A fascinating – albeit gory – insight into the process of both writing for screen and filmmaking.
There was little information provided in the listing for this event, but based on previous composition for screen events attended and played for at the Royal Academy of Music, a collection of short films, perhaps animations, devised from collaborations between academy composers and budding filmmakers had been anticipated.
What unfolded instead was three action scenes from The Head of Joaquín Murrieta, a contemporary western series developed by Amazon Prime, primarily in Spanish, with no subtitles. In the beautiful venue of the Angela Burgess Recital Hall, the expectation was certainly not to see someone decapitated and their head put on a stick, a woman cut a bullet out of her own leg, and another have three of her fingers blown off. Four masters students were each given a choice between the three scenes, which were screened one after the other, followed by a Q&A with their professor, Andrea Balency Béarn, who was the actual composer for the series. During the discussion, she spoke about how violence and gore is sometimes part and parcel of composing for screen. However, some form of content warning would have been appreciated.
Despite this, the evening provided a genuinely fascinating insight into the world of composition for film. For the composition students, it appeared to be their first venture into film composition, and their contemporary approach to developing the music was refreshing. The composers were encouraged to take a modern approach, with limited instrumentation, sorry orchestral soundworld of the golden age westerns, which led to some really unique use of sample manipulation, electronic elements, and beautiful mixing. A techno beat in a western was not something expected, but it worked perfectly.
It was intriguing to see the footage at such an early stage of production. The scenes lacked completed Foley work, final sound effects, colour grading, and some visual effects; at one point, a green tracking marker remained visible on an actor’s leg.
It was evident during the Q&A that the audience was really engaged, with both musicians and non-musicians asking questions and learning more about the complexities of composing for screen.
The composers spoke about allowing space for sounds you can feel rather than sounds you can hear, and finding space for the audience to respond to both what’s happening visually and musically. Coupled with the challenge of maintaining intensity within an action scene, this made clear the fine balance all four composers found within their work.
One of the evening’s most effective moments came where Maria cleverly blurred the boundaries between diegetic and non-diegetic sound through her snare drum writing, building emotional weight and complementing her use of harmonica throughout the scene.
The evening concluded with a discussion about artificial intelligence in the industry, and the room was fortified by the statement that standardisation in music might be resisted with originality. That originality shone through in each of the composers’ writing, and the students shared that art is about communicating and connecting with other humans.
So although there will probably never be a rush to watch a modern western series, the evening itself was thoroughly enjoyable, and it was a pleasure to have had the opportunity to attend and converse with some very promising young composers.