Film and TV Now Interview: Composers Michael & Jeff Danna Talk ‘Storks’

Michael & Jeff Danna

“We love the team effort and a project we can work on together.”

2016 is proving to be a revelation for Animated films. The new Warner Animation release, STORKS, from the staple that brought the blockbusting LEGO MOVIE (and which will continue with next Summer’s THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE), provides an energetic answer to the question ‘Where do babies come from?’

Film and TV Now had the pleasure of discussing the film through the eyes (and ears) of brother composing team Michael and Jeff Danna, whose work encompasses a variety of acclaimed films, among them LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, THE GOOD DINOSAUR and (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, via a telephone interview from their base in Los Angeles.

Music is always playing an incredible part in Animated films, be it incidental or vocal? Why do you think it continues to be valid and would it ever be possible to do an Animated film without it?

Certainly anything is possible. Each work has its own unique and individual demands. In classic Animation and the Warner tradition, score plays an important part. The characters build a bridge and as such, music plays a more important part. It needs more work to get the emotional connection, like in THE GOOD DINOSAUR.

Music generates the themes people can find. In STORKS, there is a rich arc, high jinks and heartfelt emotion, which helps the music play an important part.

I was looking through both your bodies of work which encompass so many different genres and mood. Films like JOHNNY MNEMONIC, THE ICE STORM, CAPOTE, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, to name but five, all of which have defined genres and drama in a variety of ways. How does a variety of assignments in movie music help shape your work on a film like STORKS?

The film is always going to tell you where you are going. One of the real joys of being a composer is how we can mix it up and not play the same thing for 30 years. Also, many of your life experiences will inform whatever you work on and you do sometimes cover ground you have tread before.

At what point do you come into an animated film like STORKS and has your music influenced the visuals at pre-production stage?

There is a difference between Live Action and Animation. Animation is like a radio play and in most cases the actors record a year and a half before the finish. It is initially cut like a radio play. The structure is lost at this point, often in black and white sketches and then the detail is added and accumulated. For a composer, this doesn’t change. In Live Action, the film is shot and then edited which makes it harder.

In the case of THE GOOD DINOSAUR, we were on it a year before release. On some it is for about four months.

Question for you Michael. How did winning the Academy Award for LIFE OF PI define your career and what was it about the score that made it so special?

We don’t think about awards as they are closer to a lottery. You can lose your mind. What difference did it make in my case? Well, it got painters over to my home to finish jobs and I probably got upgraded a couple of times of Air Canada (laughs). We always do our best to make the film work with the best score.

Do you get a chance to visit the sets and locations of the films you score to get a sense of the mood, or are you always limited to studio time?

Once in a while. We are usually in LA, but sometimes if it is somewhere in Southern California, but most times we are in a room where the animators are.

Do you have any particular favourite movie scores and which composers have influenced you as artists?

We weren’t drawn to film scores, more all kinds of bands, choral, classical and so on. To be brutally honest, it wasn’t on our radar, it was more by accident. We do know that nine times out of ten, people have heard STAR WARS and wanted to become a composer of film music.

We came more from the collaborative world of Theatre. We love the team effort and a project we can work on together.

Which instruments do both of you tend to work from when initially sketching out and drafting the score?

Guitar and we used that as an interim on THE GOOD DINOSAUR. We also access sounds through a keyboard on a sampler. Mostly , we also do it on keyboard and most composers play a lot of instruments. We tend to play most of them badly.

Inevitably, there is the age-old issue of sibling rivalry. What attributes and strengths do you say define each other, based on the other’s perception?

JEFF – We approach it from different angles. Mike comes from a harmonic sophistication. I am more direct via my Pop Music upbringing and a direct richness.

MIKE – We have an overlap and we have areas we are stronger in. We do fight and argue, but it’s about the work. It does lift your game and you trust each other.

STORKS hits cinemas on October 14th, 2016 Check out our review of the film here.

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