MovieMusic.com Message Boards: A Closer Look at Bruce Broughton's "Lost in Space" --- USC Academic Paper

Message Boards

Movie Soundtracks

A Closer Look at Bruce Broughton's "Lost in Space" --- USC Academic Paper

Archive of old forum. No more postings.

Please visit our new forum, The MovieMusic Lobby, to post new topics.

Author	Topic: A Closer Look at Bruce Broughton's "Lost in Space" --- USC Academic Paper

Jeron Standard Userer	Hey guys! I recently posted a paper I wrote a few years ago back when I was at USC in a graduate class called "Directing the Composer." Was a great experience, and yeah... I made an "A". Because I was semi-connected, I was able to arrange for our class to visit Harry Gregson-Williams' then-studio at the then-Media Ventures (now Remote Control) location in Santa Monica. Harry showed us his mock-up for the Sirens sequence in Sinbad, which was quite thrilling when played up against the animatic he had to work with. Christopher Lennertz was also one of our guest speakers. At that point, he hadn't broken into the Video Game scene like he has now, but having him there was still fun and interesting. He's a very talented man. Also, Bill Stromberg (of the John Morgan-duo fame) had a guest lecture session, but I missed it for some reason. Since then, he and I have evaded each other - unintentionally so! - but John Morgan and I see enough of each other to make the two of us sick. Haha. Just kidding John. As my final project / presentation, I opted to write a paper and analyze a film score, approaching the subject matter with concepts and theories we had learned throughout the semester. Bruce Broughton, a very dear friend of mine and someone I've admired since I was a child, granted me the priviledge of interviewing him about his experience on "Lost in Space." His monumental score for this film was my focus, and I tied a general academic analysis of the score into a broader sense of how the score came to be, and the process that had to be undertaken to pull it off. It was quite a caper. It had never occured to me to actually share this with anyone, but I thought if anybody would be interested, it'd be you guys... so here it is... I've posted it at my MySpace Blog: Lost in Space: Music at Hyperspeed [Message edited by Jeron on 05-23-2006]
posted 05-23-2006 04:41 AM PT (US)

Swashbuckler Standard Userer	Cool paper! Thanks for posting! Hopefully you will set a precedent for this sort of thing (posting academic papers about film music, that is)... [Message edited by Swashbuckler on 05-23-2006]
posted 05-23-2006 07:55 AM PT (US)

Thor Standard Userer	Hey, Jeron, it's a fine article, but I wouldn't call it strictly academic. More of a popular science article, if you know what I mean. At least by European standards. Why? Well, you spend too much time on many "superficial" details related to the production itself rather than focussing on the aestethic evaluation of how the score works and what it does. I'm guessing this is an American "thang", because I've seen it time and again in articles from across the pond. In Europe, these "fan" details aren't so important. Still, you DO talk about the leitmotifs and how they interact with one another, which is the real strength of your article. I just wish there were more of it, and even more in-depth. Thanks for the read!
posted 05-23-2006 08:27 AM PT (US)

Jeron Standard Userer	Thanks guys! Yeah, you know Thor - I call it an academic paper - not article - because I wrote it during my bout of academia as a student at USC. It's academic for a whole different reason... lol. That said, I wrote it for a class full of folks who were relatively new to film music - we had to present our paper and the concepts we chose to focus on verbally to the class. So in that context, those superficial things become important bridges of transition - I didn't want to put people to sleep... Also note that it was written in 2002... I was 21 years old. I'm turning 25 in 3 days (May 26th!). Jeron [Message edited by Jeron on 05-23-2006]
posted 05-23-2006 11:56 AM PT (US)

Justin Standard Userer	25 and looking more and more like Tom Cruise each day
posted 05-23-2006 02:06 PM PT (US)

nuts_score Standard Userer	Very inciteful prose on an under-appreciated score. Praise is much deserved for you, Mr. Moore.
posted 05-23-2006 02:31 PM PT (US)

Thor Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by Jeron: That said, I wrote it for a class full of folks who were relatively new to film music - we had to present our paper and the concepts we chose to focus on verbally to the class. So in that context, those superficial things become important bridges of transition - I didn't want to put people to sleep... Oh, so this was an oral presentation? That certainly changes things, and in that case I agree that you have to put things in simpler terms. Still, it doesn't have to be boring just because you focus on aestethic concerns rather than production details. It's all about how you present it. If I went to a lecture, I would want to hear what the score does, what it symbolizes, how it communicates with the visuals etcetera. Not who orchestrated, how the composer got the assignment, where the recording studio was and so forth.
posted 05-23-2006 03:21 PM PT (US)

Jeron Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by nuts_score: Very inciteful prose on an under-appreciated score. Praise is much deserved for you, Mr. Moore. Thanks!! quote: Originally posted by Thor: Oh, so this was an oral presentation? That certainly changes things, and in that case I agree that you have to put things in simpler terms. Still, it doesn't have to be boring just because you focus on aestethic concerns rather than production details. It's all about how you present it. If I went to a lecture, I would want to hear what the score does, what it symbolizes, how it communicates with the visuals etcetera. Not who orchestrated, how the composer got the assignment, where the recording studio was and so forth. Well yes, I completely agree. I think I would have gone into more depth though if I was actually hosting a symposium where guys like you, John Morgan, Peter Kelly, Jeff Bond, etc. were in attendence. Haha. Yeah right. I'd be in over my head with that one. I appreciate the criticism and the compliments, though. It is what it is, and fact of the matter is that it is a paper by a 21 year old film student. Not the 25 year old filmmaker I am now, who has learned a lot since I wrote that paper. Jeron
posted 05-23-2006 05:18 PM PT (US)

joan hue Standard Userer	I liked the paper. It wasn't suppose to be a Ph.d thesis paper presented to the ghosts of Rozsa and Herrmann. I think you used the appropriate details for the assignment and the audience.
posted 05-23-2006 06:13 PM PT (US)

franz_conrad Standard Userer	Interesting score to discuss in detail... nice to see a modern work subjected to a little more scrutiny, though like Thor, I was hungry for more of this sort of thing.
posted 05-23-2006 06:16 PM PT (US)

rkeaveney Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by Jeron: Also note that it was written in 2002... I was 21 years old. I'm turning 25 in 3 days (May 26th!). Wow, I didn't learn how to write until I was 22 and a half! Ryan
posted 05-23-2006 09:33 PM PT (US)

James Phillips Standard Userer	quote: Originally posted by Justin: 25 and looking more and more like Tom Cruise each day With that body, he can kick Cruise's ass!
posted 06-03-2006 05:19 PM PT (US)

John Morgan Standard Userer	Excellent essay, Jeron. Very perceptive. I just knew all the rumors about your tin ear were untrue! I wish more of today's films would support scores such as those that Bruce does so well.
posted 06-04-2006 12:06 PM PT (US)

Old Infopop Software by UBB