chiller blog

Posted Oct 12, 09 02:46 PM

"Ki Ki Ki...Ma Ma Ma"

When you think of the Psycho shower scene, who doesn't remember the underlying bird shrieks/air blades? Likewise, "Tubular Bells" is permanently grafted to our recall of The Exorcist. Say the title JAWS and ten people out of ten can let loose its theme.

It's an adrenaline shot of echoes...

The Omen channels Latin choruses. Our nightmares of Michael Myers echo a twisted variant of an old piano exercise John Carpenter used to practice. With The Amityville Horror (1979), composer Lalo Schifrin takes a rustic music box to hell.

As one violin could harness Frankenstein, a whole string section could unbridle a generation of monsters. Who is pulling, plucking, tapping, and grasping those strings becomes crucial. The hard truth: the staying power of any horror staple is directly hinged on a groundbreaking score.

CHILLER sat down at the Internet piano bar for a few notes with composer Harry Manfredini, whose masterwork, Friday the 13th, forever subtracted safety and peace of mind from the summer camp + woods equation.

Chiller: Hello, Mr. Manfredini. CHILLER fans equate your name synonymously with the genre. But many probably aren't as aware that you've scored family films, adventure pictures, and even comedies. You're also an accomplished songwriter and jazz soloist. From your whole body of work, is there one piece - one film - which you deem as your best?

Harry: I have a number of favorites. Of course, Friday the Original is a favorite, as well as Deep Star Six. I love my scores to a lot of the children's films I did in that I had to tell the story with music alone. I like my score to Hidden Agenda and my film noir score to A Gun, a Car, a Blonde. And my score to House and House II. Where else do you get to write music for a baby pterodactyl and a dog worm... as well as a very old cowboy?

Chiller: What were your influences as you came of age? How did your dream begin?

Harry: My influences came from my family. My father was a huge Italian opera fan, so there was always plenty of Puccini being heard. My brother was a big progressive jazz fan, so I was a big fan of Stan Kenton. I was allowed to stay up and watch films at night with my mom. Saw a lot of films and loved the music. It touched me. I guess I had those early influences of the great film scores: Steiner, Herrmann, etc.

I have to tell you that the dream started shortly after I started to play the accordion, (when I) was about six or seven years old. I had a dream that I would imagine that there would be this magic keyboard and the film would project in front of me. And this keyboard would be able to make any sound I wanted. And of course...here I am sitting in a room with a projected film and a keyboard that will make pretty much any sound I wanted. So be careful what you dream. I wanted to score films for most of my life. And here I am.

Chiller: Does the music in your head first start after you read the script... maybe on a visit to the set, or when you're watching the rough cut? How does the muse inspire Harry Manfredini?

Harry: I hear music in my head most of the time. I even heard it when I played as a child. I would "score" playing in my head. I had no idea how to create it, or write it or anything. All I know is that I heard it.

I rarely visit the set of any film. It is always a fun experience, but I don't usually do it. I would only be there if there was a special scene that either needed music, for a playback, a sync scene or a vocal, or some sort of shot that was critical for the music.

As far as being inspired by that, it's always interesting to hear what the actors and the directors talk about, but usually this is done with the director later on in the post-production process. I do hear music when I read the script as I see it in my head. While I like reading them, and I do a lot of script analysis and consulting with writers, I don't always like to read one that I'm about to score in that it allows me to know what happens before it happens. I would rather see the film and get the visceral reaction that the audience would get. This gives me the correct understanding of how the drama is playing. How they would react and what I need to do to manipulate them according to the directors' intentions.

Chiller: Are their certain instruments you're partial to using - or maybe one that you can't wait to bring in?

Harry: Of course, I like the orchestral sound and like to add various percussion of the organic nature. Also, I like to create at least one specific new sound for each film. Some sound that identifies with just that one film. I listen to a lot of sounds and try to remember the aural evocative qualities, for future use.

Chiller: Do you prefer to use synthesizers or conduct orchestras... or perhaps mix the two?

Harry: I will tell you this... There is nothing, nothing, NOTHING in this world better than standing in front of an orchestra and conducting... and hearing that sound.

I like synths, and samples, etc. And it is fun and a challenge to get a really cool sound. It is always fun to mix the two.

Chiller: I can only imagine having to orchestrate bars, chords, and notes timed perfectly to coincide with what's unfolding onscreen. But sometimes what's onscreen is... well, violent. You've worked on several horror films - the Friday the 13TH series, House, Wishmaster. How do you focus while aligning the music?

Harry: Well, this is not as bad as you think.

After the initial shock, it is fun to see how the camera tricks you. As far as syncing the music to the film, it is really pretty mechanical. In the old days, you would use a calculator and some click tracks and set up visual cues to make this happen. Today, the computer and sequencers do a lot of that work for you. The focus is pretty simple. The synchronization of a stab or a punch or joke or crash is pretty much the same.

