James Newton Howard Quotes

When I compose for any film, I always work with the story in mind.

As a film composer I deal with short bursts of musical ideas that are defined to a large extent by what's happening on the screen, by not only narrative and action, but staying out of the way of dialogue, sound effects.

For me, the work begins with a rough cut of the film. I can't do much with the script. I've tried to write music to a script prior to seeing the film, but I've found it turns out to be a waste of time.

I had come from an orchestral background, but I didn't really have any orchestral pieces for film.

I've composed a fair amount in my life, and some of them have made it on to the screen, some compositions that I've done, a few. And I like doing that. I had never really considered doing a full-length thing. I've worked with other people creating full-length pieces.

The structural thinking I use in the concert hall is unnecessary to most film projects, and most film composers make better use of the enormous range of pop and other materials and techniques required of them than I probably would, faced with the same challenge.

Normally, when people compose for film, you give them the film, and they look at it, and they compose it.

Every time I see a film or TV show, I think about how that composer made those choices and how that director envisioned music and how that could work onstage or in a film and how you could support that even further by putting lyrics to it.

In the film work, I love to work mainly from the script and from talking to the directors, so a lot of the music, big portions of the scores that I've made, have been composed before the movies were even shot.

I think, for me, a way to really come up with new ideas and come up with new ways of writing music is to create a unique sound palette or soundscape for all the films I'm working on.

I'm not a script composer. I'm a film composer and my brain is excited by images and moving elements.

Without the knowledge of music, it would be very hard to write film music. There are so many films, and each one has a different historical background and everything.

Whenever I make a movie, I always try to figure out what kind of music it would be.

I don't like to surprise anyone with the music I compose for a film. That way, there is less trouble later on.

When I write music for a film, I'm not writing a solo album, and I'm not writing a personal piece. I'm part of a team of artists. So I think like a filmmaker more than a composer.

I am songwriter. I do compose the music of songs that I write in Bengali. But I've never thought of composing for a film. That's a different art altogether.

Because I work so much, people think that I have a team writing for me, but that's not why I chose to write music for films. I chose to write music because I like to write music. So every single note that comes out of my studio is written by me, and I wouldn't be able to do two movies at the same time.

I'm always working on a new album because I'm always writing, and I'm always in and out of my home studio.

I talked to the record company about what I had in mind. They said they wanted something lush. I figured the best thing to do was let them hear what I had in mind.

I always said when I was younger, I wanted to write film music, and I think that's what my ultimate dream is.

So film music is something I absolutely wanna get involved in.

When you're working on film music, you're only working on 20, 30-minute sections at a time.

Bernard Herrmann used to write all his scores by himself. So did Bach, Beethoven and Stravinsky. I don't understand why this happens in the movie industry.

I'm always writing songs, and I've got a bunch that I want to record.

You never know how they're going to play out, but 'Pork and Beans' definitely had the same vibe as the 'Buddy Holly' video in that you just knew it was going to work.