Rodriguez fills second 'Bill'
THR music meet
Nov 20, 2003
Filmmaker and burgeoning film composer Robert Rodriguez will compose music for pal Quentin Tarantino's upcoming "Kill Bill-Vol. 2."
The Texas-based filmmaker -- who not only writes and directs his movies but also edits, shoots, creates visual effects and composes them -- made the announcement Wednesday during the first day of the second annual Hollywood Reporter/Billboard Film and TV Music Conference at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.
For most of his lecture, Rodriguez discussed how he made the leap from filmmaker to composer on such films as "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" and "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over." But he also talked of how composers need to empower themselves and try to get in earlier in the process.
"These are dangerous times, where people's scores get tossed out at the last second and another composer is brought in two weeks before release," Rodriguez said. "When was the last time you heard an actor was replaced on a movie after he shot his entire performance? For some reason, composers aren't treated the same way as the other collaborators, even though their job is just as important to the emotional content of the movie. And I didn't realize that until I started composing.
"Right now, music is an afterthought," he added. "But it shouldn't be that way."
Rodriguez suggested that composers are sometimes treated as if they are disposable because their work process "seems like voodoo" to directors and producers.
He said composers need to come in much earlier in the moviemaking process, and he advised composers to talk to not only a film's director but also its actors and screenwriters, even going so far as to look at past script drafts for insight.
"Write from a place of character," Rodriguez said. "If you can't feel it, how will your audience feel it?"
Rodriguez also gave the many composers in the room an exercise: Write a theme for your parents and children, and then set it to a home movie. He gave an example of how he did that with his own mother. "I dare you to not bawl your eyes out," he said as he choked up at the memory of his experiment.
Additionally, Rodriguez chatted about how he likes to impose budgetary constraints on himself because that forces him to be more creative.
"You can have the biggest budget in the world, but it won't guarantee you a good movie," he said. "You actually guarantee yourself more creativity with less money. You're forced to be creative, and that's what would make a movie good, or least more personal."
The Texas-based filmmaker -- who not only writes and directs his movies but also edits, shoots, creates visual effects and composes them -- made the announcement Wednesday during the first day of the second annual Hollywood Reporter/Billboard Film and TV Music Conference at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.
For most of his lecture, Rodriguez discussed how he made the leap from filmmaker to composer on such films as "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" and "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over." But he also talked of how composers need to empower themselves and try to get in earlier in the process.
"These are dangerous times, where people's scores get tossed out at the last second and another composer is brought in two weeks before release," Rodriguez said. "When was the last time you heard an actor was replaced on a movie after he shot his entire performance? For some reason, composers aren't treated the same way as the other collaborators, even though their job is just as important to the emotional content of the movie. And I didn't realize that until I started composing.
"Right now, music is an afterthought," he added. "But it shouldn't be that way."
Rodriguez suggested that composers are sometimes treated as if they are disposable because their work process "seems like voodoo" to directors and producers.
He said composers need to come in much earlier in the moviemaking process, and he advised composers to talk to not only a film's director but also its actors and screenwriters, even going so far as to look at past script drafts for insight.
"Write from a place of character," Rodriguez said. "If you can't feel it, how will your audience feel it?"
Rodriguez also gave the many composers in the room an exercise: Write a theme for your parents and children, and then set it to a home movie. He gave an example of how he did that with his own mother. "I dare you to not bawl your eyes out," he said as he choked up at the memory of his experiment.
Additionally, Rodriguez chatted about how he likes to impose budgetary constraints on himself because that forces him to be more creative.
"You can have the biggest budget in the world, but it won't guarantee you a good movie," he said. "You actually guarantee yourself more creativity with less money. You're forced to be creative, and that's what would make a movie good, or least more personal."
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