Chiller: Friday the 13th. How did that come about?

Harry: Well, I had done a couple of kids' films for Sean Cunningham. Here Come the Tigers - a baseball film in the style of The Bad News Bears - and Kick, a soccer film. One day, sitting at Sean's house, he said to me, "I am going to make the scariest film ever. It's called Friday the 13th, and you are going to do the music." I was really just getting started scoring, so that sounded great. And the rest is history.

Chiller: The score is wondrously atypical. There's nothing like it, populated with traditional accompaniments and aural departures. It is not just the breath of the film, but became the very whisper of horror for decades. There are multiple movements within tracks, sustaining tension over a diabolical weavework of cat and mouse - sequences. Please take us through your thought processes on...well, creating music that scares the living hell out of people.

Harry: Well, first of all, thanks. Those were some very nice words in that question.

There is something very special about the score to Friday the 13th.

The first trick was to create something that got the killer into the first reels of the film, since we do not see Betsy (Palmer) until reel 10. The cue for this came from the close up of Betsy's mouth in that last reel where she says, "Kill her, Mommy!" and it keeps repeating once in her voice and then in young Jason's voice. That was my clue. Mrs. Voorhees heard voices. So whenever she was around, I made the sound. I happened to be studying a score by Penderecki* (writer's note: Kubrick used Penderecki on the Shining soundtrack) at the time where there was a chorus singing and pronouncing these words with great power and rhythm. There was singing in Polish and the consonants were very dramatic.

So I thought of the words "Kill her, Mommy" and took the initial consonant K... and the M sound. So whenever the POV of the camera suggested that the killer was present, I went to a microphone and very dramatically said, "Ki! Ma!" and then ran it through a tape loop machine. It came out the infamous Jason sound: "Ki ki ki...Ma ma ma."

That's how I got the killer into the film from the start and kept the tension up.

The other thing about this film is that there is only music for the killer. There were many occasions where music stings or cues could have occurred, but the choice was to only have it for the killer. I think this added to the power of the score. There were only two places where the music played without the killer: For Crazy Ralph. A sort of comical pizzicato thing and then, of course, the final scene where the music fools you into thinking the film is over. And then Jason pops out of the lake.

The material for the music was very concise. There are really only two or three actual harmonies, and the pitch content is very constant. The music is easily identifiable as Friday the 13th.

The final thing about the score is how the music is manipulating you, the viewer. If you watch closely, you will notice that just before most of the huge scares, the music goes OUT...giving you, the audience, a sense that things are okay and lets you relax to a certain extent. And then BANG. The hit. I like to think of this as kind of like that old carnival game where you hit something with the hammer, and something goes up to hit the bell if you are strong enough. If the audience is already at a 70 percent level, the biggest hit you can have will only be a 30 percent rise. But if you can get the audience to relax a bit, let's say down to a 30 or less, then the big hit will give you a 70 percent rise, thus making it a larger scare.

Chiller: Have you ever encountered little kids playing - and you overhear them humming/quoting your themes?

Harry: I have not encountered kids playing/making the Jason sound, but I have heard adults do it. It's kind of fun.

Chiller: You're on my iPod...still working on adding your score as a ringtone.

Harry: My goal is to create one more musical piece that is equally as known. Maybe someday I will get that chance.

Chiller: Writers get writers block. Actors freeze. Do musicians ever hear that kind of silence?

Harry: I think you are asking me if I ever have composer's block. Silence. Well, first of all, silence is a VERY powerful sound. Sometimes better than what you can write.

A film has a lot of music and, quite often, I might not know every single theme or idea for a film, but there is always something or somewhere to start. I don't write in order. I find the themes and see that occur in various places of the film. Something that happens in reel two might be insignificant, but later, in reel five, it has more importance. Finally, in reel nine, it might be an extremely important scene. So I will probably write all those at one time, so that they build and gain power as the film progresses.

Usually, as you write, the music that you create gives you the inspiration and ideas that lead to the other piece that might be the "blocked" music. I have scored films where there are three or four different ways to approach a scene and that is sometimes more difficult than not having any idea - to determine what is the best way and work with the director to achieve that end.

Chiller: Thus far, what's been the single most enjoyable moment of your career?

Harry: I am not sure if there is a single moment. The simple fact that I have a career which I dreamed about as a boy is pretty cool. But as far as a moment, I think it is a moment that has occurred many times. Having someone like Betsy Palmer come up and tell you how good a job you did, or any actor or director and, yes, even fans are repeated moments that I never get tired of having in my life.

Chiller: Mr. Manfredini, a pleasure.

Harry: Thanks for thinking of me, and for the cool questions.