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Huge thanks to tubeyoucaliron, they recorded this video live at the Billboard Film and TV Conference, Mike answers a question about composing for film, which you can view and download below:

This is from the Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference. Mike was just asked, “How do you decide which pieces to keep and which ones to cut?” (Gym socks is an inside joke).

Along with the posted video (above), Examiner.com also wrote up an article from the panel Out of the Band and Onto the Screen, they also included the question and answer that was given in the video above, which you can read Mike and Joe Trapanese part below:

After introducing the panel members one of the first questions Robert Kraft asked about was, “how is composing for film different than writing a song for your band or yourself?” Joe Trapanese answered, “you don’t want anything that is too overwhelming or too impressionistic because you’re handling the truth…I’m always trying to convince the editors and directors to pull it back. The music should only be used to move the story along—it’s not really supposed to be a character…I’ve found (working on Indi films) that the budget is a lot smaller and you can get so much more out of less—fewer pieces and being surprised that a piano and cello can almost sound as big as a seven piece orchestra in its infinite space” and on the heals of that perceptive remark Robert Kraft mentioned that “sometimes silence is the biggest noise you could make.”

Another question had to do with the editing process: How do you decide which pieces to keep and which ones to cut? Mike Shinoda answered that question with an anecdote from when he was in school at the Art Center in Pasadena. He stated, “Our experience at the school was we would go in with say a painting and the class which was about thirty of us would each put our pieces up on the board and basically tell each other why our paintings were horrible for hours and over the course of years of doing that you get good at it. You get really good at being able to take criticism and give criticism and leaving your ego at the door and being productive. If you’re working with people who are just not interested I guess it’s a much bigger issue but as long as you’re all on the same team you can have those kinds of conversations where you can say to somebody ‘look, I’m going to let these other things go—I really believe in this one’ then people will be a little more receptive” to which Robert Kraft replied, “you have a big future as a film composer with that attitude because that is the essence of it.” Mike responded, “that’s how our band works. We’ve got six guys doing that. Every Monday we get together with our records. That’s the reason why it takes us over a year to make a record is that we’re killing ideas one right after the other and building up new ones based on ones… even one guy in our group doesn’t like it for some reason or another we’re going to get in there and figure out what is it about it that he’s not into and we’re going to respect that even if he cant write the piece that we’re talking about—he cant write the vocal, he cant write whatever his opinion is potentially one sixth of our fan base so we’re going to respect that and try and make it work.”

Full article here.


I’ve also added more pictures from the Billboard Film and TV Conference, which can be viewed in full size in the gallery.

Home > Events > 2011 > Billboard Film & TV Music Conference – Oct 24