it. I didn't deal with anyone else. So that's very much the way you would think an independent film is, and yet it's the biggest studio or whatever. It's huge, it's Sony Pictures. So, you know, that just goes to show that you can't really make rules like that. It depends on the complications of the political makeup of every film and every film is different in every way. It's different from the musical point of view, the process, your relationships and I think that's what's fun about working on a film is that you go from one set of experiences to another.
RM: Do you ever read reviews of your own scores?
MD: Oh definitely, yeah.
RM: Do you use them to get feedback on your work?
MD: Well, yes and no. I mean, I think you have to take into account that people who write are just people. In a lot of cases I don't think there is really anything more valid about someone who is a "critic" than your neighbor. I don't think that there is that much of a difference. So, I try not to give them more credence than other people's opinions that I might know. So, you know, I don't get bent out of shape one way or another. I try not to give them all that much importance. But yeah, it's very important to know what other people think of your music. Ultimately though, your own opinion is the most important one.
Bounce
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Exotica
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Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
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RM: Do you think that being Canadian hampers your reach as a composer, especially as a composer writing for film?
MD: Well, it's become a much more international world and people don't care so much about where you're from or what your passport says, at least they didn't until about a month or so ago. You know that's a complicated question, and I'm not sure that I can answer it because people do come to me from other places because I've worked on films that they know and so they don't care where I am so much. Certainly it has come into play some points. There have been some cases where I haven't gotten films because I didn't live in L.A., but I think without my history with Atom, I don't think I'd have the luxury of living here in Toronto. Again, I don't even know if I can answer that question. I'm a bit of a different case because I did these few films and they became very high profile as far as filmmakers were concerned, even if not the general public. So, people knew my work, and anyone who liked that kind of work didn't really care where I was from.
RM: Would you say that you come from a very musical family or a musical background?
MD: Yeah I do. I mean my whole family are all music makers of some sort, none of them professional other than my brother who does what I do as well. My parents both enjoyed music and actually met singing opera together. We heard music all our lives definitely.
RM: You have also put out some releases that are not film scores, for example "A Celtic Tale" and "A Celtic Romance", with your brother, Jeff Danna. How would you describe the music featured on these albums and how did the concept of creating a Celtic album evolve?
MD: I guess at the time it was something my brother and I were looking for something to work on together, and it was with a style that we thought would be really fun to play with and to do something really different with and to mix almost film writing with a folk story from a Celtic tradition. That's really how it kind of happened, almost like a scoring job for a story instead of a film
RM: What projects are you currently working on?
I'm starting Atom's new film, Ararat. And there's a bunch of "maybe" things happening.
RM: What is the film about?
MD: It's about the Armenian genocide, which occurred in the early 20th century.
RM: What kind of approach will you take to scoring a film like that?
MD: That's something we don't know yet. It's been temped with a lot of Armenian folk music, but I'm not convinced that that's the way that it will end up.
Hearts in Atlantis
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Girl, Interupted
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RM: Lets talk a bit about one of your newest films that has just come out, Hearts in Atlantis.
How did you get the project?
MD: I believe Scott Hicks, the director had seen my work and enjoyed it. I think he'd heard The Ice Storm, which caught his ear. We ended up talking and he and I hit it off really well, he's a really great guy and we had a lot of things in common. I think it came up originally because there was another composer who dropped off at the last minute. It was a composer he'd worked with before and he sort of assumed that it would happen and it didn't.
RM: Would you say that Hearts in Atlantis is a departure in style for you?
MD: No I wouldn't. It's a very匢'd say kind of American transcendental style is how I'd describe it. It's very sparse and kind of spiritual in an American transcendental way. I think it's more of the same, it's a big orchestra from London. It's completely orchestral, with some piano.
RM: Have you used any synthesizers or samplers in the Hearts in Atlantis score?
MD: There's some electric guitar that has been twisted and bent around so that you'd never know that it was a guitar, there is some glass harmonica.
RM: How would you say that the experience of scoring Hearts in Atlantis was different from the previous projects that you've worked on?
MD: Well, it was definitely a big film in the way that there were re-shoots and temp scores. It kind of fell into that category of experience. Which, you know as I've mentioned is kind of a negative thing, but my relationship with Scott was very good, and I think that kind of made it work.
RM: When you were scoring Hearts in Atlantis, did you sit down and watch the film without any music first?
MD: I think the first time I ever saw it was with temp, which I don't like, but sometimes that's just what happens.
RM: What kind of atmosphere did you try and create with the music?
MD: Just something very sparse and with a lot of air and kind of mystical but using Western instruments.
RM: Do you find that it's easier to write for Western instruments as opposed to more exotic instruments?
MD: I'd say it's easier, yeah. You definitely know what you're going to get, or you're pretty close to knowing what you're going to get.
RM: How do you go about notating parts for the more exotic instruments?
MD: Well, often you don't. You just work with them [the musicians] personally, and say "Play me something like this" and they say: "I can't. But I can play this..." and you go from there.
RM: Sort of like improvisation?
MD: Often yeah. Just sort of worked out, and then edited like crazy.
RM: Do you have any advice or insight into the music industry that you'd like to pass on to aspiring composers?
MD: The relationship with the director is the essence to film scoring world and that's what you need to find. You need to start with people that are at the same level that you're at. If you're a student, then you should find student filmmakers. And, you know, watch films, be educated about films and get to know directors.
8mm
RM: What do you think of the whole Hollywood scene, and how does it differ from productions that originate from the East Coast like in New York or Toronto?
