by Paul Tonks
soundtrack -- n. / Pron. "sound ( trak"
1. The narrow strip at one side of cinema film carrying the sound recording.
2. The music that accompanies a movie.
3. A commercial recording of such music.
4. A bastardised phrase record labels use to sell you crappy songs that have nothing to do with the movie they're apparently associated with.
AWARDS: A VIEW FROM THE INSIDE
On March 10th, I sat on the Judges Panel for the Best Original Film Score of 2002 category in the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards. This is the fifth year in a row I’ve had the privilege of being on the panel. Back then we were all some two weeks away from the Academy Awards, with their five nominations buzzing around my head as we sat down to mull over our own. As ever, the whole process left me thinking about how much goes on behind the scenes of these things. All anyone is left with is the winning decision, and sometimes a sore patch from scratching our heads in trying to determine how it was arrived at.
I’d therefore like to give you some insider perspective on this one particular Award, asking you to bear in mind that of the many others out there, I can only speak for how this one is handled. Let me give you some basic facts to begin with.
2003 will be the 48th year of the Award. As with all award-giving bodies, the Ivors’ recognition of excellence in film scoring has changed several times over the years. That’s both behind the scenes in its consideration and in the categorization itself. In the five years I’ve been a Judge, there have been a few tweaks in the nomination procedure. But focusing on this year, that should be defined as meaning between January 1st and December 31st 2002. During that time, 324 films were released in the United Kingdom. From this, the process of elimination begins by establishing which films featured scores written by British composers. This is an initial hurdle in itself, since there are some composers of British Nationality who now reside in the States or elsewhere.
After much cross-referencing, it was determined that of these 324 films, 75 were eligible in the category. That list of 75 film titles was then sent out on January 13th to the professional voting membership of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters (BACS). Votes received were then counted up immediately following a qualifying February 14th deadline. From that count, 8 scores were determined for the Judges to work with.
At the end of January, invitations were sent to prospective Judges for the Panel. A group of 8 were agreed upon, and then shortly after the February vote tally we Judges were all sent VHS copies of the 8 films to view in advance of the Judging session. Nosey as ever, I placed my usual enquiry as to whom else was on the panel. And this is who we were:
Mark Fishlock – composer and Chairman of the BACS Media Executive Committee
Michael Nyman – composer
Monty Norman – composer
David Julyan – composer
Nigel Hess – composer
Paul Place – Editor of Music from the Movies magazine
Pete Compton - Head of Research & Editorial, MRIB
Me!
Our job, over copious coffee and cake (followed by wine and mountainous platters of sandwiches) was to find a common dialogue amongst us. We all arrive with our individual opinions of the 8 films and scores. Will any of us agree on what’s eligible or not? To begin with we have to realise that some of the votes result in pockets of popularity acknowledgement. Some of the eight are likely to be "easy votes," and not necessarily made up of a significant portion of originally composed music. David Julyan explained how he’d recently sat on the BAFTA Film Score panel and GANGS OF NEW YORK had been dismissed out of hand almost immediately. We didn’t have that score to contend with, but a similar couple of decisions were swiftly made.
This has been the pattern on each of the Judging sessions I’ve been to. After determining what’s not strictly relevant to the category, we’re left with the ones that have met with varying degrees of positive reaction from the Panel. Hopefully it equates to leaving three that everyone agrees are acceptable in being the official nominations. Of those, we must then agree on the winner. Which is the really tricky bit.
This year was interesting for a number of reasons. Opinion had focused quite strongly on two of the final three all the way through our discussions. So we were ultimately put to a vote of our own. This is the first time I’ve seen it come to this. Previously a clear winner has emerged that everyone agreed to without too much fuss. Our vote committed a decision there and then of course, leaving us with not much more to do than tuck into the lunch spread and chat about the world of film music, other awards and Monty Norman’s court case over origination of the James Bond Theme!
A week after our Judging session, the nominations were sent to the various publishing companies to be checked for typos, credits etc. Not having made any serious blunders (!), that decision became final and Nominees were notified privately. The idea being that they ensure they keep May 23rd free to attend the Award Ceremony.
This Column will appear on-line a day after the official announcement of the Nominations (seek out Music Week for more info). So without further ado I’m proud to announce that they are as follows:
DIE ANOTHER DAY – David Arnold
THE QUIET AMERICAN – Craig Armstrong
RABBIT-PROOF FENCE – Peter Gabriel
I trust that anyone who has observed the nominees in other awards this past year will agree this is a surprising selection.
I would love for there to be more than just three, or to be able to reveal who the other 5 contenders were, but rules is rules!
