Welcome to Scoring for Films by Vito Lo Re and Fabrizio Campanelli. So, last time we introduced you a bit to the world... the magical world, but not always so funny, of the relationship between the composer and the director, who is almost always the Deus Ex Machina of everything. Let’s remember that the first remains of a director were found in a cave from the Paleolithic era, with a drawing of a camera. And up to this point, everything is more or less fine; because despite all the problems and situations we saw last time, in the end, it’s right that there is this dynamic and this clash, which in many cases also lead to remarkable artistic results. The problem arises when the person who intervenes in the musical production, about what is good or not good for the film is not the director, but other figures...

And we’ll list them starting from the most important one, to others, a bit less determinant... I could say the most important one is the producer... You might say the distributor, who today has a rather important say. So, the distributor - I presume you know - is the one who distributes the film in theaters or on platforms... I make a very good chocolate... Ok, now we have to sell and let people taste our chocolate.

But if there’s no truck to take it around... That’s why the distributor nowadays increasingly intervenes in film matters. And since - as we saw last time - the last in the assembly line of the film is the composer, sometimes the distributor intervenes and asks for changes to the film editing, perhaps concerning parts of the script that are deemed critical. Or that may spark debates, or perhaps raise censorship issues. We talked about it in Basic Instinct, where the distributor found something particularly divisive in his hands... The mess they got into was because of the protests from the Gay community.

If the distributor isn’t sure about the film, he won’t distribute it. And if they don’t distribute it... you might have made a masterpiece, but no one will see it. But to whom does the distributor send notes? To the producer. The producer has the task of gathering the wishes of the distribution and reporting them to the whole team.

Some producers are almost co-authors and intervene in every phase and in some cases, they even step on the director’s toes, right? Or, in some cases, they are particularly strong and have the unexpected power to impose themselves with the distribution. The producer often also intervenes and says: "The music here doesn't convince me..." because, as we said, it’s the only thing that can be changed at this stage... And what does the composer do? He makes three scenes. Not three different scenes, but the same scene with three different pieces of music.

One for the director, one for the producer, and one for the distributor. It actually happened to me. And who won among the three? The distributor. And the funny thing is that I had prepared it beforehand because I knew very well that... the director had his own vision, the producer had a completely different one...

The distributor was exactly a third way... a third way that I had foreseen because there was little time, so I prepared it beforehand... But this you can do on one scene, on two scenes, not on the entire soundtrack... Otherwise, you’d write three soundtracks... Almost... In fact, a composer friend of mine, who is NOT me, had to write an entire soundtrack, at the end of which nothing was right and he had to write it completely from scratch.

It never happened to me! But it did happen to a close friend o' mine... Anyway, let’s remember that the producer often also has his own vision of the film that they have to bring out with the director. Who then communicates with the composer? The producer, the director, of course, but sometimes even the editor. The editor has a lot of say.

Exactly, because the editor works hand in hand with the composer. You finish scoring a scene and you immediately send it to the editor. It’s the first thing you do, of course. So all the changes that are technically and artistically realized are always bounced between the composer and the editor. In the middle, other figures intervene. Because those we have mentioned so far are more or less understandable...

There’s a lovely figure you have defined as the "Non-publisher" and who often intervened. Why do we call them the "Non-publishers"? Because in recent years the market has changed drastically, and it can almost be said that the publisher's figure no longer exists; there are still big publishers, quite often, some production companies - in the American way - are themselves the publishers of the music. Does the publisher make money with the music from a film nowadays? No, not today, not today. Once they did, and they also had an entrepreneurial role involving risk.

They took risks, perhaps producing a soundtrack with a demanding budget, in terms of artists involved, wide orchestras... They took risks with the hope that the film would become a cult classic, perhaps a big success at the box office, and they would make a lot of money. Today, it's no longer like that because a big success at the box office is very rare, of course, and when we talk about success, it's a bit like that sad thing about the Gold Record that used to start with millions... And so, given these numbers, the publisher doesn't have great opportunities to make huge economic gains. So they always find themselves having to navigate between the production or the director who asks for the moon and real life. Alongside the publisher, there are other figures, such as the Music Supervisor.

Yes, a figure that is still relatively underused in Italy; in the United States, they are a figure of great importance and decision-making power, so often the Music Supervisor does not merely make suggestions, but expresses opinions. Additionally, sometimes - without wanting, of course, to raise doubts about the ethics of the entire category - it is in the interest of the Music Supervisor to perhaps remove your piece because they can insert one of "their own" because it may be linked to them for editorial reasons, tahy may have a share, they may have an interest. The Music Supervisor is the overseer of the music, who often starts precisely with library music: songs, published tracks... and often the Music Supervisor has a very important role and is very creative in designing that sound, that character... There are films made by the songs they contain. Absolutely, in fact, there are films where the composer of the original soundtrack may do very little, but what little they do is driven by the library tracks chosen by the Supervisor - or the editor - so strong that they imprint on the viewer's mind, who doesn't realize at that moment that the beautiful track that works incredibly well in that scene is not an original piece, but a library track.

