I asked him “Should I do this? should I do that? do you have any advice?” And he looked up from the salad he was eating and said: “Just have fun with it.” That made it a whole lot easier!Īs for how far to take it, I usually like to take it to the breaking point when I’m able – it’s fun to twist and turn it to fit a particular scene or mood. I called Lalo Schifrin when I got the job, and asked him to lunch to talk about the project. Getting to play with one of the greatest themes in television history was and exciting prospect, but I was so nervous about it. It worked so well for the first film, we did the same in the second. The crew needed to earn that iconic theme first, and it becomes a bonus at the end for the fans. and I agreed that we wouldn’t use Alexander Courage’s theme until the end credits of the first film, because this film was not about Star Trek as we know it. I’ve had to do it now several times, and the real key is where and how you will use it. Do you enjoy playing with that kind of iconic tune? And how far do you try and take it from the original? Your work on Mission: Impossible, for example, sounds like a lot of fun. Is that an equally intentional stylistic choice?Īs your career has grown, you’ve become involved with a number of sequels and you have this great ear for taking apart existing melodies and reinventing them. Īlong with that orchestral quality, your work has always had a strong sense of melody running through it.
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Tim has been a great partner for many years. But I’m also very lucky to be able to work with Tim Simonec, a wonderful orchestrator and good friend. So while I love to orchestrate out as much as I can, it really comes down to the time available. The colour is an incredibly important part of the writing process – it’s what spells out the emotional quality of the music. I like live musicians, and personally orchestrate about 80 to 90% of all my scores. You always seem to put a lot thought into orchestration – there are so many electronic components in soundtracks these days, it’s a treat to hear music with an orchestral focus.
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So I think you find a very diverse collection of influences at work there European romanticism, quasi-classical music, and some bit of folk-pop music in addition to the traditional elements of Parisian cafe sounds. I needed to create a score for Brad about his particular set of characters, and those characters and their emotions had to be the guide for my music, not just the setting, there had to be a broader scope. It would have been easy to think that there should be nothing but accordion and jazz violin or jazz guitar, but the story asked me to go much deeper than that. I wanted to find the elements of Paris, of course, but had to create a score that was not only drawn out of the city itself, but out of the story of the film. In Remy’s case, his relationship with food is pure joy, and his pursuit of the perfect meal that he holds up as the ultimate artistic expression has to be felt in the music.Ībsolutely, it was a conscious decision. I think that to capture food in music, you really are capturing an emotional response to food. Perhaps our joint efforts are particularly evident in the scene where Remy tries to make his brother Émile aware of the various combinations between tastes: the music accompanies stylized shapes that appear on a dark background, trying to translate the tastes in sound and color. Yes, Brad wanted me to express the taste of food with music, while he would do the same with the images.
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In Ratatouille, there are two different themes that express the two sides of Remy’s personality: the creative side: the chef, and the “thief” side: his nature as a mouse.
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But, of course, music is as much a part of that as the visuals: how on earth do you go about capturing the sound of food? What we’ve always admired about Ratatouille is the way that Brad Bird captures the sense of taste in a completely different medium.