251: How Do Film Composers Help Tell a Movie's Story?

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Guest

Jeanine Cowen is an active media composer and educator. She is the chair and professor of practice of the Screen Scoring department at the University of Southern California. Formerly the Vice President for Curriculum and Program Innovation at Berklee, she is an experienced and skilled educator and innovator. She is an active freelance composer, music producer, and sound designer focusing primarily on the intersection of audio and visual medias, with particular interest in the burgeoning VR/AR/XR worlds and video games.Cowen's compositions have been heard throughout film, television, video games and the stage in works which include the definitive documentary The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo.

Summary

Our conversation revolves around the music score of "The Night Window," a scene from the World War I film "1917." (See below.) The scene focuses on Lance Cpl. Schofield as he runs through the blazing ruins of a French village, dodging bullets and night flares. The haunting score, composed by Thomas Newman, begins softly and then accelerates to contribute to the scene's emotion.

The episode delves into how film composers generate a movie’s score, including discussions with the director and film editor. The importance of how film composers help tell a film’s story in films is highlighted, as they speak with notes when actors and screenwriters speak with words.

Referenced / Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeaninecowen

The Night Window Scene

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Show Credits

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