FILM SCORING MECCA | BAFTA breakthrough brit composer Nainita Desai

Welcome to FILM SCORING MECCA – a series tailored and curated by composer Adriano Aponte for FST. Presenting amazing and insightful articles about professionals working at top level in the film music industry. Today we have Ivor Novello nominee and BAFTA Breakthrough Brit extraordinary composer Nainita Desai.

MOST SOUGH AFTER COMPOSER IN THE LAST 3 YEARS

I had a rather unconventional path into the industry.

I originally wanted to be a performer as a teenager but I was also really into music engineering and production – I was a huge fan of Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois – and the ‘sound’ of albums alongside synth artists such as Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. 

After a degree in Mathematics I did a post grad diploma in Music IT studying midi programming, psychoacoustics, music and emotion, acoustics. 

I was also into film and sound, and did short film making and photography courses. I got a scholarship to attend the NFTS to study film sound which led to me becoming a sound designer on feature films such as Little Buddha and Backbeat. It gave me a great foundation in audio post production.

After a couple of years I moved into music engineering and worked as a freelance assistant music engineering before working at Real World Studios as Peter Gabriel’s assistant engineer during the Recording Week sessions gaining invaluable experience working with great musicians such as Billy Cobham, Nigel Kennedy and Papa Wemba, and engineers such as Dave Bottrill. 

I was then offered the opportunity to write the music for a TV show. Those first few years were challenging financially and I took on every composing job I could, sending my reel off to all the film, TV and games companies in the film directories.

I got replies from 2 companies and ended up doing sound effects and music for a few games developers, but eventually my career naturally gravitated towards composing for TV.

My philosophy has been ‘lots of crumbs make a biscuit’ ! I never wrote production or library music which is a common way in today, but I really honed my skills writing to picture getting any work I could. 

I really learnt the craft by just doing it

I learnt the craft by just doing it – writing scores for all sorts of genres from natural history, history, travel shows, to Ads, factual entertainment, theme tunes and eventually features and landmark series. I’ve been totally self taught in that regard.

KEY SKILLS

You have to have a personality of contradictions. On the one hand you need to be a people person and be able to communicate, be social and work well as part of a team as it’s a very collaborative process. You have to be a good diplomat managing your clients but also be a Head of Department handling musicians and your own team members.

You have to be a good diplomat managing your clients but also be a Head of Department handling musicians and your own team members

It’s also important to come with concepts and ideas, know when to take creative lead but also follow the brief plus be able to take notes and respond to the inevitable negative feedback on your music in a positive way !

Conversely, you have to be able to work on your own in isolation for long periods of time through evenings and weekends when necessary. 

It’s important to be versatile, be able to work against pressure to deadlines.

Playing various instruments helps but not essential, depending on what style of music you want to write. Having a knowledge of music theory is also helpful. 

It goes without saying that knowing your way around your DAW, software and technology is crucial. 

Having a curious mind is invaluable; I’m always learning something on every job and immersing myself in new styles of music.

The most important thing though is to serve the images and the story and the team’s vision.

SOUND DESIGN FORMA MENTIS

It was a great foundation in helping me to understand the different roles in post production and the role that music plays within the entire soundscape. 

Music is just one part of the whole storytelling experience and all the audio elements work hand in hand to bring a film to life. 

Where you choose NOT to place music is as important as where you do have music – to me silence is also powerful and enhances the impact of music when it does come in. 

Where you choose NOT to place music is as important as where you do have music

Sometimes music will lead, and sometimes music may dominate in a scene. Everything has its’ place in the storytelling of the overall shape of the film’s soundscape.

COMPOSITION PROCESS

Every project is slightly different but generally, I like to be brought on as early as possible during filming or even beforehand.

The period of research and writing sketches having creative conversations with the director is my favourite period. You have a world of musical possibilities ahead of you before the stress of working under pressure to tight deadlines sets in. I work closely with the director and editor maintaining a strong dialogue; so while they are editing the project, I’ll be writing music.

I work closely with the director and editor maintaining a strong dialogue

We go backwards and forwards with rough scenes and cuts of the film being sent to me. Eventually I will receive picture lock and will then refine the final master music. I may bring in musicians at a very early stage to record ideas with and will then experiment with those recordings. At other times, I will bring players in right at the end of the process after all the music has been demoed up and approved by the team. Sometimes I will be brought onto a project late and just work to picture lock. The advantage with that is that you don’t have to conform your music to endless cuts. I do have to deal with temp music though. Sometimes teams like to temp with my own back catalogue of music or they will use other scores or music, which is a dangerous thing as they can fall in love with the reference tracks! It’s best if I can write music from an early stage and then they are temping with my own especially composed music.

DOCUMENTARY VS FEATURE FILM

I approach feature docs and narrative features in the same way. I always endeavour to write thematic scores for docs. It ties everything together and brings continuity to the project.

Documentary music does have to sit under dialogue and therefore less melodic sometimes.

It’s generally important not to overwrite

It’s generally important not to overwrite though – a very common thing that composers tend to do to ‘impress’ their clients’ is by writing music that is too rich and full, or harmonically complex so that it detracts from the images and story. The most important thing is to serve the film and story – and not to try and show off. It took me a while to work that out through trial and error and being told to simplify my music!