MD: The bigger films that I work on, there is a lot more attention given to the process than necessarily the result. I would say that is sometimes the case. A lot of lines are kind of blurring now though. There are a lot of Toronto films and there are companies in Toronto that now think of themselves as studio size and so they treat you the way they think American studios will treat you, so there's no such thing really anymore between independent film vs. studio film or East and West coast. Definitely there is a difference, but it's harder to define now and I think it's maybe less useful to define that now. There are West Coast films that feel like independent films and when I worked on "8mm" which is a Sony film, it was me and Joel Schumacher and that was it. I didn't deal with anyone else. So that's very much the way you would think an independent film is, and yet it's the biggest studio or whatever. It's huge, it's Sony Pictures. So, you know, that just goes to show that you can't really make rules like that. It depends on the complications of the political makeup of every film and every film is different in every way. It's different from the musical point of view, the process, your relationships and I think that's what's fun about working on a film is that you go from one set of experiences to another.
RM: Do you ever read reviews of your own scores?
MD: Oh definitely, yeah.
RM: Do you use them to get feedback on your work?
MD: Well, yes and no. I mean, I think you have to take into account that people who write are just people. In a lot of cases I don't think there is really anything more valid about someone who is a "critic" than your neighbor. I don't think that there is that much of a difference. So, I try not to give them more credence than other people's opinions that I might know. So, you know, I don't get bent out of shape one way or another. I try not to give them all that much importance. But yeah, it's very important to know what other people think of your music. Ultimately though, your own opinion is the most important one.
Bounce
Exotica
Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
RM: Do you think that being Canadian hampers your reach as a composer, especially as a composer writing for film?
MD: Well, it's become a much more international world and people don't care so much about where you're from or what your passport says, at least they didn't until about a month or so ago. You know that's a complicated question, and I'm not sure that I can answer it because people do come to me from other places because I've worked on films that they know and so they don't care where I am so much. Certainly it has come into play some points. There have been some cases where I haven't gotten films because I didn't live in L.A., but I think without my history with Atom, I don't think I'd have the luxury of living here in Toronto. Again, I don't even know if I can answer that question. I'm a bit of a different case because I did these few films and they became very high profile as far as filmmakers were concerned, even if not the general public. So, people knew my work, and anyone who liked that kind of work didn't really care where I was from.
RM: Would you say that you come from a very musical family or a musical background?
MD: Yeah I do. I mean my whole family are all music makers of some sort, none of them professional other than my brother who does what I do as well. My parents both enjoyed music and actually met singing opera together. We heard music all our lives definitely.
RM: You have also put out some releases that are not film scores, for example "A Celtic Tale" and "A Celtic Romance", with your brother, Jeff Danna. How would you describe the music featured on these albums and how did the concept of creating a Celtic album evolve?
MD: I guess at the time it was something my brother and I were looking for something to work on together, and it was with a style that we thought would be really fun to play with and to do something really different with and to mix almost film writing with a folk story from a Celtic tradition. That's really how it kind of happened, almost like a scoring job for a story instead of a film
RM: What projects are you currently working on?
I'm starting Atom's new film, Ararat. And there's a bunch of "maybe" things happening.
RM: What is the film about?
MD: It's about the Armenian genocide, which occurred in the early 20th century.
RM: What kind of approach will you take to scoring a film like that?
MD: That's something we don't know yet. It's been temped with a lot of Armenian folk music, but I'm not convinced that that's the way that it will end up.
Hearts in Atlantis
Girl, Interupted
RM: Lets talk a bit about one of your newest films that has just come out, Hearts in Atlantis.
How did you get the project?
MD: I believe Scott Hicks, the director had seen my work and enjoyed it. I think he'd heard The Ice Storm, which caught his ear. We ended up talking and he and I hit it off really well, he's a really great guy and we had a lot of things in common. I think it came up originally because there was another composer who dropped off at the last minute. It was a composer he'd worked with before and he sort of assumed that it would happen and it didn't.
RM: Would you say that Hearts in Atlantis is a departure in style for you?
MD: No I wouldn't. It's a very匢'd say kind of American transcendental style is how I'd describe it. It's very sparse and kind of spiritual in an American transcendental way. I think it's more of the same, it's a big orchestra from London. It's completely orchestral, with some piano.
RM: Have you used any synthesizers or samplers in the Hearts in Atlantis score?
MD: There's some electric guitar that has been twisted and bent around so that you'd never know that it was a guitar, there is some glass harmonica.
RM: How would you say that the experience of scoring Hearts in Atlantis was different from the previous projects that you've worked on?
MD: Well, it was definitely a big film in the way that there were re-shoots and temp scores. It kind of fell into that category of experience. Which, you know as I've mentioned is kind of a negative thing, but my relationship with Scott was very good, and I think that kind of made it work.
RM: When you were scoring Hearts in Atlantis, did you sit down and watch the film without any music first?
MD: I think the first time I ever saw it was with temp, which I don't like, but sometimes that's just what happens.
RM: What kind of atmosphere did you try and create with the music?
MD: Just something very sparse and with a lot of air and kind of mystical but using Western instruments.
RM: Do you find that it's easier to write for Western instruments as opposed to more exotic instruments?
MD: I'd say it's easier, yeah. You definitely know what you're going to get, or you're pretty close to knowing what you're going to get.
RM: How do you go about notating parts for the more exotic instruments?
MD: Well, often you don't. You just work with them [the musicians] personally, and say "Play me something like this" and they say: "I can't. But I can play this..." and you go from there.
RM: Sort of like improvisation?
MD: Often yeah. Just sort of worked out, and then edited like crazy.
RM: Do you have any advice or insight into the music industry that you'd like to pass on to aspiring composers?
MD: The relationship with the director is the essence to film scoring world and that's what you need to find. You need to start with people that are at the same level that you're at. If you're a student, then you should find student filmmakers. And, you know, watch films, be educated about films and get to know directors.