In our first part, Geoff Zanelli introduce himself and talked about the way he manage to compose some of his additional score. Wether or not it is a secondary job as opposed to the main composer has never been his feeling. So, back to the process, we are going to hear more from the newcomer composer of Oz about his interaction with Hans Zimmer and Mediaventures during Pirates of Caribeans and The Last Samurai.
 
What is your relation with Hans Zimmer since your introduction to the studio ?
 
I came on board in 1994 as an intern for his studio actually, which led to working as John Powell's assistant when he did Face/Off, and from that I gained exposure because I was writing additional music for Powell's scores. So at a certain point I joined the team as a freelance composer. My working relationship obviously changed from the early days running a tape machine through the present where I've proven myself and earned his trust. And our relationship extends outside of the workplace of course. My wife even makes his children's birthday cakes!
 
From time to time, Hans Zimmer listed everyone that worked with him on the movies he made, even if it was difficult and unclear for some reasons to know who did what, despite his will. Now he uses a lot of co-composers and additional writers and he got problems with that as some think it is a mark of his loss of talent. As you work with him on a lot of his projects, what can you say about his way of composing today ? Did he lost or gain something ?
 
You know, I don't think talent is something to be lost or gained really. I think it's about whether or not one's talents are relevant at a particular time, and Hans' talents are going to be relevant for as long as he writes. His way of composing is different on each project though. Once you think you have him figured out, his method changes, he finds a new style (for instance Matchstick Men) or something new happens to make the process different. A lot of artists do that to keep things fresh.
 
That's the way Zimmer keeps going. From the beginning, Black Rain for exemple, his style has been copied again and again so many times he must have change for something new. Then came Backdraft, and it was the same thing again. Not that it is not a bad thing to have your style copied but the mirror turns to show the wrong face, and as you say, let you do the same without knowing it. But, on the other hand, there is maybe a contradiction doing this. This style is what made you known by others, producers for exemple, and made you gain some credits as they want you to do that kind of stuff again. Jerry Goldsmith sums up that by saying he will only do Jerry Goldsmith, not someone else.
 
About Film credits, is Hans Zimmer the only one to compose with additional writers or just the one who credit them ?
 
He's absolutely not the only one to compose with additional writers. I can't speak for everyone of course, but I touched upon it earlier, that there are people out there still ghostwriting. Does everyone use additional writers? I don't know that for sure, but I do know that there are a whole lot of hardworking people out there who don't see a credit for it.
 
Is the Mediaventures studio where you have your own material still a good place to compose and work?
 
Absolutely. Composing is a lonely job so having a bunch of composers around is very inspiring. There's a great spirit there too. I'm always forcing people to listen to my work in progress [laughs], and they do that with me too. Someone always has a different perspective, and again I think that raises the bar when it comes to music. Still another answer to the old myth of composing for filmmusic. [smile] But it is close to the emulation again that Hans want to have for his studio between people and rooms. He refers a lot to the way artists at the beginning of the century composed groups in art history, not only to talk to each other but to create a kind of spirit, something generic that you can feel all around inside them. A recent documentary about John Carpenter seen on european television showed the inside of the studio as he was visiting it during the night. By talking with Hans Zimmer, this made us see a lot more of that kind of "factory" as described for the best and the worst by Carpenter himself.
 
Is It good to talk in this words about the Studio or is it much more of a live and energetic form than what it shows from outside ?
 
It's a very live thing! You have to understand this isn't about emulating another composer, it's about being brought on board because of your particular point of view. It's about being surrounded by other artists in your field who have something that inspires you.
 
THE LAST SAMURAI
 
You've just finished working on The Last Samurai with Hans Zimmer. How was it ?
 
That was a great experience. We had a generous schedule too, so that meant there were less all out panic moments [laughs]. And Ed Zwick is a joy to work with. He'd come by with Steve Rosenblum (the picture editor) and review things we were working on. Come to think of it, this was probably the smoothest project I can remember doing, probably because the film was just so great to begin with.
 
As info given after some of his answers, Geoff Zanelli confirm that the Ninja action and Final charge scenes were both composed by himself.
 
