by Dov Kornits
Can you tell us about where you grew up and whether music/arts is in the genes?
I’m a first generation Australian. I grew up on the lower north shore of Sydney and have lived in Sydney for most of my life – apart from this recent stint in LA. There is much conjecture in our family about the musical lineage. My grandfather, who I never met, was a cinematographer and worked for a while in one of Australia’s first commercial tv studios in the ‘50s when the family first immigrated from China. I think that he also played piano. Mum is artistic as well. So, the visual/film side at least is clear.
Did you go down the rock band route initially?
I don’t have a lot of band experience other than high school jazz bands and some guest appearances with an African band playing keys. I’m a classically trained composer and with that comes a certain fondness for creative isolation! I started writing my own music at around the age of thirteen and somehow for me, the act of music creation was then, and has always remained, something that I did on my own. My first musical language was an orchestral one. I grew up in and around orchestras. It was only when I got to university that I got into electronic music production and that is what ultimately led me to film.
Who were your musical inspirations at the formative 15-17 year old period – or was it a different period for you when your mind was blown by music?
Consciously it was about a decade earlier. I remember walking out of a screening of one of the Star Wars films in the eighties with my Dad at Hoyts City Centre, and he asked me if I liked the music. I did. I had just taken up the clarinet and he told me that I too could make music like John Williams one day. I was sold – still waiting to live up to that potential, haha.
I’ve had so many musical inspirations since then and they often correspond to certain periods of my life. I’m continually mind blown by music, particularly by music that I have often dismissed. There is a real joy in discovering the genius of an artist/singer/composer that you have known “of” all your life but never really paid attention to. It’s humbling and often confronting to “discover” their work and to realise how much you have missed out on. Long story short, always be curious and open to music!!
How’s this crazy COVID period impacted you both personally and professionally?
We’ve been enduring this lockdown in LA. It has not been easy. We look at pristine images of outdoor life on facetime with our families back home and it’s depressing really. LA is basically back in lockdown at this point.
Despite the rising number of cases in LA county, we still see people on the streets – a minority – unmasked. It’s infuriating. For too many, science has become politicised and ideology has taken precedence over fact.
Workwise of course, we have been impacted. Although my wife continues to work from home, all my work ended in mid-March. Some of these productions will pick up as Australia gets back to work. Others may never come back. I believe that for the next year or so, opportunities will be harder to come by.
Was there a particular piece of your work which exposed you to the US market?
I wouldn’t say there was one piece. It was only after years of work that I began to get attention over here. It started by winning the very first APRA Professional Development Award which brought me over here to take part in the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop. I formed friendships there that still endure today. A few years later, my scores for The Black Balloon and The Waiting City were noticed by a couple of people here, including my agent who has repped me ever since.
How did you land The Tax Collector gig?
A good friend of mine was working on the film as music editor. Writer/Director David Ayer hadn’t quite found the sound that he was looking for. So, it was suggested that I submit a couple of ideas. I did just that!
How did you work with David Ayer on this project? Did he show you the film first, or did you work on the score as they were filming?
I came to the film pretty late in the piece. In fact, all of the songs in the film were already pretty much chosen. The score sections were still up in the air and we only had a couple of weeks to get it all done. The demos that I had done earlier slotted very easily into a couple of scenes and they were then etched in stone. Then it became about shaping the rest of the score, knowing at each point where we were in the story, and crafting the shape of the music to match. David was very clear in his intention about character and themes and that had to be reflected in the music. It was a really easy and inspiring collaboration.
It looks like a violent film, but the score takes a different tact. Can you speak to that, how it happened, your approach, inspirations?
Well, I knew that David Ayer was looking for a new sound for his new movie. He had a couple of references to share but they weren’t score references exactly; they were songs that captured something of what he was looking for. I can’t actually remember what the titles were. I do recall thinking that I knew exactly what David meant though. The references spoke to me in a way. I recognised something in them. I knew that I wanted my demos to be quite songlike, recreating in a film score idiom the feeling that I got from the songs. I actually sang… well, hummed, on the recordings. I multitracked my voice and it created the kind of effect I was looking for. I hadn’t seen a frame when I wrote them but the melodies from those original demos survived and feature in the final score.
The score is the emotional throughline of the film. Yes, the film is dark, yes it is violent, but the score had to sit opposed to that. Ultimately, it’s a film about a family and the score goes to the heart of that story.
Is there a difference between working on Australian productions and Hollywood ones?
Apart from the fact that everything is bigger here, when you get down to it, the fundamental nature of the work is unchanged. The job is still to listen, to absorb and then to translate story and tone into music. The nature of every collaboration changes along personal rather than cultural lines.
And don’t forget that growing up in Australia confers an exposure to world cinema culture already – English language or not. We are extremely fortunate to have access without censorship to the great (and not so great) films of history. It’s good prep.
When you score a film like Blindspotting, which is so US-specific, how do you approach that kind of gig?
Blindspotting is a special film. For those that don’t know, it’s a profound essay on race relations in the United States. And it opened Sundance a couple of years ago. Just like The Tax Collector, I still pinch myself that I was lucky enough to have played a small role in it. It has only grown in stature and relevance since its initial release two years ago. Rafael [Casal] and Daveed’s [Diggs] writing was eerily prophetic. The events of the last few months have borne that out.
The music had to start out light-hearted in a way, absorbing the sounds and stylings of Oakland, California, where it is set. I immersed myself in the musical history of the city before writing a single note of the score. Gradually, almost by a sleight of hand, that lightness distracts your attention from the dread and terror that begins to creep in. The music itself never gets really dark per se, but melodies give way to textures and traditional instruments slowly give way to sound design elements.
Do you see the explosion in streaming platforms, the internet as a great opportunity for composers?
Of course!! More content means more scoring opportunities so that is definitely a plus! And there seems to be more license for structural creativity in online dramas and that often leads to the chance to be unconventional in scoring and take more risks. The only downside is that there is so much being made right now that not all of it is getting the attention it deserves. Although perhaps now, with the production delays, there will be a chance for audiences to catch up on their watchlists!
What would you like to see happen in the future in terms of your career?
I’d like to continue working. I know that seems glib, but I really mean it. It’s an honour and a privilege to work in this industry. I’m humbled every time the phone rings. I never want to lose that feeling because to me, it would mean getting creatively stale. I thrive on being excited by and passionate about the projects that I work on. That creative edge, the fear I feel about every single project I start, is what keeps me going.
Blindspotting is available on Digital now. The Tax Collector is released in the US on August 7, 2020
