USA: Christiaan Hajos (Learning on Excursions)

Program: UW Creative Careers in Hollywood, Summer

During the Creative Careers in Hollywood program, we went on many excursions to meet with industry professionals (from animators to development executives to entertainment lawyers), but one excursion in particular has been playing in my mind over and over again. During our second week of the program, we visited film composer James Newton Howard in his studio. He’s composed for 140 films, including Fantastic Beasts, Dark Night, Hunger Games, and one of my personal favorite films: The Fugitive.

He showed us a bunch of different attempts he had at making the Fantastic Beasts opening theme. I always assume that someone just has the perfect song idea right away, but it was interesting to see how many different themes could have been used and how many sounds could have happened. One was dark and brooding, but James said it was too depressing, another sounded too much like a day at the circus, and when the final theme came on, it really did just make sense! That odd meter has such an excitement to it, and it sounds like we’re going on an adventure to see things we’ve never seen before.

He also showed us some moments of films before and after his score. As someone who directs student films, it’s incredible for me to see the emotional effect of music. SOOO much work goes into a film to make you feel things. The set and costume design, the performance of the actors, the staging of the actors and the camera, the sound effects, and even with all that work, the heavy lifting of the emotional guidance is done by the music (not in all cases of course, but most!).

What was magical for me was seeing and hearing him play themes that he’s written at his keyboard. I got full-body chills multiple times during the time we had with him. There was an amazing shift in the room that happened when some of us were asking James questions, and his answers were so delightful and informative, and although the seating was spread out over his studio, one-by-one everyone slowly but surely gathered behind James and his keyboard so that we could see him play, and ask him questions. We were originally allotted one hour with him, but around the one hour mark he said that if we didn’t have to go yet, he could stay longer, and we ended up listening to him play music, and talking about art and life for another hour.

I asked him what inspires him to write, whether it be other composers, sounds he hears in his day-to-day, stories or things that happen to him, etc… And he said that when he writes, his focus is the emotional core of the song, and you have to make things personal. And what really stuck with me was that next James said that he has a tendency to write about what he doesn’t have. That has been sitting with me since, because I (like most everyone) feel so much longing and yearning. I loved that the love themes he played for us weren’t triumphant, but gentle and still filled with longing, and perhaps some amount of relief to finally feel such love and warmth.

Meeting James Newton Howard showed us another side of the entertainment business, and how interconnected everything is. The composer reads the script before shooting begins, and starts composing themes, and either those themes inform the director and those pieces are used on set and the actors perform to the music, or the composer has much more work after shooting ends, and they mess around with themes and motifs to fit the screen. James did mention something interesting though, which was that some of his best themes were written before he saw the film. I wonder if it has something to do with magic and potential. A script has near limitless potential, a nearly finished film doesn’t anymore, and writing to something that has limitless potential must have a better chance of leading to magic.

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