TV SERIES VS FEATURE FILM

You have a much larger narrative arc with series compared to features. There is therefore much more of an opportunity to explore themes. If it’s a returning series then you have the opportunity to create a much larger body of work and create a bigger musical world. Features are more self-contained and condensed, and in many respects easier to manage musically. It’s more compressed as a medium but you still have enough time to produce a satisfying score.

I’ll generally be working on a TV series for anything from 4 months to 12 months or more, whereas a feature will be anything from 5 weeks to 4 months. Schedules do tend to be tighter on TV. You may have to manage multiple edit suites and a large team with several editors, various layers of execs and producers to keep happy so it’s a more intense process.

FAVOURITE MUSIC GENRE

I find I gravitate more easily towards writing tense, dark music. I do enjoy writing melodies, which is contradictory to the current trends for film and TV. 

I’ve noticed that when people are asked for their favourite film scores, they always recall melodic scores.

We have an almost primeval attachment to melody that roots itself in our subconscious. It conjures up all sorts of nostalgic emotional moments from our past.

BEST & WORST EXPERIENCE

The best: most recently working on ‘American Murder’ was incredibly satisfying. The director was very trusting and gave me a lot of creative freedom. I spent a year working on ‘The Reason I Jump’, which was incredibly immersive, and I had a very collaborative process with the director that was incredibly satisfying. Those are always the most satisfying experiences.

The worst: I’ve had one or two challenging projects where a couple of team members have been difficult. Poor communication, or uncompromising demands where people have fallen in love with the temp tracks or are searching for the unattainable can create a tense atmosphere. We get through it in the end but those situations tend to stem from a lack of trust and insecurity.

I’ve generally been blessed with lovely collaborators but things always get pressured towards the end of a production due to time pressure and last minute changes – it’s just the nature of the job. Getting through it behaving professionally, dedicated, being flexible, open minded, with a smile on your face is crucial to a harmonious working relationship.

HONOURS & AWARDS

I don’t really believe in awards because composing music is not a competition and scores should not be competing with one another like a sport. 

The plus side of an award acknowledgment – nomination or a win – is that it’s definitely put me on the radar of people in the industry.

It gives you a seal of approval, that in any given year, your work is deemed to be ‘the best’ – of course it’s all nonsense and purely arbitrary as music is ultimately a very subjective art form, but the industry value it and it’s lovely validation. I never thought I would win anything for my music so I am still bemused when I get nominated for anything. Much of my work until recently has been scoring documentaries, and music for docs are rarely acknowledged. So when I have won something, it’s a way to help open up doors to work on projects that excite me with new filmmakers. Writing music is the greatest gift and reward! If you are writing to get awards, then the rewards are quite meaningless. Someone did say though… “Awards mean nothing until you win one”. For me the reward is when people you don’t know are listening to your work and connecting with it in some way. Receiving emails from viewers and listeners complimenting the music or effectiveness of the score in a show is the most treasured honour.

Preparation and planning is key and making sure that everyone involved during the session knows the plan. Triple checking that the musicians’ parts are correct and have been copied out professionally so no time is wasted.

KEY FOR SUCCESS

I just endeavour to produce the best music I can in the limited time available

The definition of success is a very strange concept in our culture. The key to success for me is overcoming daily, monthly, annual goals – be it learning a new plugin, overcoming a musical conundrum, getting through to the end of a project, or having a team appreciate your music. I just endeavour to produce the best music I can in the limited time available, embracing new musical challenges. The journey and process is very important.

I think ultimately, if I can move an audience or a listener emotionally, that is true success. 

5 YEARS FILM MUSIC TREND

I think that there is already a move away from blockbuster feature films and the streamers are dominating with mid sized productions producing more indie films with smaller sounding scores that have a unique edge to them.

There is so much content now that everyone is trying to compete to stand out in the crowded market place. One of the ways to do that is to have more distinctive music.

There is a demand for music that stands out sonically in terms of production, a demand for more unusual sounding experimental music and risk taking too. Clients are therefore placing more importance on the branding and influence that a score can make on the success of a show. 

The landscape for composers is more competitive but conversely there are plenty of opportunities, so the demand is always there for original, good quality music. 

START A SIMILAR CAREER

• If you’re looking to get into being a media and film composer, watch a lot of film and TV and study the use of music and how it’s making you feel. 

• Learn about the industry; find out about every role, in terms of craft, teams, executives etc. Going to film school was so invaluable for me because I got to learn what every member of the team does, including the gaffer, grip etc. 

• Develop strong communication and collaborative skills. You have to be part of a team. If I wanted to write music for myself like an artist does, I wouldn’t be a film and TV composer. You have to serve the director’s vision and the film’s needs, not your own creative ego. At the same time, it’s important to develop your own musical voice and then bend that to suit the film as well. 

• Be part of a community and network. Get to know other musicians, composers, film makers.

• Keep yourself inspired. Write music all the time, even just for yourself. Set up your own keyboard, laptop and some software and just start writing. You never stop learning. I’m still learning myself. Every project is a new challenge. I like to push myself into new areas creatively and musically that I’ve never worked in before.

• Establish good communication with the director. Learn to speak the language of film. I don’t expect filmmakers to talk to me in musical ways, because they’re not composers and musicians, so I need to understand their language. Speak in terms of emotions, moods and what you’re trying to convey.

• Get to grips the technology and embrace it. It’s absolutely crucial to know how to work with computers and music software.

Watch a lot of film and TV and study the use of music and how it’s making you feel

Coming up next in the series: FILM SCORING MECCA | Grammy winner composer/arranger Nan Schwartz