2. The Designing Sound website interviewed the
ambient music designer from The Dark Night ,
Mel Wesson.
Ambient music design is a mixture of original
film score (background music) and sound
design, and is suppose to complement a
certain scene or the whole film.
Mel Wesson and Hans Zimmer came up with the
term when working on Hannibal.
3. Exclusive Interview
Designing Sound(DS): What does an ambient music designer normally
do and how was that work unique to “The Dark Knight?”
Mel Wesson (MW): Well I can tell you it’s not all about
soundscapes and relaxation tapes! Well, on BB (“Batman Begins”) and
“TDK” I spent the initial months creating sounds and grouping them in
moods and characters, things like ‘Oxides’, ‘Rage’, ‘Chaos’, ‘S-Laughter’.
I’ve always found it easier to collate sounds in terms of food groups
rather than just “Pulses”, ‘Percussion”, “Underscores”, etc., and
anyway, that would’ve been a little unimaginative! An amount of this
material first saw daylight in The Prologue. That was invaluable in
terms of recognizing at an early stage how far this movie differed
tonally from BB. As the team came together over at Remote Control I
joined them and began putting ideas together through the reels; these
went either directly to the mix or via Hans and James to brighten their
days! In reality, every project is unique; Batman sounds only relate to
the Batman characters and locations that’s all, it’s not like they’re
interchangeable.
4. DS: Did your work in “Batman Begins” carry over to the sequel?
MW: Absolutely. You need those familiar markers for
continuity. Some sounds are more subliminal, you log them in
your subconscious, others are more thematic. As an
example, something like the Batflaps are highly visible – that’s
the sound that kicks off both movies, as soon as you hear that
you know you’re back in that world, then the Joker arrives and
kicks the crap out of us all.
5. DS: Given the job title, ambient music designer, do you think
about or approach music differently than other composers?
MW: I hope so, otherwise I’m out of a job! I’m not sure I know
what goes through other composers’ minds but I’ve always been
more interested in making the sound do the work as opposed to
the notes. What the title gives me is the freedom to experiment
without the restrictions of say, a more orchestral approach, but
then my contribution has to complement and extend that world.
It’s very satisfying when the two come together.
6. DS: What are your thoughts on the boundaries between music
and sound design, if any?
MW: I wouldn’t differentiate between them sonically, but
I’d say there’s a dividing line in whether you’re being
figurative or abstract in the way you use sound. The priority
for my work is with the score, what I do has to have some
musical sensibility, whether it’s playing a
supportive, colorist role or driving the structure from which
a cue is built up. I always work with the sound design team
in mind though, you have to be aware of what those guys
are up to, and it doesn’t help if there’s half a dozen things
all doing the same job at the dub, you need clarity, and
everything has to be focused.
7. DS: I asked this of sound soup Richard King and now you: Nolan
has said that TDK’s main theme is escalation. Was there an
emphasis on the score to emote that, too?
MW: Hmmm…. I’ve not heard that phrase before, but you
can’t avoid the way TDK racks up the intensity and the score
is a vital part of the engine of that escalation, although the
movie builds in an unconventional way. It was never going
to be a question of car chase follows train wreck – the Joker
monologues build as much tension as the action scenes; he
really holds the audience by the throat, as does Hans’ one
note Joker theme. It does nothing but escalate! I was very
jealous when I first heard that one, I love the purity of the
idea – it’s pure menace.
8. DS: Where does your work end? Since there’s potential for sounds you
create to be altered, edited, or even omitted during the final dub, is
the first time you see a film in the theater a surprise?
MW: I’m not sure it ever ends. The only meaningful date is the
print master, that’s the only time you physically can’t screw with
things anymore! As you say, the final dub is open season for
sound, but aside from fixes or specific requests my role morphs
into more of a ‘doctor on call’ situation. It’s often the first time
everything comes together as a whole, so yes…. there’s usually a
few surprises! I don’t get too protective about my work though;
if something doesn’t make it to the cut it’s for a reason and I’d
sooner hear one sound cut through and have an effect on an
audience than have a wall of mush that does nothing. It’s the
end result that counts, but I still find it quite nerve wracking the
first time I watch a movie all the way through in the theatre….
9. DS: What was your first gig like?
MW: My first ‘Ambient’ gig was “Hannibal.” I’d played a more
conventional role on “MI2,” and afterward Hans asked if I’d fancy
being the audio “presence of Hannibal Lector.” It doesn’t take
too much to convince me to come over to the dark side!
There was a lot of experimentation, no rules, no road-
map, nothing, although there came a point when a number of
people started to feel very uncomfortable about the sounds
coming out of my studio… which was exactly what we were
looking for! Working with Ridley Scott was a great
experience, too. He was very receptive to the whole idea, very
concise, very constructive, in fact I’d love to cook up some kind
of ‘baptism by fire’ tale of adversity but in reality, “Hannibal”
was just a great project. In the closing week or so Hans and I
came up with the ‘ambient music design’ label; it’s come in
pretty handy over the years…
