Scoring a Villain: The ‘Shakespearean’ Approach to ‘Star Trek: Khan’

The world of audio fiction is in a golden age, evolving far past conventional radio performs into blockbuster-level, sonically wealthy experiences. A main instance is the bold audio drama Star Trek: Khan, a prequel that dives deep into the advanced origin story of the enduring, genetically engineered villain.However how do you rating a narrative constructed for the ear, not the attention? How do you create a cinematic feeling with no single visible cue?To seek out out, we sat down with composing brothers Marcus and Sam Bagala. Their work spans movie, theater, and high-profile audio dramas like Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Thoughts. They’re uniquely positioned on the forefront of this evolving medium.We spoke with them in regards to the distinctive intimacy of audio, how the podcast workflow is breaking down the “stratified” and inflexible post-production pipelines of movie, and their “Shakespearean” method to scoring the tragic downfall of certainly one of sci-fi’s best antagonists.Let’s dive in. – YouTubewww.youtube.comNFS: You’ve each labored throughout movie, theater, and now audio fiction. What excites you most in regards to the potentialities of storytelling by way of podcasts and audio dramas?Marcus Bagala: I feel one thing that podcasts do rather well is create a way of intimacy between the listener and the topics of the podcast. That is most typical in narrative non-fiction (assume Serial) the place a number is actually speaking on to the listener, and one thing that I feel one thing that good audio-dramas writers do (Like Kirsten Beyer) is reap the benefits of listeners’ familiarity with that format and use it to create intimacy with the characters within the story.It could be a little bit of a trope at this level, however creating story alternatives for characters to voice their interior monologues can result in some actual magic, and it’s one thing that’s type of distinctive to the format… The scenes the place we bought to listen to from Khan or Magiver’s inner POV, in their very own phrases, are a few of the strongest and emotionally resonant scenes within the present. These are moments the place a personality is discovering one thing about themselves or coming to phrases with a tough fact… that emotional depth and complexity is like composer catnip for us and is admittedly rewarding to attain.Sam Bagala: Podcasts and audio dramas depart the listener to create the visuals of the story they’re seeing of their heads. And people visuals can actually appear to be so many various issues in keeping with every particular person, which is the actually enjoyable & stunning half. The human voice by itself has a lot energy (particularly with actors like Naveen Andrews and Wrenn Schmidt on the helm) – so whenever you add in sound design and rating…you actually do get that intimate sense that Marcus was speaking about. The expertise that’s accessible for audio & music manufacturing is mind-blowing. There are infinite potentialities to create attention-grabbing issues…NFS: Are there any developments you’re seeing, and even serving to form, in how composers are being built-in into the podcast improvement course of earlier on?MB: I feel as a result of podcasts are nonetheless a comparatively younger artwork kind, there’s not as a lot of an entrenched sense that there’s a “proper” option to do issues. In movie and TV initiatives I’ve labored on, the rating is nearly universally the final cease earlier than the ultimate combine… and that was very a lot not the case for Khan.When Secret Hideout/Paramount and CBS have been searching for a manufacturing associate for this mission, Fred Greenhalgh (the director) requested me to compose a bit of music to accompany the pitch that encapsulated how he was considering Khan might be embodied in audio. Amazingly, that demo simply caught to the mission… There are main echoes of that early piece within the present as persons are listening to it now. The truth that we have been in a position to have inventive consensus about what Khan ought to sound like SO early within the course of was a present that saved on giving.SB: I feel the sooner composers are introduced on to the mission, the simpler it’s to determine what the precise function of music will play within the mission. It pertains to all the opposite storytelling components in such a giant method (dialogue & sound design). So the extra you’ll be able to have an understanding of what the efficiency & pacing of the actors is like, the general arc of the story, and the function that sound design performs (which adjustments drastically between scenes – intimate vs. motion)…you’ll be able to start to fill within the areas with music in methods that may complement, keep out of the best way, and in addition elevate the general story. These early conversations with the director and sound designer are necessary to determine rapport, workflow, and the general imaginative and prescient of how the three components will work together (dialogue, sound design, and music). With Marcus’s very first demo, after which the demos we wrote a bit of later, which helped us create our tonal palette and a few of our important motivic materials, in addition to