So, through the use of library tracks, the Music Supervisor sometimes creates a parallel soundtrack to that of the composer. Another important figure is the Music Editor: the person who physically edits the music that the composer writes for the film, in some cases anticipating the editor and conducting experiments. I use the Music Editor mainly as a consultant, as an extra pair of ears; so not so much to edit the music on a scene, which is something that can be done - at least in a rough manner - in a few minutes. But in projects with very limited timeframes, even an activity that saves you even just an hour allows you not to waste time. The Music Editor chooses - for that shortened scene - the right cut, presents it to the editor, goes through a process that would otherwise take time away from you when you are busy with something else. Perhaps there has been a new edit, and they take your piece and adapt it, making it work.

Another category of people who intervene are Music Consultants who should really be, no offense, figures fairly marginal to the process of choosing the music. They should be consultants who are approached for certain needs, for certain choices... And as Fabrizio mentioned earlier, since time is always very short, perhaps that work done by the consultant saves someone else those two hours. And here we are slowly descending into the inferno... Sometimes a director hears from the music consultant: "This music doesn't convince me..." So, if it's an experienced director, he goes: "Who cares if it doesn't convince you..." and if it's a director perhaps a bit inexperienced... he might say: "But what if they're right?..." And from here on, we're in pure madness.

We’re in the chaos. Because it really happens that there are figures who work at the production company but have no competence, no authority, no musical role, but still give their opinion... Sometimes the producer says: "I showed this scene to my secretary, and she didn’t like it..." Everyone should do their own job, right? Otherwise, we go crazy if we listen to everyone who watches the film and isn’t convinced. I have some really juicy examples. On a film - I won’t say which one - there was a production delegate who was also in distribution, who started to express some doubts about the use of the orchestra.

And why? "Well, because we've done 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 films with an orchestra, now... Not this one." And you say... So, what should I use, the table? "I don’t know, something different..." The problem is that when this comes from someone who has no say, but is in charge of distribution, you also have to listen to them, right? And so show that you are actively working and that you are finding a solution.

Because these, after all, are not problems for the person who comes up with the big idea, right? You're the composer: the problem is yours. So I tell you what's working and what's not. Then you sort it out, you're the pro. Many times, especially in public institutions, there are the so-called "managers" who not everyone has quite understood exactly what they do and why they earn such generous salaries, which in some way they have to justify by being there, right? Many times they really nit-picks just to justify their own existence...

Mistakenly! Another time I received a comment like: "Is it possible to remove the piano?" "...yes, but why?... "Because, you know... I don't really like the piano... just the sound of the piano..." But are we concerned with what you like or don't like? Or are we concerned with what we need to convey?

Why don't we remove the color green from this movie? Because I don't like green, right? How should one behave in such situations? It's very difficult. First of all, you need to keep a cool head and have very strong nerves. Because -trust me - you that when you're working within a very tight timeframe, working countless hours a day, working hard to please all these people, then the last of the reckless ones comes along and for what that person says, they make you redo the scene...

And despite this, you always try to please everyone. Many times it's more a matter of attitude... Sometimes you say: "Look, I made this change..." Maybe the change is minimal. But the intention might be appreciated. "Now the film works!" This is not to mock anyone, absolutely, but because everyone has to do their job. And anyway, in the film's hierarchy, the first to have a say is the director, then the producer, the distributor, and all those we have listed.

But many times it's really frustrating to change a scene a thousand times... To do this activity called "music applied to images" you always have to start with the assumption that what you are doing is a job in continuous progress and continuous change. And in continuous collaboration. So it's not conceivable that you do this work assuming that the first idea will be the right one, that there will be no changes; there will always be changes: from the beginning, up until the day before the recording or release. More often than not, I've made musical choices that I was absolutely convinced of and after modifying them a thousand times I must say that the final result convinced me more than what seemed right to me at the start. Because now we've talked about misunderstandings and joked about some things.

But the result is always the product of collaboration and the input that comes from external figures from whom not only can you not ignore, but who may help to build your sensitivity. And when your sensitivity aligns with that of the image of the scene you're working on, it helps to make your music better. Ipse dixit. Well, let's take a little break, we'll see you in September, don't miss it, because we have a special episode in preparation... Actually, more than one. So subscribe, leave a like, and we'll see you in September.

See you soon, don't miss it. Bye!