Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1434375
68 W I N T E R 2 0 2 2 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I'm replacing someone who couldn't do the job. I feel like maybe the production is somewhat difficult to work with. Sometimes all I hear is, "It just wasn't working." And oftentimes, the result of that is a lot of freedom; let me come at this my own way and try this new thing. No, I don't feel handcuffed. In some cases, the smaller the sandbox to play in, the better! Especially when there is a short timeframe because, when the world is your oyster, it's terrifying! And it takes a lot of time to get the right sounds and pull it together into what it needs to be. In this particular situation, you already know this didn't work, that didn't work, but [the filmmakers] really liked it. Is that similar when the schedule is really tight? Or, are all the schedules really tight? Yeah, personally, I work well under pressure, but I don't like it. However, it forces me to make decisions and go with my gut instincts right away. And I think that's a good thing. From your point of view as a composer, what are the steps from beginning to end that bring about a score? For me, and I think a lot of composers would tell you this, the hardest part of starting a project is that first offer; finding that sonic soundscape. It's not my term, but I call it "cracking the code." On a network show, for example, this happens in the form of a pilot. And to me, pilot season happens in the opposite way that it should. One would think that in creating a pilot—whether it be the pre-production team, to the writing, the acting, the editing, the music—that everyone involved is trying to find what the show is. You'd think that this would be given the most amount of time. In a network pilot, this [creative] period is given the least amount of time! Then, once the show gets green lit, from that condensed, frantic, birthing process you go to having all the time to really develop the series and really hone in. So, after all of this rushing, you've come up with a palette of samples, a sonic approach in a condensed time and you are stuck with it? Yes! And I think that has become some of the skill and the craft of it; to validate what you chose, what worked, and what was approved, but to also leave yourself room to develop it. And as you are doing that, you have to wonder: Do my themes work? It's not like a movie where you can see where the ending is so you know how to develop a [score] backwards from there. I did start another series this year that was animation. And in that case, there was a lot more leeway. Oh! I have all this time to think about this and marinate in it. I read the scripts and saw the color boards and short animatics; so, I had a lot more time to develop it. But, to get back to your question, the birthing process, it's really "Unlike the show, music is not crafted frame by frame; it's crafted in words, in beats, and bars. So, if you take out five seconds here and a few frames there, it's like taking a word out of a sentence." –Sherri Chung Sherri Chung on the stage conducting