[quote=jasensmith]Perhaps talking about Williams is a bit OT but since we're on the subject... Another of Williams attributes is whenJasen,
Not knowing for sure, doesn't the director have the final say as to what and how much music is applied to the video? If that's the case, then I don't necessarily think we should hold the composer directly responsible.... Do they get paid on the number of minutes of music they write whether it's used or not? I know that's not always the case as for some are paid by the project but that would be incentive enough to write as much as possible whether it get's used or not. Not an expert in this area, maybe someone else would care to chime in and qualify.......
Hello Chuck and thank you for the reply.
Normally, yes the director does have the final say in how the film takes shape both visually and sonically. However, in the case of Spielberg and Williams, I think there is enough mutual respect and professional courtesy between the two that Spielberg probably wouldn't have said anything if Williams decided to throw in a loud drum and fife score over the soldiers storming the beach in Saving Private Ryan or any of the other battle sequences in the film. Sometimes less is more and Williams is skilled enough to realize when scoring is necessary to add to the story and when it just subtracts. At the same token if, at the end of Schindler's List, Speilberg had told Williams, "you know John, to pay respect to those who perished during the Holocaust, let's just not have a score at all. Let's have a moment of silence here." I'm sure Williams would have obliged. He may not have agreed but...
I guess it could be argued that in some cases a director is ironically responsible for overscoring a film. Spielberg requested Williams to purposely overscore the film 1941 and I think it worked to make the film funnier than the writing could do.
My favorite scores are ones that I can remember after veiwing a film just once. One score I remember very well is Morricones's Once Upon A Time In The West. I especially loved the first 15 minutes of the film. It's almost like watching an Italian opera. Pacing. It's all in the pacing. As an aside, did you know that Sergio Leone originally wanted Charles Bronson to play 'The Man With No Name' character made famous by Clint Eastwood in Leone's Spaghetti Westerns? United Artists said, "NO!!!" Some things never change.