Music, Arts & Entertainment
Feedback & Revisions
Lesson time 09:38 min
Not every score is perfect on the first try. Learn how Hans asks for feedback on his scores and how he approaches rewrites when it's not quite working.
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Topics include: Revising Early • Getting Feedback • Notes from Director
Teaches Film Scoring
From collaborating to scoring, Hans Zimmer teaches you how to tell a story with music in 31 exclusive video lessons.
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When I'm sitting next to a director and we're watching the piece of music up against the screen, and we're watching it together, he doesn't have to say anything to me, you know? I'm usually the first one to go, yes, I know, it's completely wrong. And I know what to do. And what was interesting, for instance, when I was working on Batman Begins in this collaboration between James Newton Howard, myself, and Chris Nolan-- because I was watching-- sort of slightly out-of-body experience, you know-- I was watching how tough it is on the director to actually go-- and he knows how hard you worked on it. And he doesn't-- you know, he doesn't want to go and be rude about it or whatever. But if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. And it's very hard to have to look somebody in the eye and go, I know you sweated bullets over this thing, but it's just not working for me. It's tough. And so when it was the three of us-- when it was James, Chris, and I-- if there was something that Chris didn't like about an approach, or if there was a better idea to be had, or whatever, it was a conversation. He didn't have to just look me straight in the eye. Because as I'm going, oh my god, what am I going to do, James was also really coming up with, you know, hey, what about if we do this and try this. So revisions are just about getting it to be better. And better isn't necessarily the quality of the music. But it's understanding what we are trying to say in this scene and just getting better at executing it. The first revision really happens as I write this musical diary, which is just my way of figuring myself into the story, into the material, into the director's brain, into the style we're going to be presenting this thing in. And it's really me learning the movie. So there is a revision process that goes on all the time. Even though I don't go backwards, as I move forwards, I am, you know, revising my aim. I mean I'm getting more precise about what it is-- you know, what the thing itself is-- that I'm trying to say. And music is indefensible in a funny way. I mean, one of the problems with music is it's indefensible. You cannot argue about music. You either like it or you don't. It either moves you or it doesn't. So sometimes, if it literally becomes-- doesn't do anything for me, great. OK, chuck it out. Start again. But usually, by the time I play something to a director, I know why those notes are there, just as he knows why that scene is there, or why that shot is there, or why the camera is at a certain angle, and why this is a night scene as opposed to some breakfast scene even though the light would've been better at 5 o'clock in the morning, et cetera. But we sort of intellectually can defend the thing. The only thing we can't do is-- I will never be able to talk you into liking a certain piece of music, and I will not ever attempt it. Because I just-- what's the point? W...
About the Instructor
Hans Zimmer didn’t see a film until he was 12 years old. Since then, he’s scored over 150 films, including Inception, The Lion King, and The Dark Knight. In his MasterClass, the self-taught Academy Award-winner teaches how he creates sounds from nothing, composes compelling character themes, and scores a movie before ever seeing it. By the end, you’ll have everything you need to start film scoring.
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Hans Zimmer
From collaborating to scoring, Hans Zimmer teaches you how to tell a story with music in 31 exclusive video lessons.
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