Composing for the Cinema: The Theory and Praxis of Music in Film

310 Pages·2013·2.2 MB·English

by  Ennio Morricone

Composing for the Cinema
The Theory and Praxis of Music in Film
Ennio Morricone and Sergio Miceli
TranslatedbyGillian B.Anderson
LessonstranscribedbyRitaPaganiandeditedbyLauraGallenga
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BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Morricone,Ennio.
[Comporreperilcinema.English]
Composingforthecinema:thetheoryandpraxisofmusicinfilm/EnnioMorriconeandSergio
Miceli;translatedbyGillianB.Anderson.
pages;cm
Translationof:Morricone,Ennio.Comporreperilcinema,2001.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-8108-9240-8(cloth:alk.paper)--ISBN978-0-8108-9241-5(pbk.:alk.paper)--ISBN
978-0-8108-9242-2(electronic)
1.Motionpicturemusic--Instructionandstudy.2.Composition(Music)I.Miceli,Sergio,1944-II.
Anderson,GillianB.,1943-III.Title.
MT64.M65M67132013
781.5'4213--dc23
2013024914
TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican
NationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
TothestudentsofthecoursesatSiena,Basel,andFiesole

Contents
Translator’sNote vii
GillianB.Anderson
Editor’sNote ix
LauraGallenga
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
1 Introduction:TheComposerintheCinema 1
2 AudiovisualAnalysis—Part1 11
3 ProductionProcedures 53
4 AudiovisualAnalysis—Part2:ElementsfortheDefinitionofa
Film-MusicalDramaturgy 73
5 PremixandFinalMix:TheRecordingandSoundDesign 129
6 CompositionalElements:Timbre,UseofThemes,
CharacteristicStylisticFeatures,andCombinationsofStyles 163
7 QuestionsandAnswers 217
Appendix1:ComposingfortheCinema:AManifesto 249
Appendix2:WritingfortheCinema:AspectsandProblemsofa
CompositionalActivityofOurTime 253
v
vi Contents
Filmography 261
Bibliography[to1999] 271
Index 277
AbouttheAuthorsandTranslator 295
Translator’s Note
Gillian B. Anderson
Withalmostfourhundredscorestohiscredit,EnnioMorriconeisoneofthe
most prolific and influential film composers working today. In movie after
movie his listeners come away with the conviction that he has achieved
something special, and this is a conviction shared by composers, scholars,
and fans alike. For all those who have wondered how he does it, these
compositionlessonswillexplainalot.Theyaredesignedforcomposers,but
Morricone’sexpositionsareeasytounderstandandfascinatingeventothose
without any musical training. To those with a musical background, they are
of course even more profound. He discusses his relationship with directors
like Leone, Pontecorvo, Pasolini, Petri, Scott, Beatty,Tornatore, the Taviani
brothers,Zeffirelli, Joanou,andJoffé, analyzes someof hisownscores,and
revealsmotivations that havenot beentakeninto accountin cinemastudies,
for the spaghetti western, for example. He describes recording session tech-
niques and technology and many other specifics of his profession as a film
composer.
Some things are especially noteworthy. Although Morricone’s tunes are
famous, he is not interested in melody per se. While giving the average
spectatorsomethingtofollow,hetriestowritemusicthatrevealstheperson-
alityoftheplayersandthecharacterofthedrama.Hetriestocomposemusic
thatisnotjustdescriptiveofwhatisalreadycommunicatedbytheimageand
thatmaintainsitsowninternallogic.Whiledoingwhatthedirectorwants,he
tries to addsomethingthat only themusiccan. Heispassionateaboutmusi-
calexpression,enteringandexitingcarefullytomaximizethemusic’seffect,
creating dynamic changes by the addition and subtraction of instruments,
relying on implicit sync points as often as possible, doing all the orchestra-
tionshimselfsothattheorchestralcolorsandemphasisthathewantswillbe
realized. He always sets himself some purely musical challenge so that he
vii
viii Translator’sNote
willnotfeellikeamereartisan/servantofthedirectorbutanartistinhisown
right. Moreover, as Sergio Miceli points out, frequently Morricone uses the
music as a force for redemption. These and many other particulars combine
toexplainwhyhismusicalwaysseemstobedoingsomethingspecial,butin
theendheinsiststhatthereisnoone“right”or“correct”solutionforafilm’s
score.
Hiscolleague,musicologistSergioMiceli,isapioneerinthefieldoffilm
music.Althoughmostprofessionalfilmcomposersanalyzemoviesintuitive-
ly, beginners, nonmusicians, and professionals alike will benefit from his
well-defined,rigorousformalanalyses.Micelidescribesmanyofthesignsor
signals that a director, cameraperson, scenery designer, costumer, actor,
sounddesigner,andscriptwriterleaveinafilm.Acomposermusttakethese
into accountwhendecidinghowto setthefilmto music. Micelishowshow
differentkindsofpreexistingmusiccauseonetoreadthesamescenediffer-
ently. He analyzes a number of films according to his system of levels,
thereby describing a variety of musical solutions to many different kinds of
film, and he even shows how sound design can be analyzed. As they have
worked together for many years and do not always agree, Morricone and
Miceliareshowntointeractduringtheirlessonstoourmutualbenefit.
This text is a transcription of lessons delivered live. Although we cannot
run the films or play the recordings that were used, where possible I have
added information about DVDs, videotapes, and excerpts on YouTube so
that thereader canrun theactualexamples andlistento andwatchthefilms
being discussed. In this way one can partially reconstitute the original live
lessons.
IwouldliketothanktheFilmMusicFoundationforitssupportatanearly
stage of the work of translation and the University of Illinois Press, which
published excerpts from chapter 4 in Music and the Moving Image, volume
4,number2(Summer2011),pages1–29.Finally,IwouldliketothankLidia
Bagnoli for her help and also Mario Militello of the Centro Sperimentale di
Cinematografia.
Editor’s Note
Laura Gallenga
This handbook was Ennio Morricone’s idea. The text was transcribed and
assembled from diverse recordings made during the film music seminars
conductedbyMorriconeandSergioMicelibetween1991and2000.1Tothe
transcriptionof therecorded materialMiceliaddedmusicalsketches, graph-
ics, and various notes and remarks he had accumulated over the years from
both teachers.2 Miceli and the editor have performed the complex work of
confronting and choosing between the different versions of the same theme
from different editions of the seminar and in fact have created an ideal
reconstruction that is a synthesis of lessons actually delivered over many
years.
Asforthestructureoftheseminarandthereforethebook,itisimportant
toemphasizethatthepartstreatedpredominantlybyMorriconecontaincon-
cepts expressed by Miceli, and vice versa. In the parts closer to his compe-
tence,MicelirefersoftentothethemestouchedonbyMorricone.Therefore,
a selective and fragmented lecture would have restored neither the sense of
the original lessons nor the thoughts of each teacher, as the work was based
on alternation, exchange, integration, and the superimposition of the contri-
butions.
Inevitablywehavehadto omit theanalyticalexercisesperformedbythe
seminarparticipantsandthediscussionspertainingtothestudents’composi-
tional attempts. Their voices, however, are present in chapter 7, “Questions
and Answers,” a radical selection of the numerous questions asked of the
professors during the different editions of the seminar. Further, by Miceli’s
expresswish,hishistoricalcompendiumofmusicforfilm,focusedaboveall
onthesilentfilmperiodandintendedasageneratorofpersistentdramaturgi-
calmodels,hasbeenomittedinthistranscription.
ix