The story tells that filmmusic composition is a one-man job. But stories are far from reality. At the side of Hans Zimmer, Klaus Badelt, Steve Jablonski or Harry Gregson-Williams at Mediaventures is Geoff Zanelli, a newcomer composer who handled musical parts of some of the biggest budget movies of the last years as The Last Samurai (Edward Zwick), Matchstick Men (Ridley Scott), Pirates of Caribbeans (Gore Verbinski) Pearl Harbor (Michael Bay) or Chicken Run (Nick Park). We had the pleasure to talk to him via mail to have his point of view on filmmusic composition. The interview will be devided in three parts. This first part will mostly talk about composition in its own, refering to Geoff additional music.

Since your arrival to Mediaventures, you gain credits writing additional music for composers like Hans Zimmer, Steve Jablonski, Harry Gregson-Williams and Klaus Badelt. As the process of composition is a complex one and involves many people, can you tell us a bit more about the way you engage yourself in the filmusic process.
 
I think I just throw myself into the fire so to speak. I like to be involved as early as possible. It's one thing to come on board and be told "ok this will be a synth heavy score with lots of guitars and an anthemic choir" but another thing entirely to have been there when that idea took shape, to know WHY it is as opposed to just WHAT it is, and to be there to contribute to that process.
 
Regarding your practical and theorical background, what make you choose to enter the world of filmmusic instead of classical one ?
 
I've simply always loved films for as long as I can remember. Willy Wonka was the first time I was conscious of music in a film, and I remember it being this sort of childish epiphany, like "wait. look what this is doing here!" I love the process in film, the way all sorts of artists get together to make something bigger than they are themselves. And remember I came from a pop background in a way too. I didn't actually play an instrument until I was 14 years old. I quit playing sports and locked myself in a room with a guitar for years. I had a lot of catching up to do!
 
Is there a difference of nature between additional writing and co-composing or do you feel this is the same process ?
 
Well, it depends on the project really. Sometimes I'm an arranger, which can mean anything from reworking someone's hero theme for a love scene to creating a completely different take stylistically from a theme's original conception. Other times there's a completely blank slate and in that case it's identical to co-composing something, at least from a musical standpoint. There have been times too when I held the same responsibility as the composer who had top billing, where the director or producer would deal directly with me about a cue and I had to answer to them without any middleman. I think the real difference is between "Additional Arranging" and "Additional Composing," but it's all very hard to define really. If I change the harmony, tempo and key, then add a transition am I composing or arranging? I don't really get hung up on definitions like that though. That's one thing I think is universal among the composers here; our egos are left at the door and we're all working toward the same goal, to make the film a good as we can.
 
There is two point of view about writing additional music. From a purist point of view, seeing many composers listed after the show on the music credits is a bit ennoying as you may want to have one name for all the music. Now, from a composer point of view, what can you say about that form of composition heard for exemple in Pirates of Caribeans ?
 
I think first of all that there's this myth about film music, particularly in the past, that it was always a one-man job. Let me put it this way, and I'm not going to name names or anything [laughs], but... ok, I have some friends who I've kept in touch with over the years that maybe I knew in school or from my early days at Hans' studio. Now they'll call every once in a while going "hey I saw your name on Pirates!" or whatever's out at the time. They're amazed that I have a credit, and it's because they do much the same job I do for other people but their name doesn't go up at the end of the film. I've heard "they're recording my cue over at Fox today but I can't go cause the main composer doesn't want the director to know about me," so the ghostwriter still exists today, and because the industry is so competitive people are willing to put themselves through that. I probably was too, but by a bit of luck I fell in with the right crowd, so to speak! I've never once been a ghostwriter on anything, not ever.
 
Well, except I co-scored a short film once with someone I hadn't worked with before and he barred me from getting a credit. He left our artist commune a while ago though.
 
Now what's really going on is that Hans, and consequently the people who've come up through working with Hans, fight very hard to secure credits for their help. I don't know if he was the first guy ever to do that, but he's set a great example for something that will hopefully become industry standard. You can imagine how nervous this makes composers who don't credit their help though.
With regards to Pirates specifically, I think that came down to having such a short schedule more than anything else.
 
This led us to one of the big point of filmmusic composition, the relation between music and image. I made my own way into the definition not so precise of the process and I think that maybe a filmcomposer is the one that have to make people hear emotions when the director make them see. Do you agree with that or do you have your own definition of the work ?
 
It's not as simple as that, but you could sum it up that way, yeah.  It all works together, the script, the photography, the acting, the lighting, the music, all of it works together to create the experience.
 
About the way a composer imports or not his point of view to the movie, you say that  : "I like to think I work for the film rather than for a composer, or even the director and producers.  I think that's one of the things that makes film exciting."  So, the composer may take distance between the movie and himself so that he becomes a clean page, that's it ?
 
