How to Conquer the Spotting Session

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Your first meetings were all raging successes. The call has come in. They like your stuff, they like you. You’ve been hired.

You watch the film, make your notes, and prepare to meet with the filmmakers for the first time to spot the film that will occupy your creative head space for the next several weeks. You pack your creative notes, maybe your laptop, into your bag… and you are on your way.

Up to this point, you have presented the strongest case about why you would be the perfect person to score this director’s film. And it worked. You are the composer now. At this juncture, however, the next step is absolutely crucial. It is a step that will either set you up for a month of victories with this director or pave a rocky road toward you finishing this film without any tangible remnant of creative satisfaction. It is a step that many composers, particularly first-timers, don’t prepare well for, or at least haven’t learned through enough experience how to posture for.

Of course I’m talking about the spotting session… and perhaps more specifically, the politics of one.

The Politics of Spotting

The politics of a spotting session are significant, as it is the very first time (in most cases) that the filmmakers will see you in action prior to the writing of their music. They are going to be watching your every move, and what you say, do, react to, fight for, and don’t fight for will tell them a lot about how you are going conduct yourself throughout the rest of the post-production process.

Having been through dozens of spotting sessions and lived to tell the tale, here are a couple of points to consider. Keep in mind that this will only scratch the surface of the political dance that is the spotting session. With as many variables involved as there are potential places for cues to write, you’ll always have your hands full politically, and since every project is different with a new cast of characters each time out, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to sharpen your political saw down future campaign trails.

What You "Shouldn't" Do

When you attend a spotting session with a team of filmmakers, you are being called into action… for a reason. You are the “music expert”, and for all intents and purposes, they are ready and waiting for you to tell them what you think of the placement of music in their film. This is not the time for you to shy away from having opinions or speaking your mind. In fact, quite the opposite.

One time, early in my career, I was hired to score a film for a director that I admired greatly. Having seen many of his films growing up, this guy was certainly the biggest director I’d worked with up to that point in my career. It was a big deal for me to be sitting in front of him.

As the editor put the picture up on the screen for us to see, I watched a few minutes as the picture rolled by and I noticed a place where I thought the lead character’s performance was a little unconvincing. Being still somewhat in shock that I was even sitting there with this director, I asked the editor to break here and asked the director if he felt there needed to be music to support the feeling of what was being conveyed, even though I knew in my cinematic heart that the actor wasn’t conveying it.

“No. No music here,” my director replied, curtly. “Let’s move on.”

Well… I guess that was that, his tone only serving to fortify my already awkward timidity in regards to the situation. And in the next several spots where there definitely needed to be some music, I was shot down in much the same way as I just described—each time chipping away even more at my confidence, until finally, I just stopped saying anything and let the director tell me where the music should be placed.

After getting home that day, I felt like a complete failure. I knew that I had not done my job as a film composer. I knew, in my head and my heart, that I was not going to be able to write the score that the film truly needed, and that I should have been more bold and more vocal, despite what I felt about this director, as to my thoughts on music placement. After a good night’s sleep, I watched the film six times the next day. I took copious amounts of notes, worked out multiple spotting possibilities, and even sketched a theme for the main character.

After that rigorous wrestling match with the picture, I decided to take another shot. I called the production office and made another appointment with the director. I went in, armed with notes, sketches, and mental reasoning about why I felt this film, as spotted three days before, was music-light and what I wanted to do to fix it. As I presented my case, my director, again, disagreed with several of my ideas. But the more I explained my reasoning behind my decisions, the more he began to soften. Finally, at the end of my 2-hour argument for more music in this picture, we'd added another 21 minutes of very necessary score to the film.

A few months after delivery, the director and I were at a film festival promoting the movie on a Q&A panel together when a gentleman stood up and asked us what our collaboration was like. I’ll never forget what my director said. He told the man that I had brought a vision to the film that he was unable to see. He said that it was the best experience he'd ever had with music in one of his films. I was stunned.

