When music is great, ‘you don’t even know it exists’
Print Edition
To Iranian composer Peyman Yazdanian, music is an “attack” because it takes us to places by emotions — and that is its power.
Yazdanian joined a Shanghai International Film Festival masterclass to talk about making music to complement film.
First, the music must be in the same direction as the image and follow the feeling the director wants.
“Good music, you don’t even know it exists,” he said.
Yazdanian, who has composed more than 40 pieces for solo piano and soundtracks for films, plays and multimedia, pointed out orchestral music would be overly flamboyant for a two-person scene, yet a solo piece can add layers of complexity to a war scene.
“Film always comes first, and then the music,” said the composer, whose foreign film soundtracks include “Lost in Beijing” directed by Li Yu and “Summer Palace” directed by Lou Ye.
This is why his composing process always begins with watching the finished film and feeling the emotions.
“Each film I do, I should believe it’s real. I talk about the characters like they exist. I want to know their emotions,” the Tehran native said.
He recalled a time in the editing suite when he just walked to the piano and let his fingers glide across the keys, he intuitively played the tune that immediately became the perfect fit.
“Creating must be in certain moods, and I always look for signs,” Yazdanian said.
Asked if he considers himself a filmmaker or a musician, Yazdanian unhesitatingly answered “filmmaker.”
Yazdanian believes that passion alone is not enough — he must continue learning the skills of cinematography and be involved in the entire production.
But teamwork is not always easy.
“Those directors who believe they know music are disasters,” he said. “I’ve never met a director who knows music. It’s a different language.”
Yazdanian is most interested in films about society and understanding people.
Quoting a Taoist saying, he said: “Don’t look to be extraordinary, to be ordinary is extraordinary.”
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