8 minute read
The music of life
As the WSA opens up its awards to non-fi ction scores, documentary composers Nainita Desai, Miriam Cutler and Nathan Halpern discuss the process and challenges of making documentary music. Nikki Baughan reports
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usic has been intrinsic to lmmaking ever since the earliest visual pioneers picked up a camera. Before the advent of recorded dialogue, lmmakers relied on music — then, live orchestral scores — to guide their viewers through the action. And, despite the evolution of special e ects, the way a lm sounds remains essential, with music choices able to set, or alter, the tone of any scene.
Many composers have become famous in their own right but the household names — think Hans Zimmer, John Barry, Danny Elfman or Ennio Morricone — work almost exclusively on ction features, spe-
ci cally the blockbusters that draw the biggest audiences. Yet composers are equally as crucial — and creative — in the world of non- ction. From this year, scores from feature-length documentaries will be eligible for the WSA lm composer of the year, best original song, discovery of the year and the public choice awards.
“ ere has been a certain amount of snobbery, in that documentaries are considered to be the poor cousin of ction,” observes Nainita Desai, who has worked as both sound designer and composer for features, documentary and television, and is the rst documentary composer to be nominated for WSA lm composer of the year for her work on American Murder: e Family Next Door, Persona: e Dark Truth Behind Personality Tests and e Reason I Jump.
“But that attitude is changing, I think, because of the input of streamers like Net ix. ere’s more money, there’s a lot of crew crossover between documentary and ction, there’s more time in the edit. ere are docs that are taking on the aesthetic creativity and high production values of feature lms.” at, Desai says, has led to a willingness from lmmakers to try something new with scoring. “Music for documentaries has been seen, generally, as wallpaper music,” she says. “But the thought now is, ‘How can we tell this story in a creative way, and engage audiences in fresh, innovative ways?’”
Desai points in particular to her “experimental” collaboration with lmmaker Jerry Rothwell on e Reason I Jump, a documentary that uses sound to immerse viewers in the world of its non-verbal autistic protagonists. “I spent 15 months cra ing that score,” she explains. “I worked closely with the sound designer [Nick Ryan] and director on establishing the true voice of the lm. I brought in cellist Elisabeth Wiklander, who is autistic herself; she brought a very personal perspective to her interpretation of my music.”
Authenticity, says Desai, is key when it comes to composing for documentary, where real people and real lives are depicted on screen. “It is important to me to get to the heart of the lm, and to tell the story in the most authentic and sensitive way possible.”
Miriam Cutler, composer
tor on establishing the true voice of the lm. I brought in cellist Elisabeth Wiklander, who is autistic herself; she brought a very personal perspective to her interpretation of my music.”
Authenticity, says [winning two awards]. ere I was introduced to the international community of documentary lmmakers, and it was like I had found my home.” Since then, Cutler has sought out documentary projects that speak to her values, drawn to independent productions with relatively small crews, which enable her to make a valuable creative contribu-
(Right) RBG, scored by Miriam Cutler
Heart of the matter
at is a sentiment shared by veteran US composer Miriam Cutler, who has built a career scoring issueled documentaries such as Ghosts Of Abu Ghraib, e Hunting Ground and RBG. A er leaving college, Cutler — who describes herself as a feminist and an activist — began working as a researcher for publicinterest lawyers, before leaving to follow her passion for music.
“For 10 years I was composing for low-budget lms, horror movies and corporate work,” she recalls. But it wasn’t enough. “I woke up one day and said, ‘My life has no meaning.’ I was thinking of quitting. But then I met this guy named Arthur Dong at a screening, and he was working on a documentary called Licensed To Kill. I was oored when he told me what the lm was about [an exploration of high-pro le anti-gay murders]. I worked on it, and then it went to Sundance [winning two awards]. ere I was introduced to the international community of documentary lmmakers, and it was like I had found my home.” Since then, Cutler has sought out documentary projects that speak to her values, drawn to independent productions with relatively small crews, which enable her to make a valuable creative contribu-
Nathan Halpern, composer
tion and, crucially, retain ownership of her music.
