Asche & Spencer Goes Long Again with Latest Film Score
Creative Director Thad Spencer talks about their work on "Machine Gun Preacher" and the difference between film scoring and composing for spots.
Asche & Spencer Goes Long Again with Latest Film Score
Creative Director Thad Spencer talks about their work on
"Machine Gun Preacher" and the differences between
film scoring and composing for spots.
By Anthony Vagnoni
Director Marc Forster's most recent film, "Machine Gun Preacher," opened on October 10 in the US. It's based on the true story of Sam Childers, an American who bottomed out on drugs and dealing and found God, upon which he promptly decamped for Africa to help protect Sudanese children that were being dragged into a raging civil war as child soldiers. The issue behind the film's story remains in the news, as the US recently committed a team of military advisors to help track down a band of guerillas in Uganda charged with committing widespread atrocities. (For more on the story, click here.)
"Machine Gun Preacher" features a musical score by the Minneapolis and L.A.-based music studio Asche & Spencer (profiled here on SourceEcreative earlier this year). It marks the company's third feature collaboration with the director, the first being the Academy Award-winning drama "Monster's Ball," back in 2001. Since then, Asche & Spencer has stood out among advertising music companies for the number of long-form projects they've worked on. In addition to "Preacher" and "Monster's Ball," A&S also scored Forster's 2005 feature "Stay," a psychological thriller starring Ewan McGregor and the suddenly-everywhere Ryan Gosling. They also scored "Jasper, Texas," a Showtime feature that aired in 2003; the 2007 documentary "War Dance," an uplifting documentary about a national music and dance festival in Uganda, directed by Sean and Andrea Nix; and the 2008 comedy "The Onion Movie," based on the fake news broadcasts from the popular humor web site.
What's it like to tackle hefty projects like feature scoring for a music studio that's used to working in thirty and sixty-second intervals? And how are the demands different between composing for ads and for entertainment? SourceEcreative recently spoke with Asche & Spencer Co-Founder and Creative Director Thad Spencer about the distinctions between the genres. Here's what he had to say.
What's the appeal of working on feature films for Asche & Spencer?
There are many aspects of working on a feature that are appealing. The creative investment that you make with a film, and the amount of time you spend crafting the music, are very rewarding. We can dig deep into musical forms and fully explore their potential.
There's also a wonderful sense of collaboration when making a film. When we're composing, we form a close partnership with the director and the editor. The months leading up to when we're obligated to show the film to the studio are amazingly fun. It's like building a fort when you were a kid -- we get to hang out all day together and play around making this cool movie. Plus, in the end, after you've finished the writing, you get to bring your music to a big orchestra and hear it come to life.
What was the main challenge you and your composers faced on "Machine Gun Preacher"? What did Marc Forster say he wanted the score to do?
Marc has very interesting ideas about the music for his films. He never wants the music to be obvious, or rely on Hollywood conventions. It's sort of a dream gig for me, because he's constantly asking for something new and original.
The biggest challenge on the score to "Machine Gun Preacher" was finding the musical voice for the two different aspects of the Sam Childers character, played by Gerard Butler. The Sam who was in and out of jail and shooting heroin needed very different music than the person he becomes when he goes to Africa and starts helping children.
So we basically had to create two separate scores for this film: one that's dark and brooding and leans on electronics and guitars, and another that's more hopeful and heroic and was composed for a symphony orchestra.
In our profile article on your company, you said Asche & Spencer approaches films as a group, and that your credit is always for Asche & Spencer, not for individuals. How do you distribute the work?
As the Creative Director, it's my job to set the tone and scope of what we're going to compose. I do this by reading the script and talking with the director. After I've formed the overall shape of what we need to write, I gather everyone and we talk about what we need to do. For us, writing collectively is very natural. We've been working together for many years, we know each other's strengths and are very comfortable sharing the creative process of writing music.
We're also good at seeing what needs to be done, and finding an interesting way to do it. For example, I usually I break the film into different emotional ranges, then we decide what emotion we'd like to write for and get busy. If you look at the score as a whole it can seem overwhelming, but if you break it down into smaller portions and focus on that writing, the score falls together more naturally.
What are the biggest differences between scoring for dramatic films and scoring for ads? And how does your ability to do features benefit your work in commercials?
Our feature and advertising work is very similar. We're hired to write original music that helps complete someone else's creative vision. Commercials are shorter than a film, but the level of attention and care that goes into both disciplines are the same. The main difference is the time you're involved with the project.
Features benefit our work in advertising because writing movie scores expands our abilities and broadens our creative horizons. A ninety-minute film can offer a composer a wide range of creative challenges. The more experiences I can have writing music, the more versatile I become.
There are also different expectations. Movies have huge budgets, and if a studio is going to spend $70 million making a film, they're going to demand excellence. The inherent pressure of working in this environment helps you learn to stay cool under fire and deliver great work on deadline.
Given its storyline, "Machine Gun Preacher" is pretty heady stuff. So was "Monster's Ball." Are you guys drawn to any particular form of content over another?
We like to be involved with good work. The films we've made with Marc have all been very interesting projects. We're open to working on a variety of film genres, but I don't think you will see us scoring "Mall Cop 3" any time soon.
So who's easier to deal with, movie directors or creative directors? What similarities do you see between the creative people A&S deals with in entertainment and those they deal with in advertising?
Depends on the person, I guess. There are certainly difficult film directors and difficult creative directors out there. For me, it's about choosing projects that fit our creative aesthetic and our style. We like to laugh and have fun when we work. It's nice when the folks we're collaborating with feel the same way.
If you win an Oscar for Best Score, where will you keep it, in L.A. or Minneapolis?
Good question. I doubt I'll ever have the opportunity to make that particular choice.
Published 17 October, 2011
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