Basil Poledouris (1945-2006)
I won't go out of my way to defend King Kong because I don't like the score, but it's 3 hours of music written in roughly 2 and a half weeks. Star trek was not a 3 hour score and James Newton Howard is not Jerry Goldsmith. (No one is.)
Thomas Newman's last great one was Road to Perdition and I'm looking forward to The Good German, supposedly a throw back to Golden Age scoring (though with Soderberg at the helm, I'm not holding my breath!)
I haven't liked Doyle's post-cancer works as much either, but even in something wan like Potter you can hear his personality brewing under the surface. I am looking forward to that Dragon thing he has coming out.
Thomas Newman's last great one was Road to Perdition and I'm looking forward to The Good German, supposedly a throw back to Golden Age scoring (though with Soderberg at the helm, I'm not holding my breath!)
I haven't liked Doyle's post-cancer works as much either, but even in something wan like Potter you can hear his personality brewing under the surface. I am looking forward to that Dragon thing he has coming out.
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Edmund Kattak
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I wish I knew more about the business to really offer a credible opinion.
However, it seems to me, based on the stories I read, that today's filmmakers are either under such time pressure or they just aren't good at communicating or effective at challenging composers sensibilities in a constructive manner. If you you look at Goldsmith's assessment on Ridley Scott, Franklin J. Schaffner, and Paul Verhoeven, he has said that Scott is a terrible communicator when it comes to articulating what he specifically wants the music do. I would argue that it may not necessarily mean that Scott is not an effective communicator, but that he shoots and builds his movies in such a loose way that, musically, he really doesn't care to lock a picture to a specific thematic structure. Instead, he would rather create an atmospheric pastiche of music. A great deal of his movies lack that kind of melodically thematic unity. Goldsmith tried to build it in ALIEN and LEGEND, but the cutting up of the music suggests that Ridley really looks for atmospheric tension, as opposed to thematic cohesion.
Franklin Schaffner communicated so well that Goldsmith went right to work and understood what was needed. When changes needed to be made, it wasn't a major re-work of everything to the point of frustration, but a great illustration of how the creative process works well when two people are on the same page, naturally. Verhoeven has been described in the same manner. But what I really respect about Verhoeven is that he doesn't give up and fire you when something isn't working. He simply told Goldsmith to go back and work on it some more - it will come to you (case in point, the BASIC INSTINCT theme).
However, it seems to me, based on the stories I read, that today's filmmakers are either under such time pressure or they just aren't good at communicating or effective at challenging composers sensibilities in a constructive manner. If you you look at Goldsmith's assessment on Ridley Scott, Franklin J. Schaffner, and Paul Verhoeven, he has said that Scott is a terrible communicator when it comes to articulating what he specifically wants the music do. I would argue that it may not necessarily mean that Scott is not an effective communicator, but that he shoots and builds his movies in such a loose way that, musically, he really doesn't care to lock a picture to a specific thematic structure. Instead, he would rather create an atmospheric pastiche of music. A great deal of his movies lack that kind of melodically thematic unity. Goldsmith tried to build it in ALIEN and LEGEND, but the cutting up of the music suggests that Ridley really looks for atmospheric tension, as opposed to thematic cohesion.
Franklin Schaffner communicated so well that Goldsmith went right to work and understood what was needed. When changes needed to be made, it wasn't a major re-work of everything to the point of frustration, but a great illustration of how the creative process works well when two people are on the same page, naturally. Verhoeven has been described in the same manner. But what I really respect about Verhoeven is that he doesn't give up and fire you when something isn't working. He simply told Goldsmith to go back and work on it some more - it will come to you (case in point, the BASIC INSTINCT theme).
Indeed,
Ed
Ed