Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541592
120 M PS E . O R G they doing? Whatever the emotionality is, don't overstate it. You know, unless, of course, you know, there are scenes where you need to overstate. PL: You want the audience to be able to decide for themselves… JD: It was such a great lesson. Then I played him one other cue where I waited … and waited… Finally, he just looked up and said, "Yeah, I feel it right here." And that told me he waits to feel it in his body. That tells me that he's in tune with his emotionality. And I think that's a big key to a lot of the success of his storytelling because, so many times, I've worked with people where they intellectualize how the music works and ignore what it feels like when it's working. And to me, what it feels like is what will win out because we are all watching a movie to be moved. We're not intellectualizing the movie. We're feeling it. We know when it's exciting and when it's sad. It can be a tricky thing to not let your left brain get engaged. So, working with Clint was a major reminder and takeaway that I will never ever forget. And now everything I approach is at that level. PL: Lastly, do you have any advice for those coming up through the ranks? JD: Well, I think music editing is not knowing how to run Pro Tools or Cubase or Ableton or any of the software. That's a given. Music editing is understanding story, understanding your own emotionality, and understanding the emotionality of the people you're working with. And for anybody who really wants to get into it, my suggestion is to really know yourself. It's almost like being a good therapist. The director has a lot of pressure put upon them, and we want them to be vulnerable, because vulnerability is where the gold is of our emotionality to the storytelling. We need to help provide that safe place. We need to understand… You know, when I did The Bride, I watched the movie and was really moved. So, when I had the interview and I told them that I was moved and why I was moved and where in the movie I was moved and what I thought it was saying to me, I later found out that was the reason I got hired. They then knew I understood their movie. And that only came to be because I've spent years understanding my own emotionality and what I'm feeling. The emotionality of storytelling and being vulnerable myself; to be able to be honest and say this is what I feel. I think people respond to honesty. People respond to vulnerability. Some people think vulnerability is weakness. That says more about them than it does about those who are vulnerable. What we're doing in storytelling is having the courage to be vulnerable; to feel so we can help others feel. It did take a long time for me to really understand emotionality. Sinfonia I Concert, conducting the Imperial Symphony Orchestra. Photography by Andy Glogower used by permission