Below we’ve highlighted our ten biggest takeaways from the week of music-making discussion and panels, check out the full video discussions below.Bryce Dessner is a widely accomplished musician known for both his film scores and his work with indie rock band The National, but working on ““Erica [Schmidt, ‘Cyrano’ screenwriter] approached [The National] and says, ‘Would you ever consider writing songs for a musical?’ And we all thought, ‘No!’” Desnner revealed on the Music for Screens panel.
Anderson .Paak was highly desired as a contributor to the soundtrack of Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” — but he was still told very little about the film before he started working on it. But based on what he calls a “vague description” of the plot alone, he spent hours in the studio and ended up with “Fire in the Sky,” the jazzy track that ultimately ended up on the album.
Songwriter and performer Saleka Night Shyamalan was enlisted to write the song “Remain” for the film with only the script to work with as well. Without having seen the film, the songwriter sought to capture the essences of family and collaboration she read in the script, as well as hone in on the emotions of the characters.
“When you’re in this industry, it’s not that you’re going to make it, but you will be around people that do. You will get to study it,” commented Renée Elise Goldsberry. “I’ve been around people who have had tremendous success. I’ve been around amazingly talented people who have not, in and out of it. And this is a great home for that information, this show in general.”
“If there’s any young artists out there, it feels very disingenuous or you don’t feel particularly humble to start thinking about your archive when you’re a new artist,” says Lance Podell, senior vice president and general manager of Iron Mountain Entertainment Services.
“A lot of times we’re very, very particular with how we create and present things, or a certain color or tone or texture, or why a certain scene is a certain mood, or why there’s a certain element added to it,” she added. “And we hope that those subtleties will be picked up.”Superheroes may dominate the industry, but they’d be nowhere if they saved the day in silence.
Hynes spoke of his latest screen collaboration, working with Rebecca Hall, writer, director and producer of the period drama “Passing.” Hall’s debut feature is based on the Harlem Renaissance novel by Nella Larsen that follows a Black woman who reunites with a childhood friend who’s passing as white in 1920s New York.