On Campus News

Logan Knoppers, a student at Calvin College, talks about composing the score for the animated student short film "A Royal Pain". His first major composition project, Knoppers discusses the difficulties of learning as he went, what inspired him and the process involved.

How did you set about composing the music for "A Royal Pain"? And what did you use for inspiration?

I love film scores and I've been listening to them quite frequently for many years. I also listen to a lot of classical music. I think I draw some inspiration from those, subconsciously if not consciously, and that is one of the biggest reasons why film scoring comes rather naturally to me. However, my main inspiration for "A Royal Pain" was the work of Carl Stalling in Looney Tunes. He was the most influential figure to shape what we think of as cartoon music. It was great to be able to watch cartoons and call it "research"!

Before I would start composing for a given scene, I would be given a rough animatic that would give me the approximate timings for the scene. Then I would sit down with the directors (Josh Kappers and Dan Reinisch) and discuss what they wanted for each part of the scene, where all the hit points were, and any other considerations they had. Then I would go and compose music for it. Thus, I actually determined all the exact timings for the film because they matched the animation to my music. (This is the opposite of how most film scores are done. Usually the composer is given a visual lock of the film and must match the predetermined timings.)

Of course, one thing that characterizes Carl Stalling's music is his rich orchestrations. That was a bit daunting for me because I had never orchestrated anything in my life. However, I looked up some basic orchestration tips and learned as much as I could in the limited time I had. I ended up with a rather complex score at some points. In some parts there were as many as a couple dozen distinct parts playing at once, and nearly 40 distinct parts throughout the whole score. Rather than assemble an entire orchestra at once and deal with all the complications that entails, we recorded each section (strings, woodwinds, brass, choir) separately. (The percussion was all sampled sounds.) In total, we had 39 performers work on the score. My orchestrations were not nearly as impressive or intense as Stalling's (nor were my performing forces), but I think they were adequate given the scope of the project.

How long did it take you to complete the score? And what was the biggest challenge?

The score took a very long time to write.

One reason it took so long was the constantly changing action in the film. For most films�even most short films�the action does not change extremely quickly. For example, in the film score I just wrote this fall, most of the film consisted of portions where the music could be relatively the same for anything from 30 seconds to a couple minutes. There were some specific points that needed distinct hits, but the action was not constantly changing the entire time. "A Royal Pain" was quite different in that regard. The action was changing constantly. The six-minute film had seven separate scenes, each of which has its own string of events that progress very quickly. I think the longest span of music without a significant change in focus is only about 13 seconds, and some are only one or two seconds long.
The score for "A Royal Pain" was actually my first real composition project. I had composed various sketches and things, but never a serious composition. (My interest in composition came up quite recently; last spring when I wrote this score was only my second semester as a music major after two years in the engineering program.) Thus, I did not have a very good understanding of how I worked as a composer, nor did I have any real composition strategies, and it was very difficult for me to get anything done quickly.

I think that my biggest challenge was my lack of experience, which I've already said was a huge factor behind my slowness. Although I was capable of coming up with good ideas, they were often slow in coming. There were many long nights spent in the music lab in order to finish the score by the recording sessions. I have already gotten noticeably better in the half a year that has passed, but last spring I did not really have a good idea of how to go about composing something.

What was your favorite part about working on "A Royal Pain"?

I think my favorite part was hearing the music come to life. I guess this is something that happened all along the way. When I would compose, it was very rewarding when I thought of an idea and input it into Sibelius (music composition program) and could hear it played back to me. Then it was immensely more rewarding to hear live performers playing my music. At our first recording session, there were 10 string players, and it was incredible hearing them all play music that I had composed! And then hearing the different parts come together in the final mix was also a wonderful experience.

What was the most important thing you learned during the experience?

I cannot think of any one thing that stands out as the most important thing I learned, but I know in general I was amazed with how much of a learning experience it was. We were all extremely ambitious with the project, and whenever you try things you've never done before and really push yourself, you'll learn a lot along the way. I learned quite a bit about composing and orchestrating music, recording and mixing music, and collaborating with both filmmakers and performers. Since this was my first time doing any of those things, I cannot say one was the most important. I mainly learned by doing, though I did have a fair amount of help in some of those areas. In all those things, I learned a lot about what to do, but I also learned a bit about what not to do. Since this was my first real test as a composer, I was also very pleased to learn that I could write successful film music! When I look back at my work on "A Royal Pain," I see a great achievement that I can show off to anyone who may have interest in my music in the future, but even more important is the immense amount I learned throughout the entire process. I believe that when I graduate, I will look back on this project as the best experience I had at Calvin College.