gave the remainder of the workforce a style of how music might be used within the mission. It’s at all times an ongoing dialogue.MB: I’d additionally add, due to the best way podcast workflows have developed, a variety of us working on this business are multi-disciplinary artists. Composing is my ardour, however I’ve labored each as a producer and a sound designer on different fairly high-profile fiction pods, and a variety of them have been alongside Dan Brunelle, our sound designer for Khan (and Dan additionally occurs to be a superb musician and composer himself).Dan and I’s shut working relationship and a shared sense of workflow gave us a variety of freedom to work collaboratively in a method that isn’t actually doable within the extra stratified world of movie and TV.If you happen to’re aware of the post-production course of, our course of seemed a bit of like a dub session, the place each division is bringing the ultimate components collectively for the ultimate combine, however the important thing distinction is that the “dub” began a lot earlier, and every division concerned had some quantity of authority over the timeline of the episode. If Sam and I wanted a bit of further house between scenes to let music play out, Sam and I have been empowered to make these edits to the episode within the grasp session. Equally, if Dan wanted to shift music this fashion or that to make a sound design factor work, we trusted him with these changes.Podcast folks have a popularity for being a bit of insane about pacing, and it’s completely earned (I can say that as a result of I’m certainly one of them), however I additionally assume it’s type of a superpower. Listening to how correct pacing can have an effect on a dialogue edit or having music hit at JUST the proper second can have a huge impact on how a present feels. Our post-production workforce workflow actually enabled us to reap the benefits of that.NFS: Do you every tackle particular roles when composing, like one focusing extra on orchestration, one other on sound design, or melody? Or is it a totally collaborative course of from begin to end?SB: It’s totally collaborative from begin to end in that we’re working hand-in-hand in every day dialogue for a yr’s time in regards to the particular and common necessities of the rating. Marcus did such an unimaginable job making a imaginative and prescient for the rating in his preliminary theme, which actually set the groundwork, so far as method, instrumentation, harmonic language, and a central motif. From there, we constructed out one other 6-7 demos to seize totally different feels of the present – harmful jungles, spaceships making ready for takeoff, a love theme, telepathic aliens, and so forth.That preliminary work helped us work out our workflow, hone in on instrumentation/orchestration decisions, develop extra themes, focus on plugins/software program/mixing… all these issues we like to geek out about.Then, when it got here time to attain particular person episodes, we’d divide up the episodes between us after which go off to do our work individually, which incorporates all the roles – composing, arranging, orchestrating, and mixing a cue from begin to end. Regardless of me being in Philly and Marcus in NYC, we’re in a position to ship one another our work by way of Slack in order that we will share ideas & suggestions in regards to the music in actual time.MB: I feel Sam actually nailed this, not a lot I can add right here!NFS: Do you could have any musical or storytelling influences that performed a task in shaping your method to Star Trek: Khan? Both from the sci-fi style or past?SB: Completely. Marcus and I very early on did a deep dive into the music of Star Trek, which has an unimaginable legacy of nice composers and scores. In fact, we revisited The Wrath of Khan, however we additionally spent a while with the brand new Trek scores, perhaps most particularly what Jeff Russo has been doing.We put collectively a playlist of scores that seemed outdoors of Trek as properly – some scores we listened to incorporate Hans Zimmer’s “Dune” rating, Sarah Schachner’s “Prey” rating, Nicholes Britell’s “Andor” rating, and Ramin Djwadi’s “Recreation of Thrones” rating… to call just a few. As a result of Khan will not be a part of Starfleet, we got a chance to discover one thing outdoors of the musical palette that we frequently affiliate with Starfleet. Numerous the scores that we referenced have a standard theme that was related for us, which is… battling and surviving a harmful, unknown world.MB: Past seeking to the wealth of inspiration from previous trek scores, I feel we clocked early on that this was a narrative that was ripe for thematic improvement. There’s such a wealthy, Shakespearean nature to the best way that Nicholas Meyer, after which Kirsten and David, selected to form this story, and that gave us so much to work with.We discovered not a lot tonally, however method-wise, Howard Shore’s rating for The Lord Of The Rings to be massively influential. The best way he used themes to each help and, in some circumstances, enrich the storytelling was one thing we took a variety of cues from.We felt it was necessary to musically observe Khan’s transformation from the advanced, however in the end hopeful chief