Excerpts from an interview with hannes vester conducted by jörg sunderkötter KEYBOARDS 12/2003:
With all the information and advice on the technical side of the sound recording of films, one forgets too easily that it depends much more than on just knowledge about how to use a sequencer or sound synthesiser.
How does one go about the sound recording, how is the cooperation with the director arranged, how does one get into the film business and how does one assert oneself? we asked hannes vester, who has been in the biz for over 25 years and has produced music and sound design for scores of television and cinema films.
Keyboards: One question which every newcomer asks is, how do you get film music assignments?
Hannes Vester: I can only speak there from my own experience. It works exclusively through a connection to the director who generally is the decisive element. He wants to make a very particular statement with the film. You certainly know the effect: You have a film scene and put on various music. According to the music something emotionally quite different can happen. As composer you must find out first of all what conception the director has and which feelings the audience should get. A film composer is ultimately a magician who translates that into music.
Keyboards: That requires an intensive debate beforehand…
Hannes Vester: The relationship between the film music composer and the director is a very close one because the director must disclose his ideas about the film and above all his feelings. When one looks at the whole production frame, from making contact until the finished music production, then i would say that half of the work has nothing to do with music at all. You work like a sculptor: Emotion is at first an unhewed block which you work on together – in discussions, in working through the script etc. – until an emotional figure is created. Only when i have that can i begin to compose.
Keyboards: What do you generally pay attention to?
Hannes Vester: I see to it that the whole thing is correctly integrated, then the worst thing that can happen to you is when someone notices: Oh, there is music on top! one should not now hear the music but be immersed in the film. You must keep to the emotionality of the film.
Keyboards: But that doesn‘t mean to say that every action in the film must have a musical commentary like that by the "mimen" in the classical cartoon films?
Hannes Vester: You can do that: You translate what you see in the film – that would then be a bad film. It concerns much more the following: Take an actor and put on music. Suddenly you see in him the face of the character. Things you would not have seen without the music. You don‘t hear the music but the language and you see the face that suddenly becomes an emotional searchlight.
Keyboards: That is arguably the great art of the moment?
Hannes Vester: Exactly! it is only possible when you can feel what in that moment directly happens. It is like an in-ternal tuning fork that suddenly chimes. It can happen that nothing happens, the film doesn‘t respond – on the actor‘s expression nothing changes. And suddenly you have caught something, then it happens. One must continuously experiment, be open and try things out upon which a scene or character responds. Where would he be more exiting, complex. How can i give the film an emotional depth?
Keyboards: How do you begin with the composition? do you start, for example, with the introduction?
Hannes Vester: No, not at all. First, i look for the key scene in the film. That is the scene for me where many things come together. When i have that i can follow the strings back in all directions. I look at this emotional, many-sided part of the film ten times, twenty times and fifty times if necessary and immerse myself into this one scene. And at some time the moment comes where the film tells me where the journey is going. I am surprised again and again by what comes out. It can be that the film needs a classical symphony orchestra or a bronx-hardcore-rap. Equally, the direction can be to work with sounds emotionally.
Keyboards: Not to get fixed in a routine, always be prepared to do something new?
Hannes Vester: Exactly, face the demands. In doing so, you release the adrenalin you need to complete the job. But then it is fresh and authentic. It matters to the director whether you are authentic and do not fall back on emotional clichés – good directors sense that very quickly.
Keyboards: Do you deliver music for cinema films as a 5.1 mix?
Hannes Vester: Yes, at the final mix the six tracks are laid down and they actually run straight through the mix. Nevertheless, i always take the complete single tracks in reserve with me in case changes have to be made. Everything is on the hard disk under the pro tools system which is compatible with the film studio technology. Anything which needs to be done on site is fine tuning.
Keyboards: Does it ever happen that composition and sound design overlap?
Hannes Vester: Very often. I come from the classical film music, so to say. However, when you realise that you are the magician, who gives the film complexity, everything which releases emotion belongs to audio. Whether that has to be a symphony orchestra or the sound of a low frequency ventilator doesn‘t honestly matter to me at all.
Keyboards: Does one as a film musician have absolute freedom with the score track?
Hannes Vester: I can only speak for myself and i take that freedom. One thing is important: You must feel what the film needs. This emotional certainty gives you conviction and strength. That provides you with the appropriate manner and the producers notice that you have the right grasp.