"My Perfect 3": Brian Satterwhite

Editor’s Note: In the spirit of December’s theme (Gear and Software), we asked our contributors to weigh in with their Top 3 gear finds and why they like them, and we are bringing them to you in a series that we are calling “My Perfect 3″. Here are the three that Brian Satterwhite chose, and a short rundown on why he picked them. I’m not trying to be different merely for the sake of being different, but the honest truth is, I’m not a huge gear-head. Yes, it’s true I have gear. I use it daily and rely on it heavily for my personal welfare and the advancement of my career. But for me, it…

Brian Satterwhite: Making The Case for Music In Film

Some time ago I posed the question, “Why does film need music?” There were a lot of valued comments from the SCOREcast readership gauging the various reasons why the mechanics of filmmaking requires the assistance of music. As promised (albeit a bit later than I hoped), I’d like to finally weigh in myself on this elusive answer. Film is a terribly awkward medium. If you’ve ever tried to materialize images from your head onto the screen in a cohesive manner suitable enough to tell a story, you understand the obstacles inherent to the craft. The most glaring complication facing this cumbersome art form is the very fact that each and every one of us (members…

Brian Satterwhite: Why Does Film Need Music?

Why does film need music? Seems like an easy question to answer considering the audience I’m proposing it to. We certainly have a fundamental awareness (either conscious or sub-conscious) of its physical, psychological and technical purposes, but could you come up with a wholly encompassing explanation as to why its there in the first place? I was inspired by Lee’s call-to-action a couple weeks ago where he tasked the readership to participate in a little compositional exercise. I’d like to follow suit with a little collective pow-wow myself. Before I dive in and wax poetic about my own formulated explanation of why music is a necessary ingredient in motion picture storytelling, I’d like to ask…

Brian Satterwhite: Manipulate Me, Please!

Over the past several years, a new word has entered the film music lexicon threatening the functional traditions the craft of scoring was built upon. This indiscriminate battle cry was practically nonexistent during the first hundred years of film music. Today, it’s a word carrying a vulgar weight amongst filmmakers and audiences alike. This is the new evil feared amongst the collective patrons of the film industry, the scarlet letter nobody wants to see branded, and the dreaded angel-of-death for all film scores of worth. At the mere hint of it, filmmakers raise their crossed-fingered hands as if warding off the demon seed of Satan himself. It has left me flummoxed, perplexed, and downright nonplussed….

Gateway Scores: Edward Scissorhands

Throughout my life there have been a handful of “stepping stone” scores that have turned me into the composing film music-loving-junkie that I am today. Yes, I had the ubiquitous STAR WARS (1977) experience almost identical to Lee’s and a host of others of my generation. My parents’ album, which I listened to as a young boy, is still hanging on the wall of my studio which I occasionally will get down and listen to. Other scores like PATTON (1970), VERTIGO (1958), EMPIRE OF THE SUN (1987), and JURASSIC PARK (1993), just to name a few were all responsible for sprouting their own branches on my tree of film music adoration. However influential those listening…

Silence is Golden

Why is music used here? and What is its function?

Before diving headlong into an analytical frenzy surrounding the functions of film music, I want to begin by establishing a frame of reference by which the very existence of film music centers. In doing that one must not immediately look at specific moments in film that are supported by music but rather moments which are not.

Brian Satterwhite: More On Procrastination

Deane just wrote an interesting article about procrastination that I think is a valuable lesson for anybody working under pressure deadline situations. I also agree that procrastination is erroneously looked upon as a negative thing nearly all the time. Even under the most common definitions I’m not too terribly guilty of procrastination or “wasting time.” That doesn’t mean I push things off or delay starts or anything like that. In fact, procrastination for me is a major step in the creative process. It’s the moment to cleanse the palette and purge the creative process of any undesirables. It’s a moment for planning and just keeping things fun. Eventually when the that phase is over you’ll…