Michael Giachino, the composer, on working with director Brad Bird.
[Brad Bird] never directs musically. He always directs with storytelling. His whole way of communicating is through storytelling and it’s all about, “What is the character feeling at this moment?” If he feels at a certain point in a scene he needs a shift, he’s not going to say, “I just need the music to suddenly be tense,” he’s going to say, “Well here’s what happens. At this moment he notices that she is noticing something about him and that is making him nervous.”
So he’s giving you reasons why it needs to shift. He’s walking you through the reasons why those changes are happening and that’s a big difference. Not all directors are able to have the freedom to discuss it in that sense and from day one with Brad it’s always just been about he storytelling. We never really talk about the kind of music it should be outside of maybe…The times that I remember discussing music were maybe on THE INCREDIBLES (2004) where he would discuss, “a big brassy feel like the old Henry Mancini or a John Berry kind of a thing.” He might reference that just as an overall generalization but the specifics are never about music. It’s always about the emotion that’s needed and the reasons why those emotions are triggered at any given moment.
The whole interview is great, but this segment really jumped out to me. I think this is the best description of the ideal director/composer relationship and frankly the best relationship between the director and any department head. The director focuses on the character/pov/emotion/storytelling of the moment, and then communicates that information to the department heads who propose ways to attain/inform/enhance those goals with the tools of their art and craft. Things can quickly unravel if the director tries to communicate goals via technical choices rather than through emotion, point-of-view, character, and story.
Department heads aren’t just technicians taking dictation, they are artists and craftspeople who interpret character, emotion, and storytelling through the lens of their expertise.
