In Evita I wasn't really hugely involved with it. I gave a little bit of help but they needed a bit of technical help on the movie and so some of my music people went in at the end of the movie and helped out with it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The music's job is to get the audience so involved that they forget how the movie turns out.
For me, the work begins with a rough cut of the film. I can't do much with the script. I've tried to write music to a script prior to seeing the film, but I've found it turns out to be a waste of time.
Going through this musical experience really helped us to understand the core of the film.
I didn't really start doing stuff until I was 8 or so, but I was an extra in a bunch of different movies, and I just really took to it and really enjoyed it. I kind of bugged my parents to give L.A. a shot, and they were just super-supportive.
As the director, I try to go in and know as much as I can about the material. I really try to go in and understand what all the characters are about, what the movie's going to look like.
It's always easy, I think, to raise the importance of a scene through the addition of music. But it's very awkward to end it unless there's a door slam or a gunshot or something that just takes you right out of it.
When I do the music, I make the musicians listen to what's happening in the film. That way they treat the dialogue as if it was a singer.
Everything about it worked, and I don't mean just the movie, but in our experience, we realized there's also a component of luck involved in this business. We had absolutely the most competent people in the studio working on the release and ad campaign.
In the end, you don't want music to be noticed as much as digested and integrated into the storytelling. And make audiences sit forward in their seats and enjoy the movie.
I start with the music before I start writing the movie. It's such an important part for me, emotionally, to set up the tone for the movie.