Writting A Film Score To A Pirate Film

[DrewT86]

(Excuse the long post but I believe it's all necessary information.)

The following was an email I sent to Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket, Webmasters of the www.Talklikeapirate.com, in an attempt to find out more information about my current job. (I bolded and Italicized all the information relevant to my cause.)

(Read on)

"Gentlemen,

While searching for information about pirates and pirate lifestyles on the internet, I came across your extremely intriguing site. I would first like to say that I appreciate your thoroughness. It’s refreshing given the kind of search this has been for me. I especially found helpful your “Pirate Links” section. Most of all…the majority of your content is hilarious. Thanks for that. So if I may introduce myself and state my business. My name is Drew Taurisano and I’m a freshman double music major at college in Syracuse, New York. Within the next few years I hope to transfer and become a full-time film score major at another college. And now you might think to yourself, “He’s a music major, why is this kid bothering us?” Well, gentlemen, ‘ye not be the only matey’s that I be botherin’ tonight.’(I tried? Points there, eh?) Anyhow, the actual reason: as I mentioned before, yet, not as completely, I’m studying to further fine-tune my skills as a composer and become a full-time film score major and someday an actual film scorer. This unfortunately isn’t the type of job where you drop off an application at Universal Studios and then they call you for an interview. It, as I’m sure you could guess, is a painfully long process with hours upon hours of studying and lecture, where a great amount of talent is necessary….or maybe if you’re just a damn lucky man, you could fall into the job. I can only hope to claim the later. (I know...it’s still unclear why I’m contacting you.) Well about three days ago, I happened to be in one of those ‘right place, right time’ situations and I ran into a film major. This particular gentlemen is studying to become a writer/director and part of the requirements for his completion and graduation to go on is to write and direct a film. It’s a two-year process in college. By the second semester, the plot and script have been written, the cast is assembled and now it is time for the director to start thinking about the single most important aspect of the film, aside from a good story and dialogue; a film scorer is introduced into the mix and the process continues. (I apologize if I am boring you with this behind the scenes talk. I don’t mean to educate. Just to provide a good basis for my proposal to you and hopefully simultaneously convey the idea that I am dedicated and serious about my career and hope to be taken as seriously as possible.) I digress... He proposed to me the task of writing the score for his film. I was ecstatic. The answer to my dreams. Rarely does this ever happen to a student film scorer. Let alone a freshman with almost no credibility as to his film scoring skills behind him. I graciously accepted as I picked my jaw up off the floor and continued to inquire about the film. “It’s going to be a Pirate film!” he explained. “Oh joy! Oh rapture!” I replied…ok that’s not really how I replied but long story short, I got the job. I intend to take this as seriously as possible. It essentially is the start of my career. If I can do a fantastic job of this, no college could deny me. So I intend to explore every avenue and topic on pirates keeping within relevance to my contribution to the film, i.e. the music. We met briefly but so far I understand very little about the film. I may be incorrect in my assumptions but this is what I gather: There was a real woman pirate by the name of Moll Flanders. From what I gathered this story is mostly fictional but has some non-fiction in it. She has a child and is forced to kill him if she is to continue on her lifestyle. To prove that she killed him, she must cut off his hand. But instead of killing the baby she secretly smuggles the baby away to live with the only people she knows, other pirates. The child grows up to become a pirate himself and learns, if not falsely, that his mother had intended to have him killed and swears to seek revenge on her. The movie has amazing potential. The thematic material it has is endless. (To clarify: Thematic material being that of musical phrases that when heard, subconsciously stimulates the brain to associate the sound with certain characters, events, etc…such as the four note “bat-theme” that Danny Elfman used in Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns to musically express Michael Keaton’s character, Batman.) The relationship of mother and son, the emotions of revenge, confusion and unconditional love…well, this is pirates we’re talking about so maybe not so much of the last one. Anyway, I truly think it’s a great concept for a film. I’m happy to be a part of it. To prove my enthusiasm I am asking for your help. I am embarrassed to admit to such accomplished pirates as yourselves ( ) that the only knowledge I have of pirates is limited to the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. But of course at one point these were real people and this was a real culture. I think that to write a convincing score, a film scorer must know about what he is composing. This, gentlemen, is where I beg your help! Their culture escapes me. Online information is very broad and often not very detailed…at least the details I’m looking for. I would like some thematic material in my score to convey right away that this film is about pirates. To do that, I could first find out what kind of music pirates enjoyed/listened to/played or sung. What kind of music is related to pirates. And a much more vague question but something I’m sure you could answer. What am I overlooking? I am hoping that by emailing enough pirate enthusiasts one of you can tell me exactly what in the pirate culture would be helpful to know when thinking about a task such as mine: Making an audience subconsciously aware that this is a movie about pirates. I appreciate your concern in the matter gentlemen and would be privileged to receive back any information you may be able to contribute. Sincerely yours Drew"

Well, the dream is coming true and the film is rounding the corner to the scoring phase, finally. I have a meeting with the Director, Monday 3/7/05 at 6 PM EST, and we're going to go over Topics and Treatment.

To make sure I'm as prepared as possible I want to take Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket's advice so:

The Real Purpose Of This Email... If anyone out there has information that can further enhance my search as described above it would be much appreciated!

Obviously I'm not as in tuned to Pirates as the majority of people on this site so why not ask the experts?!

Thanks in advance

~Drew

[lady snow]

i cannot call myself an expert, but you can probably count on the shanties for some background. as i have picked up from faire, sailors and pirates, privateers, used music and shanties for a few reasons. they were used to provide the rhythm for tasks on the ship - rigging the sails, pulling up anchor, and other mundane tasks. i hope this may help a little.

~snow