Mystery Guest Supervisor; Batting Cleanup

[mojobone]

I'm gonna hang out, while the tequila holds out, and reply to questions or clarify points brought up in tonight's chat. The Biz forum is also an appropriate spot for the biz-oriented bits. It'll be a good 15 minutes or so before I can see the chat posts I missed, meanwhile, I'm happy to expand on any issues/questions, but if there are none, I'll delete this thread, in lieu of wasting anyone's time.

Mojo, first of all thanks for doing this. There were two statements by the Supe that I could not get my head around: He first said that if the song was too good it might distract the viewer too much and he then went on saying we should always write the best song possible. So which one is it? Does the first statement not suggest we should try to make the tracks we submit just a tad more boring than we'd like them to be?
Please let me know your thoughts.
Cheers,
Matt

Music for picture is a different deal than radio; the music that worms it's way into your heart on your daily commute has different requirements than the music that's intended to support action on a screen, or to fill in emotional details that maybe aren't present on your TV. For film, TV and advertising, music is not the star of the show, it exists to tell the viewer how to feel about what they're seeing; that's incredibly important and requires the utmost quality; writing simple is pretty damn difficult, writing subtle is a different level, separate but equal, I'd opine.

Writing/recording for picture compares to being a supporting actor rather than a lead; a support actor that commands too much attentions draws focus away from the STAR, and that'll gum up the works. Confusing the audience is a recipe for disaster, so it pays to know your audience.

[mojobone]

There were two statements by the Supe that I could not get my head around: He first said that if the song was too good it might distract the viewer too much and he then went on saying we should always write the best song possible.

From my notes (not necessarily quoted verbatim):
He opened with the reality that the supe will pick the song that is "right for the scene". Having said that, he said be in it for the long game. Do not write to satisfy a specific scene/project/etc., but write songs you are proud of. Whether it's used in the project or not, you'll have a great song.

So which one is it? Does the first statement not suggest we should try to make the tracks we submit just a tad more boring than we'd like them to be?

As paradoxical as that is, my takeaway is to be sensitive to the placement, but don't compromise your creativity to try to make it fit.

I think that's the right idea; as tough as it can be to know how your track can work under picture that you haven't even seen, that's the gig.

[SJW11]

Some other thoughts and great advice offered by the Guest Supervisor -- avoid being "literal". While I think this is great insight (lyrically I try to avoid songs that are literal, but rather allude to, reference, innuendo or provide hints to the subject matter); however, I can't help but notice that many times this exact advice is at odds with Taxi's selection criteria. I've had a few submissions returned for not being literal - "great song, but I don't see lyrics about cars, driving, flying etc". Just a thought as sometimes I don't know who I'm trying to please.

The publishing advice was also insightful...I never got around to canceling some of my publishing agreements with Tunecore -- so I did that the next day just to stay on top of things.

[AlanHall]

Some other thoughts and great advice offered by the Guest Supervisor -- avoid being "literal". ...I think this is great insight (lyrically I try to avoid songs that are literal, but rather allude to, reference, innuendo or provide hints to the subject matter)...

I'm very literal-minded when I try my hand at lyrics. I usually have to have my metaphors and images in place before the first line is written, or else it's just garbage. With prep it's a little less likely to be garbage!

I'm drawn to Peter Gabriel's song Don't Give Up (So, 1986). The lyric never tells what happened, but simply describes the loss and the disrepair. The song did fairly well on the charts (better in the UK than the US) indicating that people 'got it'. IMHO, I think that's the ideal of avoiding a literally-worded lyric.

[AmandaJane]

On reading through this thread I realised that I must have missed this episode !
Sounds like it sorted a few issues for a few people