Showing posts with label Billie Eilish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Billie Eilish. Show all posts
Give background score its due credit, say music composers
7:52 AM
After music composer Clinton Cerejo’s recent outburst over not being credited for his work in a film’s review, other composers join in and explain how background score truly makes or breaks a film and the people behind it must be credited and recognized
Debarati S Sen (BOMBAY TIMES; December 8, 2022)
Clinton Cerejo, who has composed the music for Kartik Aaryan’s latest OTT release, Freddy, recently shared on social media that his work was wrongly credited to someone else in the film’s reviews. Calling it out, the music composer said that it was not okay to attribute the background score to someone else and negate months of hard work done by the entire music department.
Speaking to Bombay Times, Clinton said, “My post was not intended to target any one individual. The point of the post was to highlight the larger problem where critics sometimes credit the person who has done one or two songs as the film’s scorer.”
Clinton said, “This doesn’t happen abroad. Billie Eilish composed the opening credits song in the Bond film No Time To Die, but was the music credit of the film given to her because of that? Of course not! The credit goes to Hans Zimmer, who has done the background score. He is the film’s composer. You cannot attribute the entire music credit of the whole film to someone who has just composed for a few minutes over someone who has done it for over 100 minutes.”
Clinton feels that most of the time, background scores are treated like the second cousin of songs in the Hindi film music industry. “Today everything is content-driven, and the musical element of a film is an essential part. The background score really pushes a film. People are realizing that when a film works, it works because of the sound. Of course, songs too are important when it comes to a film, but 50% of the film experience is the background score and the sound design. These are the elements that are there throughout the film,” he added.
Clinton is not the only one who feels strongly about the issue. A number of composers agree with him. We spoke to a few of them and here’s what they had to say:
IF YOU PULL OUT THE BACKGROUND SCORE, A FILM WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STAND AT ALL: AMAAL MALLIK
Composer-singer Amaal Mallik said, “If you pull out the songs, maybe the film can still survive, but if you pull out the background score, the film will not be able to stand at all! In Christopher Nolan’s Batman (The Dark Knight), if you remove the score (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Hans Zimmer, certain serious scenes may look comical. Everyone has both worked in synergy to create that intense soundscape and that’s what makes it great. You cannot disregard the musicians, the music team, the music supervisors, the sound engineers, the background score composers — all of us together make the sound of a film.”
BACKGROUND SCORE COMPOSERS SHOULD BE GIVEN MAIN CREDITS AND BE ON POSTERS TOO: SALIM MERCHANT
Salim Merchant, of the Salim-Sulaiman composer duo, who have been creating BG music since 1997and have worked in around 100 films, strongly feels that the BG scorers should be given due credit. “The background score of a film is actually the unseen character in the film. It plays quite an important role and it truly makes or breaks the film. So many times a film has succeeded because of the BGM, which helps build the story and take it ahead. It also helps in making the audience ‘feel the film’ in its true sense. It is important to give the BG score the main credit in the film. I also feel that it should be on the posters. In the West, the person who does the background score is credited first as music by so-and-so and after that credits for the songs are given. Background score is the heart of any film,” said Salim.
REVIEWERS DID NOT CREDIT ME FOR MY WORK IN BRAHMASTRA’S BG SCORE: PRITAM
Pritam, who worked on Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra Part One: Shiva for two years, is miffed at the way some film critics have wrongly credited Simon Franglen instead of him for the score. “Simon was
initially supposed to be a part of this, but that never happened eventually. We began working on the background music of the film in early 2019. I did the score, and he was in no way even remotely a part of the background score of Brahmastra. Yet, my name was not mentioned in many reviews, only his was. In fact, it was a long battle to get even Wikipedia to correct this mistake. They only corrected it recently,” he said.
COMPOSING SONGS AND COMPOSING BG SCORE ARE TWO DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES OF MUSIC: EHSAAN NOORANI
Songs and background score are very different from each other, say composers. There are technicalities involved while giving background music, which is not always the case in composing songs. Ehsaan Noorani explained, “I wouldn’t say that one is easier and the other isn’t because they both are completely different disciplines of music. For a background score, you need to be mature and very objective. You can’t use a piece just because you like it. The main thing about the background score is to see how it works with the scene. And at the same time, silences are important too. Also, one must make sure that the music in the film is changing. However, you must do it with such subtlety that it doesn’t overpower the film. The background score is incidental and yes, the film cannot do without it, but at the same time, it cannot be showcased so strongly that it will overtake it.”
Nora Fatehi reacts after being slammed for copying Beyonce's Mine in her new single Pachtaoge 2.0
8:12 AM
After Nora Fatehi's Pachtaoge 2.0 is slammed for being a rip-off of Queen Bey's 2014 single, actor-dancer claims she turned to the works of several idols, including Madonna, Billie Eilish, for inspiration
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; August 17, 2020)
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But we wonder what Beyonce might have to say about Nora Fatehi's new single, the female version of Pachtaoge. After the song dropped over the weekend, Fatehi was trolled on social media following anonymous Instagram handle Diet Sabya's observation that the video is strikingly similar to the international pop star's 2014 single, Mine.
As we get in touch with the actor-dancer, she sounds surprisingly sprightly for someone in the centre of a controversy. "I felt good seeing myself in an artistic zone. We have done something different from the usual style of shooting music videos in India," says Fatehi, who also conceptualised the offering. The video, directed by Rajit Dev, aims to depict the different stages of heartbreak symbolically. "As we started working, we looked at different visuals, costumes and iconic looks of pop stars from my favourite tracks that would illustrate our concept perfectly."
Is that when she chanced upon Beyonce's Mine? "I am inspired by Beyonce, among other stars. Mine was one of the many reference points, in terms of dancers, set-up and mood. However, the outfit was inspired by Mother Mary, not her," she asserts. Incidentally, the video of Mine was inspired by Michelangelo's sculpture Pietà that depicts Jesus on the lap of Mother Mary. "We also referenced the [works] of Madonna, Billie Eilish and Zayn Malik. Billie's dark subliminal-themed offerings represent the kind of zone we wanted for this number. My second look was heavily inspired by Black Swan [2010]; it made sense to adopt that look to depict the toxic stage of heartbreak."
Even as she agrees that the songs belong to "a similar zone", Fatehi argues that Pachtaoge is novel in its choreography. "Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's new track [WAP] has the same concept as Beyonce's Haunted. That doesn't mean it was copied; it just implies that the zone and messaging are similar. I am happy if people feel [Mine and] Pachtaoge have a similar vibe. I always take inspiration from my idols and pay homage to them through my work. Here, the choreography is original as are the cinematography and the emotional storyline."
(From left) Natalie Portman in Black Swan; Nora Fatehi in the video
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