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
 
Reading Cd credits and a lot of interview about that one, it seems that a lot of mediaventures composers were involved in orchestrating and arranging Klaus Badelt Themes. What did you do specifically on that one ?
 
[laughs] It's all a blur! I did a lot though, about 25 minutes of the score came out of my studio as either additional composition or arrangements. The whole build up to the battle on the decks of the two ships was mine, affectionately referred to as "the car chase." And I did a lot of the swordfighting in the caves at the end, the heroic action stuff.
 
Yeah, I understand that as Klaus Badelt in the recent interview done for Filmscore monthly magazine said he had to compose a miniature score from which he could take and rewrite some materials much more faster and easier. Only one theme for the curse and one for the Barbossa pirate, but due to the lack of time, he said that his work turn to be at the end of the process a kind of manager work instead of a composer one.
 
What was it like during this time? It seems that the whole mediaventures composers teamed up to form the group Hans manage to create at the beginning of the studio, a general effort by all people to achieve one task.
 
Well, that's kind of why I say "it's all a blur," because everything was moving so quickly during the process you couldn't really keep up. The moment you finished one thing there was something else ready to do urgently. It was Klaus' responsibility to write the score, so when he talks about managing the composers, what that means is he was there in the trenches making sure everything was being carried out as efficiently as possible. There were so many composers and arrangers on it that he had more people to work with on a daily basis, and the only reason for such a big team was the schedule. Really what Pirates proved was the whole concept of this team of composers who all come together to make film music, and the schedule really put that to the test.
 
This is the kind of efforts that some filmmusic fans don't really understand. As you say, this is the purist point of view referring to the myth of the Golden Age, one man for one music but they may have forgotten that in some case filmmusic is not really about music only but music referring to the image and sequence.
 
On that point, can we say that the business process in the film industry have influenced a lot the way filmmusic composers do their job ? Thay have less and less time for more and more music to compose.
 
I think really the process is different with certain types of scores than it used to be. It's actually much faster to write a score with a pencil on paper than it is to program these big mock-ups like we do, but there's a trade off. It used to be the first time a director heard his score with the orchestra was on the scoring stage, so what happens if you get to that stage and the director realizes he doesn't like something? Big trouble! You can re-write of course and this still happens, but if you play your mock-up weeks before the scoring date, with the orchestra samples approximating the final product, you give the director and producer a much better idea of what the score is going to be. So now they have more time to try new things and there's less risk on their part, but of course the composer and arrangers lose all that time to programming the mock-up. So that's what's happening, it's more and more important to make a synthetic mock-up which means more and more work is generated in the scoring of a film, which means you need either a longer schedule or a dedicated programmer. You can see how this eats into the schedule too, but it's ultimately a great way to work.
 
Is the use of the temp-track still enoying for the composer when he got to go into the movie for the first time ?
 
It can be, and you'll hear about "temp-love" and what have you, but I see the other side of the coin too. A lot of times the temp score points to a solution for a scene. It may also point out specifically what NOT to write! [laughs] You can lay a foundation for the score, which is why it's important to know and trust your editor.
 
With Hollywood movies being cut and cut till the last minutes, do additional writers work a lot more at the end than the main composer ?
 
I wouldn't say that necessarily. I think the music editor's role becomes very important near the end. I remember on The Time Machine, I scored the hunt scene where the Moorlocks are rounding up the Eloi out in this bamboo forest. Now the scene I scored was nearly a minute longer than it was in the final edit, but they made little picture edits throughout the whole scene. Of course we had already recorded the orchestra to the old edit. So I remember watching the scene in its final version at a screening and just being amazed at what our music editor Chris Brooks had done to make it all work. It was seamless. I'm the composer, I'm supposed to shout "What have you done to my beautiful piece!" [laughs] It was so well done you wouldn't know it was written a different way. But I'd say at the end of the process, the main composer, the additional composers and the music editor have their hands full every minute they're awake, and probably most of the minutes they're asleep...
 
To be continued ...
Last part of the interview will talk about Geoff Zanelli new emperiments in the videogames industry and, at last, a first look at his new work still in process
 
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