we meet in Episode 1, to the damaged and vengeful man that we meet in Star Trek: Wrath of Khan.As we have been engaged on the episodes, we’d sit down each week and discuss themes, “right here’s the place we introduce the hopeful Khan theme” or “right here’s the flip the place we introduce his villain theme, however a diminished model”, “Right here’s the love theme… and right here’s the place love turns into sorrow”.I feel eagle-eared listeners will choose up what we’re doing with the themes, and even those that don’t, my hope is that alongside the stellar appearing performances, our music enhances the emotional journey that they’ll go on with Khan and his followers.NFS: What are you most excited for listeners to expertise when listening to Star Trek: Khan?SB: I’m excited for listeners to be taken on a journey – each sonically & emotionally. Nicholas Meyer, Kirsten, and David have written an extremely compelling story that has a variety of depth and complexity referring to so many various scopes of human expertise – love, loss, betrayal…you title it.MB: Empathy! Khan is in the end a villain, and I don’t assume the writers got down to inform us something totally different, however I feel what they’ve finished is given us a heartbreaking and delightful portrait of somebody striving to be one thing extra, and it’s a captivating exploration of what went improper there and the way it may’ve gone otherwise.And a game-changing audio-only expertise! I’m not exaggerating after I say that it is a present that I feel is pushing the bounds of what this style can do, and I feel it succeeds. I’m so glad it’s out on the earth, and folks get to expertise what we’ve been residing with for the previous couple of years.NFS: What’s one thing distinctive or surprising that every of you brings to the collaboration?MB: Up till considerably not too long ago, the overwhelming majority of my work as a composer was centered on documentary initiatives. Whether or not that’s movies, TV, or podcasts, I’ve been honing my storytelling expertise as a composer on stuff that actually simply requires a stage of subtlety that I don’t really feel when engaged on fiction initiatives.Khan’s rating will not be delicate by any stretch of the creativeness… however earlier in my profession, I had a very fantastic editor gently scold me for “editorializing” a topic’s story with my music. That’s a lesson that I’ve taken into each mission I’ve labored on since, non-fiction and fiction each. Being crystal clear in regards to the intentionality of our music, what it’s doing right here, and ensuring we’re not imposing on the storytelling is one thing Sam might be sick of listening to me discuss!SB: I used to be tremendous thrilled to play some piano for the present. George Takei requested that Sulu hearken to Beethoven or Chopin in his quarters. I recorded the Adagio second motion of Beethoven’s “Pathetique” sonata, which you’ll be able to hear in episode 5. I additionally recorded “Fur Elise” for the present. I majored in classical piano efficiency at The Boston Conservatory, so it’s at all times enjoyable and rewarding after I can revisit that aspect of myself… Marcus and Sam BagalaCredit: Savannah Lauren NFS: Do you could have any upcoming initiatives you’ll be able to tease or discuss past Khan?MB: A doc movie that I scored alongside one other collaborator of mine, Mark Baechle, and for which Sam supplied further music, orchestrations, and piano for, truly got here to theaters the identical week as Khan and is presently streaming Historical past Channel. It’s referred to as Clemente, and it’s about baseball legend and all-around inspiring human, Roberto Clemente. It’s a beautiful portrait of Roberto, each as a participant, however maybe extra importantly, as an individual, and the influence he had on the folks round him.I’m additionally teaming up with Khan’s director, Fred Greenhalgh, for a really thrilling one-off mission with DC Comics that I feel is being introduced quickly…NFS: How has your inventive course of developed since engaged on earlier initiatives like Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Thoughts or Narcosis?SB: The extra initiatives that Marcus and I work on collectively, the extra I stage up my expertise! Marcus is an unimaginable collaborator in that he brings out the very best within the folks round him. We’ve been in a position to sharpen our technique of working along with every new mission, in that we will often say much less however talk extra clearly. The artwork of communication is essential… and when you’re brothers, you’ll be able to reduce by way of a variety of hubris and be sincere about the right way to deliver your finest self to the mission. Belief and respect are a giant a part of that.MB: I feel simply to echo Sam, each mission is a studying expertise, and every new mission is a chance to deliver what you discovered on the final mission to bear. If you’re beginning out, there’s a component of like… hanging on for pricey life that we’re not dealing a lot with anymore. So now that we’ve labored out the kinks in our workflow, we get to give attention to the extra ephemeral aspect of being a composer: attempting to neglect in regards to the music and 0 in on changing into the very best storytellers that we may be.