By Napsugar Bardocz / GMS Coordinator
The EMMYs 2019 nominations-round voting ended on the 24th June. With hundreds of submissions from high quality series and TV shows, television academy members must have had a difficult time casting their votes.
Nominations will be announced on the 16th July.
On this occasion we would like to highlight and introduce some of the submitted works of our excellent Music Supervisors:
Abi Leland, Ed Bailie & Toby Williams – Formula One
“Our role in crafting the musical palette for Formula 1: Drive To Survive season one saw us working closely with series composer Walter Mair on his modern original score, and utilising a vast number of licensed music cues to weave together a dense soundtrack that rode with the highs, lows and personal side stories of the 2018 Formula One World Championship.“
“We approached the creative execution of HANNA in a holistic way, which made music central, and absolutely critical, to the realisation of the world and tone of the series. We worked hand in glove with our music supervisor Iain Cooke well before principle photography to find the sonic compliments that serviced the conspiracy thriller but also, and very importantly, the coming-of-age story. ” – Tom Coan, Executive Producer
“The music is hugely important in the show and in a very specific way. It charts Hanna’s emotional coming-of-age journey and also represents one of the ways she gets to know and negotiate the world. For any 16 year old, music is a key navigator to human experience and Iain and I discussed at some length how we would make the needle-drop choices not just stylistic garnish but inherent to Hanna’s journey. Iain’s choices we so key to this. There was also a heavy emphasis on female artists which Iain carefully nurtured. The Billie Eilish contributions in ep 2 and 6 were particularly brilliant. He was ahead of the curve here, prophetic in sensing how big a thing she would become for that generation, so when we dropped the show in March she was on everyone’s lips, having been much less known just weeks before. The use of her music in ep 2 is a perfect example of what we were after. It’s quintessential melancholic teenage experience, bottled into one song.” – David Farr, writer and creator
“With the songs for The innocents I really wanted to find a sound that pulled together the timeless feel of the vast open spaces in Norway and Yorkshire with the more gritty in the moment city dynamic of London. Artists that retain the human element and emotion in the vocals with an electronic backdrop immediately bedded into the picture and so became the core mood for the show with artists like Sohn, LCD Soundsystem and Minor Victories really establishing the feel in the early episodes. Carly Paradis’ beautifully affecting score is the backbone for threading together the various concurrently running storylines in different geographical locations.“
Catherine Grieves – Killing Eve
“Killing Eve is an incredible and exciting show to work on, with an outstanding creative team across the board. David Holmes and I have lots of fun creating the soundtrack as we’re given lots of freedom to make bold choices and create our own musical world.“
“Being able to secure the sync rights to so many Queen songs, especially Bohemian Rhapsody was a major coup for the televised version of Good Omens. Not every Artist wants to be associated with angels and demons, or the notion of the antichrist and the apocalypse – so positioning, timing and absolute clarity in explaining the significance of Queen’s music within the comedy and beauty of the storyline was key. Working with Neil Gaiman was an absolute joy and to play a part in realising his vision of translating his book to the screen, coupled with being immersed in the genius world of David Arnold as composer is undoubtedly a career highlight for me.“
Claire Freeman – Agatha Christie’s ABC Murders
“‘The ABC Murders’ is a three-part gripping & sinister adaptation of Agatha Christies classic novel, written by the amazing Sarah Phelps, starring John Malkovich as an impressive Poirot.
My task as music supervisor was to source music from the 1930’s era (offset by a powerful and disturbing contemporary score by Isobel Waller-Bridge) that brought something to each scene in terms of either creating or adding to an uncomfortable atmosphere or to support the narrative/emotional aspect.
For example – “ On the Sentimental Side” – is a slow paced, romantic piece, which sets the background for tea in a well to do cafe in Bexhill, when salesman Alexander Cust stops for a drink and meets waitress Betty, however the serene nature of the track works well to make us feel uneasy against the threatening demeanour and unpleasantness of Bettys interaction with Cust. In the same way that a child’s musical box would be used in a horror scene.”
“Wanderlust features virtually no score and so the dependance on Music Supervision was massive and the ethos and vision for the music in the show is that music would grow from the world of the show in diegetic and non-diegetic ways and Iain was with us throughout the whole journey shaping and refining that idea. Iain’s contribution to the show was paramount to the show’s identity and tone. Having worked with Iain several times before we love to begin working together at the very beginning of prep – he sent me a wealth of music and we began to shape the musical identity of the show.” – Luke Snellin, lead director
We are wishing the best luck with the nominations to all our wonderful Music Supervisor members!