“Each of the lms [I have worked on] have resonated with me,” she says. “With e Hunting Ground [Kirby Dick’s exposé about the culture of rape on US college campuses], for example, I was an activist about the rape issue in college, so it was very close to my heart. And Ruth Bader Ginsburg is my hero and a feminist icon, so that lm [RBG] was a no-brainer.”
Whatever the subject matter, truth is at the heart of everything. “ e stakes are much higher in terms of responsibility,” she says. “Most good documentary lmmakers adhere to journalistic values. ere’s a lot of consideration of ethics and that feeds into my responsibility as a composer, as we all know how manipulative music can be.
“It’s very important that I’m telling the same story as the director, so the lmmakers and I have deep discussions,” she continues. “Sometimes they don’t feel comfortable with the music process, as they feel they need a vocabulary. But the truth is, they just need to be able to talk about the emotional purpose of the music, and I can translate that.”
Cinematic scores
For US composer Nathan Halpern, who has scored features including Swallow and documentaries such
Nainita Desai — pictured working on the music for video game Telling Lies — is the first documentary score composer to be nominated for WSA film composer of the year
Nainita Desai, composer
as One Child Nation, music is an essential tool for any filmmaker.
“When I’ve scored non-fiction films, I’m generally commissioned by directors who want me to use music to make the work feel more cinematic,” he says. “A rigorous, thematic score is the prime way to achieve this.
“An exciting challenge in bringing this approach to a non-fiction film is that they are often unconventional in their editorial structure,” he continues. “You have to find a structure in the score that enhances the dramatic unity. In the case of a multiple-protagonist non-fiction story like Rich Hill [about three boys living in an impoverished midwestern town] or Minding The Gap [about young men in America’s rust belt], I’ll create conceptual or emotional themes that are shared among the characters.”
Halpern agrees there are different considerations when it comes to composing for non-fiction narratives. “For the more personal, character-based documentaries that I have scored, we have tended to keep the music out of the observational scenes as much as possible,” he explains. “The preference will be for the music to enter into the aftermath of such sequences, and in more subjective montages. In this way, the music can leave space for a feeling of authenticity.
“My greatest commitment in both narrative and documentary film is to express the emotional truth of the story,” he continues. “Depending on the cinematic needs of the film, this might be attained through a subtle approach or something more heightened. For HBO’s In The Same Breath, Nanfu Wang’s film about the pandemic, we discussed the idea that the score would be bold and apocalyptic. This aesthetic would be the one most truthful to the core of the story, which is truly one of horror.” n s CASE STUDY FOR SAMA
Nainita Desai describes the process of scoring the Bafta-winning documentary For Sama
“The original brief from Ed Watts, For Sama’s co‑director [along with Waad Al-Kateab, also the film’s main protagonist] was to write a very Hollywood cinematic score.
“I wrote 80 scenes in that vein. After 12 weeks of editing, we realised the film wasn’t quite working. No-one could put their finger on why, until we realised the narrative spine of the film is actually a relationship between a mother and daughter — it’s much more intimate than a war movie. So the music no longer worked; it was too overwhelming and manipulating.
“We went back to the drawing board, and I drew on my background as a sound designer. We had this crumbling city of Aleppo, where you can hear bombing all around. I stripped it back to a point where you just hear a drumbeat that’s driving you through the city. Sometimes you don’t know whether you’re listening to music, sound effects or bombing. It’s very subliminal.
“I also brought in a violinist, who was a Syrian refugee living in Italy at the time. The sound he created wasn’t a pure western, classical sound; it was a gritty Middle Eastern sound. That mirrored the aching heartbeat of the crumbling city of Aleppo, and became the musical core of the film.” Interview by Nikki Baughan » Nainita Desai will take part in a Composer Talk, October 22