What did I learn from this experience? It is so important to realize that you are the person who is there to conceive and craft the film score. You can’t afford, at any point in your career, to go into a spotting session without something of a sense of entitlement. My advice is to step fully into your role as composer, as collaborator, as expert, and offer your musical opinion. Set aside any doubts or feelings you might have about whether you are “worthy” of being there or not. You are worthy… so do your job.

What You "Should" Do

In the room, you’ll be contending with multiple personalities. This is Show Biz—everyone is working to get themselves further down the road of success. If that means they need to throw a few folks under the bus to get there, well… I hope you’ve got your helmet on!

In a typical spotting session, you’ll be in the room with the director, the picture editor, and the music editor. Sometimes there is a producer or two along as well, but those three principals for sure… and you. I know it is only four people, and it doesn’t seem like a lot, but believe me that is a ton of ego for one room to handle! You have one person, the director, who has babied this thing since its inception. He’s not going to let go easily. You have the picture editor, who has been told since film school that “a film is made in the editing room”, so… good luck with all that! Lastly, you have the music editor, who is most likely on your side, but also has his or her own strong opinions about how this whole thing ought to go down. Add to that a few producers (read: money people) and you’ve got yourself a veritable stew of slow-brewed, but hard-boiled opinions.

A little dash of Einstein’s curved space-time theory will serve you well here. Take it from me: The shortest distance between two movie buffs is a shared cinematic language. If you do not speak editor-eze, you are screwed from the start. Editors talk in picture like composers talk in music. Translation: You need to learn picture. If you are unaware of what ECUs, dolly shots, pop-ins, and swish pans are, find out and find out fast! A shared cinematic language within a group of filmmakers breeds clarity and eradicates ambiguity. The faster you arrive there, the better and more productive your spotting session will be.

Also (and this should come before you even attempt to score anything—ever!), a working knowledge of the history of cinema will come in handy. It is much easier for a director to say “Let’s do this MOS, like they did in ‘Saving Private Ryan’,” than it is for him to say, “Let’s do this real lush-like and sweeping thing here… but just with no sound, or maybe very little sound... no, maybe without any sound, but kind of epic, but not epic like 'big' epic… epic like 'emotionally' epic. Yeah. Like that… sort of. In a way.”

Directors like to speak in historical terms. It's easy. "You know in RoboCop where the guy falls in toxic waste? It's like that!" If you don't know that scene, you're sunk. Now somebody has to explain it to you, and usually in a technical way, which drains the comparative intensity out of it completely. Knowing a bit of film history is the greatest shorthand with a director. They love it. It does three things: 1) It makes them feel smart. 2) It saves a huge amount of valuable time. 3) It creates a sense of camaraderie between you and your director, something that you need as much of as you can get.

Do yourself a favor and do your homework on the people in the room. What has this editor done before? Do her films follow any kind of “formula” in pacing or editorial style? What about the music editor? Does he tend to repeat certain musical “moves” in his films in regards to the placement of music? How about this director? What were the musical aesthetics of his or her earlier films and how does he or she typically use music to support different story elements? I never go into a spotting session without trying to answer each of these questions. I want to know who’s going into battle alongside me with this thing. Do we have similar styles? Do we like to do similar things? And, if not, what are some of the things they have done that I think are cool? Often times, simply complimenting one’s work will do wonders in calming them down and getting rid of any anxiety they might have in working with you.

There's More... Let's Hear It!

This is only a small part of what goes into a spotting session, and much more can creep up and take the wind out of everybody’s sails. On the other hand, a solid collaborative environment for your spotting sessions insures that things will start on the right foot with your creative team. That's what you are going for. Too many other things will inevitably go wrong in the post-production process, so having yourself together at the spotting session will set you up for success from the outset.

Now I want to hear from you. What are your "spotting" tricks? Tell me what you're thinking in the comment box below this post.

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