Not quite.  I mean that most importantly I work for the movie, then the director and producers.  I mean we're all aspiring to create "the movie" which is greater than the sum of it's parts.
 
Steve Jablonski, Klaus Badelt and Harry Gregson-Williams are different composers with their own way of thinking and composing. Do you have to adapt to them or do you come with your own musical point of view ?And what do you think they give to you and you to them doing that kind of collaboration ?
 
I think you'll find each composer has a unique way of looking at things. I get called a lot to do action scenes by some people, probably because I like to bash things [laughs]. And Harry calls me a lot because I'm a guitar player. But I don't really alter my approach based on who I'm working with. It's like chess players wondering if they should "play the board" or "play the opponent," or lawyers who cater either to the law or the particular judge. I like to think I work for the film rather than for a composer, or even the director and producers. I think that's one of the things that makes film exciting. There's this team effort from top to bottom where we're all aspiring to please this "thing" which is the film. And filmmaking is at its best when everyone is all aiming squarely at this one thing, which is what the film wants to be. It takes on a life of its own.
 
But back to your question... I get called by these guys because they want my particular point of view on something. There's a definite exchange of ideas that goes on between myself and the composers I work with. We had all the composers in one room together recently, and Hans said "each and every one of you has shown me how to be a better composer." That right there is the driving force behind the whole group of composers here. Each of us makes the others better. It's about raising the bar.
 
Writters of "additional" music are nowadays being known more and more as people, fans of course, want to know who compose what. Is it the way things should have been before additional writters turned to ghost ?
 
It's maybe just a sign of the times, and things changing in the industry. There was a time in human history when it wasn't foolish to think the earth was flat, but it's hard to say whether it should or shouldn't have been that way. We know better now though. Hopefully fair credit will become and remain an industry standard.
 
Is there a way to creation in filmmusic or is it just a word that have been banned for decades in the businness ?
 
You know, I don't actually see it that way at all.  If I put on the radio and I hear Bono singing, I'm going to know it's a U2 song, but that doesn't mean all U2 songs sound the same; it means Bono has a recognizable voice.  Does Black Rain sound like Backdraft to you actually?  To me it sounds like different music from the same artist because there's a recognizable voice there.  To me, it's better to have this personality, this voice which develops over the years than to just put out something, well, voiceless.  There will be a common thread between scores of any composer; that's the voice I'm talking about and you'll hear it in my work too as time goes on.  For me, that's what's interesting about artists and I don't see it as a fault.
 
Hans Zimmer kept saying that Hollywood will still be with you, as a composer, if you are still able to wrote melodic and efficient themes. Do you agree with that ?
 
Definitely.
 
Hearing your musical parts, as far as I know them, it seems that you compose a lot with electronics as some composers of mediavenutres do. On the use of synths in composition, what can you say about the fact that people think it is not a traditional way of composition but a kind of perversion of the musical language?
 
That's interesting you say that actually. I don't really consider myself a big synth guy, just because I see what the other guys around me are doing with their synths. Usually I think I'm more organic, but maybe you've been hearing Equilibrium which is the most synth heavy thing I've done. As far as it being a perversion of the musical language, to me that's absurd. I think artists have a right, maybe even an obligation to explore new territory and survey all the tools at their disposal. That doesn't mean you use every one of them every moment of every score, but there's no reason to limit your soundscape at all. With synthesizers, I break them out when it's appropriate, but everything I did on The Time Machine was organic, or Passionada, Ned Kelly, etc.
 
When writing additional music, do you work with some of the composer themes or do you have to create new materials for the movies ?
 
A combination of both. There are no hard and fast rules about it. You may see a special mention if there's a large contribution like for instance what Klaus did for Hannibal or "The Jablonsky Variations" in Tears Of The Sun. It's really different for each movie.
 
Yes, it is a fact that after those moments of pleasure, entertainement and consumerisation, people may want a bit of slow down to the fast and furious run of the world. The return of alterworld and fantasy world taken right from our imagination make it as if it was the only way to stop that, in order to escape just for a moment. Movies have always work like that and music from the movies was the reflect of that kind of view. As you say, nobody know how many time it will last but music is on its way and manage to deal with that.
So, have you got as a filmmusic composer a preference between fiction, drama, comedy or action movie to compose for or, as a newcomer you just want to experience ?
 
The only thing I prefer is that the next project is not too similar to the one I just did.
 
Next to follow : Working With Hans and Mediaventures
 
Thanks to Geoff Zanelli for his kindness and the time he spent answering those questions.
Interview done via internet by Fabrice Roux
Copyright www.hans-zimmer.com