A few months back, a reader asked if I knew anything about music composition for animation. While music performance and composition is definitely an art unto itself, it does not require drawing skills and in that sense falls under my column’s definition of non-artist. After a little research, I tracked down the composer with which I worked on several shows for Sony Pictures Family Entertainment, Jim Latham. Jim’s extensive credits also include work in live-action television and film.
The work begins when “the underscore composer is usually brought in a couple of months before the airdate of the first episode. This gives you 3 or 4 weeks for hash out what the musical direction of the series will be before the weekly grind begins.” However, “[g]enerally speaking, the composer won’t start on a tv episode until the picture is ‘locked’. This is because the composer is writing music to hit certain edit points or emotional beats and a change in the picture will screw these up. On a movie and usually on the first episode of a series, it’s also common for the composer to deliver preliminary sketches for the filmmakers to react to and fiddle with in the editing room.”
“Usually a video of locked picture” is what a composer views to base the score upon. “Deadlines can mess with this though,” he explains. “It is not uncommon for there to be animatic chunks in the video or even black frames with descriptions of the shot to come (“monster attacks here”) if the production is running behind. I even scored a tv movie once where all I had was the radio play of the actors reading the script!”
As to how a composer decide what areas require music, “[i]n the end this is the boss’ decision, but usually there is a spotting session where the composer and producers reach a consensus on where music will go and how it will function. Once a cartoon series gets cranking and there is agreement on the direction of the music, spotting sessions sometimes stop and the composer makes (hopefully) educated guesses.” Jim adds, “I’ve worked on a show where the penalty for stopping the video playback during the spotting session to discuss a cue was a case of beer. That kept things moving.” An average composition timetable is “[a] show a week. Usually a 5 day turnaround from first viewing of the video to delivering the first swipe of the score. Twenty four hours later, you deliver the fixes.” As to what style of music tends to get used in animation, it “varies with the production. I’ve done everything from the MATRIX type techno to orchestra to zydeco.”
Personally, I often wondered if the same person doing the underscores for the episodes often composes theme songs for shows, so I asked Jim. “This varies and typically this decision has more to do with the preconceived notions of the producers than anything else,” he responded. “Some producers want a rock star to do the theme and a composer to do the underscore. I’ve been involved in every possible variation. I have written the theme and all songs in a series but not the underscore and I have written the underscore but not the songs or theme. Interestingly, each of these extremes was due to the producers’ perception of what I do well.”
Jim Latham began scoring for animation because “I was scoring night time dramas (90210, etc) and was disgruntled by the narrow range of music that was being asked for. My perception was that cartoon scoring offered more of a chance to write and record orchestral music and film-like scores than did other forms of tv. Actually the scores I’ve done over the last few years have had more in common with action film scores than LOONY TUNES.”
Based on his experience, I asked Jim if he felt that composing for animation was an area someone could specialize in exclusively. “In order to get ahead in any area of the entertainment biz, you need to work relentlessly. Given this, specializing is almost inevitable. The good thing about doing animation scores is you write A LOT of music and you get an opportunity to hone your craft very quickly. The downside is you can be tagged as an animation composer, but I believe that danger lurks in every niche of the biz.” As far as whether or not any special training or awareness is required for scoring over animation versus live-action television: “Unless you are doing the Carl Stalling/Warner Bros/Loony Tune type score, no. The main thing is to listen to film scores both with and without picture to get a feel for the genre you’re dealing with, whatever it is.”
Thank you, Jim, for providing a snapshot of what goes into creating the music that helps bring animation to life.
(originally published Digital Media FX)