Tales from The Early Years – Jenna: Composing…
I was always a big fan of Blake’s 7; especially the composer Dudley Simpson (I’d unwittingly followed his career for much of my childhood – Doctor Who, The Tomorrow People, Blake’s 7) so I jumped at the chance to compose music for a Blake’s 7 audio drama.
I met Andrew Mark Sewell and Alistair Lock to have a chat about the kind of sound they were after. Cinematic was the key word. Big, but not overpowering. The most important thing, after all, in an audio drama is for the listener to be able to understand what’s going on.
With TV and film, a lot of information is taken for granted. You see the action, you pick up the gist of the plot even if you don’t catch all the dialogue. You see a character smile or make a gesture with their hands and you understand what they are thinking. When scoring for TV and Film, you can see and hear when the music works because the characters come to life a little bit more.
But with an audio drama it is more complicated. There are no hand signals. The plot has to be simple enough to follow, the show has to have clarity yet also be exciting enough to keep the listener’s attention. It should take them on a journey without being confusing. The music has to enhance the action and the tender moments without getting in the way.
A tough brief for everyone involved.
I read the scripts for The Dust Run and Trial which were fast paced, full of action and very filmic. I could imagine watching the characters and their space chases at my local Odeon which was a good sign.
Next, Alistair sent me a rough compilation of the dramas without any effects. In essence, the actors performing in the studio without any explosions, space ship crashes etc. This was equally revealing to me and reminds me why I would never make the grade as an actor. After having read the scripts myself, the words simply came to life when hearing them read by proper actors.
I began to get a much clearer picture of what was needed from me. Some of the interrogation scenes needed a bit of extra tension whilst the action scenes needed some fast paced music to help them on their way.
Alistair then sent me the shows with the added effects that he had created in his studio. To hear the characters intercom flight chats in their respective space ships and then to hear them roar off into the galaxy was an amazing transformation. It made my job much easier and I began working out which scenes would need music. Alistair, also a composer – he wrote the main theme – was very helpful in choosing where the music score should go and how it should evolve. He was a very good sounding board and was invaluable at guiding the music in the right direction and, hopefully, avoiding any head-on crashes into the sun.
On hearing the finished shows, all the intricacies of dialogue, effects and music are blended into one complete sonic image. It’s hard to separate any one element and, fingers crossed, will transport the listener to another world.
Simon Russell
Tags: Blake's 7, Composer, Jenna, Production, Simon Russell
