13 November 2007
INTO THE WEST interview de Geoff ZANELLI par Christine BLANC
Into the
West est une série de Steven Spielberg.
C'est un western divisé en 6 parties de deux
heures, chacune réalisée par une personne
différente. La série se déroule lors de la
conquête de l'ouest américain entre 1825 et
1890, quand des milliers de personnes ont
rejoint l'ouest en quête d'une vie meilleure.
"Into the West" suit les aventures de deux
familles, des immigrants et des indiens
d'Amérique. Comme à chaque fois que Steven
Spielberg s'est lancé dans une production
télé, le succès a été au rendez-vous. Une
réussite publique mais aussi et surtout
critique puisque Into the West a été
nommée à de multiples reprises lors de
remises de récompenses. En 2006, la
mini-série a ainsi glané une nomination pour
les Golden Globes (dans la categorie
"Meilleure mini-série ou film produit pour la
télévision") et 16 pour les Emmy
Awards;remportant les statuettes de
"Meilleure musique" et "Meilleur mixage
sonore".
Mister
Zanelli, how did you start on the Into The
West series project?
I’ve had a long
relationship with Dreamworks, going all the way
back to when I was an assistant for John Powell
during Antz. So I submitted some
music, and the filmmakers sat down with Hans
Zimmer and me, and it clicked.
May you tell us about the story?
It’s about a 100
year period of American history. It follows the
generations of white and Indian people and
tries to tell the story from both points of
view through the intimate details of the lives
of the people.
May
you tell us how you’re working
on?
Let’s
see, this was a few years ago. The score was
mostly orchestral, and we recorded it in
Bratislava. This was one of the times where the
film really wanted to be acoustic most of the
time.
What are the similarities and the
differences between the three (series/movie)
from your working point of view?
On one hand, you
can say music is music is music. So it’s always
just about the composition process, but in
video games you aren’t constrained by the story
or the edit or the picture. So maybe in that
sense, video game music is easier but I
hesitate to really say that. Game music is the
most different though, and that’s why many game
composers don’t make the jump into music for
picture, because whenever there’s picture,
there’s storytelling, there’s filmmaking, and
that’s a crucial part of it.
More and more first-rate film music
composers come to video game music. And you
too? What do you think about that? Do you think
it is the normal venture for a composer
nowadays?
Yes I do think
it’s normal. I think many composers like the
idea of being able to write without the
additional burden of storytelling. I do a
little bit of game work and enjoy it.
Is it
easy to work on series, video games and movies?
I don’t think it’s ever easy to
be honest.
I can’t think of anything off hand. But that’s really because I don’t have time to get into a TV series these days, and so I’m not really watching much.
What was your musical approach of the series, considering the amazing musical tradition associated to western films (from Tiomkin to Morricone…)
I just responded with my instincts again. I wouldn’t have been interested if they asked me to write a derivative score, and thankfully the filmmakers were as ambitious as I was. It paid off, as far as I can tell. The score has a more contemporary feel, and it tells the story to people in a new way.
Do you write a long suite with different themes that you cut afterwards to put pieces into the different episodes? Or did you write 2 or 3 different themes to weave into your score, different for each episode? Or do you work another way?
I did write most of the themes first but each episode would introduce new ideas or characters, so only the main themes, the global story arcs and character arcs, only those would appear in each episode. It wasn’t so much cut in though, as it was arranged specifically for each scene.
How much time did you have to compose an episode, and how would you describe you music for Into The West?
By the end of it, 2 weeks per episode but there was a very long time period before I wrote the first episode where I was writing the themes. It was nearly 9 months in total, but episodes 5 and 6 were each 2 week schedules. I’d describe the music as a contemporary take on a traditional theme.
How
did you characterize the music?
If you’re asking
if it’s thematic or atmospheric, then I’d say
it’s very much a thematic score, with themes
for certain characters, families and ideas. I
approached it as though it was one film, with
five sequels.
Is a score cd envisioned ?
I’d love to
release it. I get emails nearly every week
actually, asking about this, but Dreamworks
thus far have not allowed a score release.
What did the experience bring to you,
personnally and as a composer ?
This was the
first large project I took on in my own name.
So for me it was a step up, and for that I’m
very grateful.
Do you have any anecdote ?
Just that I very
much appreciated being recognized by the
Academy for my work on it.