You can expect a full report of the Award Ceremony here sometime in June. Meanwhile I hope this has been illuminating, even if only in some small way, as to what goes on behind the scenes.
NEWS NUGGETS:
Usually I wouldn’t make a point of announcing the rejection of a score and replacement of a composer, but the announcement that Jerry Goldsmith is off of Richard Donner’s TIMELINE has sent a bit of a shock through the soundtrack community. For some time now I’ve been compiling a database of these events, and you can expect a Column on the subject a little later in the year. Meanwhile, I for one wish Brian Tyler (featured last Column) the very best of luck in taking over the project.
A few months back I presented a look forward to some of the most promising projects for music in the coming year. With several replacements already shifting the weight of expectation as far as I’m concerned, I thought I’d divert my hopes a little further - towards the most exciting projects of next year. Just look at these beauties:
THE ALAMO dir. John Lee Hancock, due 25-Dec.
Carter Burwell is on board this one, after the likelihood it would have been James Horner had Ron Howard stayed in the Director’s chair. That instantly makes it a far more interesting prospect, because at this point I feel I’ve heard enough of how Horner scores historical battle scenes. Burwell on the other hand has rarely dabbled in a historical context. ROB ROY is about it – no, A KNIGHT’S TALE doesn’t count! So the possibility of hearing him work away from the melancholy and quirky pots and pans that have prevailed through much of his work, is very promising indeed.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN dir. Sam Raimi, due 2-Jul.
Danny Elfman needs more superhero gigs, don’t you think? (!) I enjoyed what came out of the musical thinking behind SPIDER-MAN. Even though a debate still continues about there not being any Themes (there were), there was some terrific ideas in the score. Check out the very first Column here for a full review. With Doc Ock to characterise this time around, this should be a far more interesting sequel for the composer to work on than the tired re-tread that was MEN IN BLACK II…
HARRY POTTER & THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN dir. Alfonso Cuarón, due June (?)
Well, we’re all assuming John Williams is on this gig, but the guy seems to be increasingly busy these days. So much so last year that duties were shared with William Ross on CHAMBER OF SECRETS. Until much closer to the time I wouldn’t assume anything. That said, having Cuarón behind the camera for what is a much darker tale, should make this potent material for a more engaging score than merely reprising the themes that have already worn a little thin.
SHREK 2 dir. Kelly Asbury, due 18-Jun.
Harry Gregson-Williams
SHREK was last year’s Ivor Novello winner, so of course I should be looking forward to this sequel. So far, John Powell hasn’t been announced as working in collaboration with Gregson-Williams, and not knowing the precise split on duties last time around I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing for this solo effort. But on the strength of his other output (THE BORROWERS / SPY GAME / PHONE BOOTH), I don’t think there’ll be any loss of humorous hijinks.
THE STEPFORD WIVES dir. Frank Oz, due May.
The idea of David Arnold scoring this really pleases me. Sure, there’s a science fiction twist, but this should be a very different brand of sci-fi coming from the wizard called Oz.
THUNDERBIRDS dir. Jonathan Frakes, due 23-Jul.
After our little competition here a few weeks back for the TV score, the big movie has become increasingly big news. The idea of Hans Zimmer pulling the strings has met with mixed reaction, but personally I think this is a great opportunity for the guy to stretch his legs. Surely there’s no call for Lisa Gerrard on this one?
VAN HELSING dir. Stephen Sommers, due 21-May.
Hoo boy! This has the potential to have a truly fantastic score. Just so long as Alan Silvestri isn’t gonna get buried behind the wall of noise THE MUMMY RETURNS had, then it’ll be well worth working with Sommers again. Themes for VH, Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula and Wolfman? Expect BIG things.
WALLACE & GROMIT: THE GREAT VEGETABLE PLOT dir. Nick Park, due 27-Jun.
All anyone can say is it had better be Julian Nott this time…
And then there are the movies awaiting announcement of composer assignment. I’d love for Michael Kamen to bounce back with John McTiernan on DIE HARD 4: DIE HARDEST. I’m extremely keen to see what anyone will do with THE FANTASTIC FOUR and GHOST RIDER. But if there’s one movie scheduled for 2004 that’s likely to have an interesting musical saga, it’ll be Martin Scorcese’s THE AVIATOR. After GANGS OF NEW YORK, any composer signing on the dotted line will be treading very carefully…
ANNIVERSARIES:
We celebrate the following Birthdays:
Christopher Young (HELLRAISER / MURDER IN THE FIRST / THE CORE)
- Born 27 April 1957, Red Bank, New Jersey.
Elliot Goldenthal (ALIEN³ / INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE / FRIDA)
- Born 2 May 1954, New York, New York.
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