Geoff & Benjamin Botkin: Scoring Your Film
Geoff and his 17-year-old son, Benjamin, are doing a masterful job training Academy attendees ears to recognize excellent uses of music as macro, micro, rythm, and/or foreground in cinema.
Geoff and Benjamin are using good and bad examples from films (see disclaimer at bottom) such as Casablanca, Band of Brothers, My Fair Lady, Beautiful Mind, Toy Story 2, and many others — including walking attendees through each the 12+ themes John Williams composed for Star Wars — to teach that the purpose of music in film is to excite the right emotions for the right reasons.
In film, share the Botkins, music should never be meaningless background sound. Directors and composers should only include music as a dynamic part of the language and message of the film.
DISCLAIMER: The Botkin Family very rarely watches films in their entirety. Instead they study sections of well-made films to learn from them. None of the movies shared were recommended for complete viewing or complete study.
October 18th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Could you enlarge the discalmer a bit…kinda hard to read.
(Not that discalmers with small fonts is a strange thing)
October 18th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
Just curious, could you give a breakdown of some of the movies that had good scores and some that had bad scores? I’d like to know what they thought specifically of all these movies, since I don’t know too much about film scoring or what constitutes a well-done score.
October 18th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Sam: I’m afraid the incredible detail involved in these sessions is impossible to communicate in the time constraints of live blogging. All of the films listed in my post were considered to have good scores.
October 19th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
The disclaimer explains one of the reasons that the Botkin’s film “The League of Grateful Sons” was mediocre. It lacked a story arc, it had no sense of pacing and it was made up almost entirely of climactic moments that weren’t.
They need to study great films as an entirity if they ever hope to produce something that is as great as Casablanca or any of the other films mentioned. Pacing, editing timing and story arc cannot be found only in scenes taken out of context from films.
October 19th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
WS,
“The League of Grateful Sons” was a documentary film, meant to document and record past events. This kind of documentary is different from “Apollo 13″ type of documentary.
I believe that the story arc, while it does apply to documentaries to some degree, is more prevalent in ficticious films where the writer is in control - not history - and can completely control the characters’ successes and failures.
Also, the makers of Casablanca had much different goals than the Botkin’s.
October 20th, 2006 at 7:01 am
A documentary still has an arc. Something that makes the people want to continue watching. After the first 5 minutes, I lost all interest in LGS. They pushed their message much to hard, way to many times.
For heaven sakes, they had a video crew, and people who had been at the battle on the island. Instead of finding out what had happened, how these men had acted during the battle, where they had been etc., the whole thing was about how the sons were honoring their fathers. I didn’t see any reason to be excited about that. After the film was over I knew nothing more or less about the people involved than I had at the beginning, except that they wanted to make sure that everyone knew they honored their fathers, which you couldn’t miss because they said it about 100 times. And worse, I didn’t see any reason to honor the fathers, except for the fact that they were their fathers! Maybe that was the point, but then why go all the way to Iwo Jima to tell me that?
It was all climax, it was all missed opportunities, it had no ar, the pacing was aweful, and it came across as typical Christian propaganda film makeing. The only people who would be able to watch it and even remotely enjoy it were people who already believed the message. I was at the premier with a friend who is a Christian but not a homeschooler, and he was extremely surprised at how badly done it was. If it can’t even get a person who is a Christian to think about the subject matter, how will it ever get to anyone who actually needs to hear the message?
If you want to see what a documentary should be, watch “Beyond the Gates of Spleandor”or “Bowling for Columbine” or “TR: An American Lion” or “The Fog of War”.
October 20th, 2006 at 9:26 am
WS,
We honor our fathers because we are commanded to. “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” (Exodus 20:12, KJV)
“You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:32, NKJV)
Older men are wiser than younger men because they have lived longer, have had more experiences, and are able to relate the solution to various problems to the younger generation.
6 So Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said:
“I am young in years, and you are very old;
Therefore I was afraid,
And dared not declare my opinion to you.
7 I said, ‘Age should speak,
And multitude of years should teach wisdom.’
(Job 32:6, 7)
It’s the principal. While LGS may in some people’s opinion be poorly done, it’s the principal. They’re not saying, “Make a bad film,” they’re saying “Honor your fathers.” The original title was “Faith of Our Fathers.”
“No, I never feared death. The only thing I feared was letting down my father …You see, he was a Christian.[1]” - Bill Henderson
The film centers around three men, now in their eighties, each a veteran of Iwo Jima, each a bold and outspoken Christian, and each profoundly impacted by their parents.[1] The film did not center around bad production values, but about the legacy of godly men.
Respect for one’s elders is a rarity in today’s culture. Young people despise the wisdom of older men.
Here’s from 1 Kings 12:
6 And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?
Okay, so Rehoboam goes to his elders and consults them.
7 And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.
Rehoboam receives the counsel of his elders.
8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:
9 And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter?
10 And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.
11 And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
The chapter proceeds, and in verses 13 and 14 Rehoboam ditches the counsel of the wise men and “answered the people roughly”.
There are many, many people in the world today, the vast majority of the earth’s population who are like Rehoboam: rejecting the wise counsel of their elders. We must be in the world, but not of the world.
God doesn’t look at production values, he looks at the heart. What are they trying to do: please men or please God? Men cannot serve both God and mammon. If the Botkins were trying to please men, the film probably would have been much different. But they weren’t. They were trying to please God.
I hope I’ve explained myself well enough to be understood, and please forgive me if I haven’t.
Remember: it’s the principal.
[1] Taken from http://www.visionforumministries.org/projects/fofp/the_vision.aspx
October 21st, 2006 at 6:33 pm
Here are some reviews:
Our family would like to express our appreciation of the work you are doing at Vision Forum. I purchased The League of Grateful Sons for my husband’s birthday in October and our family, who included my brother and his family and our parents, watched it on Thanksgiving Day. What an appropriate time to be able to express our love and appreciation to our father for his part in WWII. I have always been grateful for the sacrifices our soldiers have made for us, but as our father never talked about it, I never thought to actually thank him before. There were no dry eyes in the room. Thank you for making us aware of how much we have to be thankful for in our father and his legacy! May this spread throughout the entire United States! [1]
As I watched the film, I quickly realized that it mattered little whether one’s own father saw combat or not. As Americans — as Christians — we all share in the legacy that these wartime heroes have given their sons, and are richer for it. But we each have our own legacies to claim, as well. The League of Grateful Sons not only tells the tale of men of gratitude, but stirs each viewer to become one, themselves. It is a moving collection of stories, and an effective exhortation to ask, honor, and tell. We have seen tears fall, prayers ascend, and men walk away from the film armed with resolution to strike a blow at our individualistic mindset and sit with their fathers and ask them for the stories, the experiences, the lessons — the treasures. [1]
Please pass on a hearty bravo to everyone who worked on The League of Grateful Sons. We received our copy in the mail yesterday afternoon and rushed through lunch to watch it afterwards. One of the central pillars of my church is Generational Visions and I have never seen a movie so poignantly and effectively put living flesh and life on the doctrine of Generational Faithfulness and a sober warning of falling short of it. Vision Forum’s labor was put to great use and I look forward to more tears of enjoyment and encouragement as I pass it out to our family and friends. [1]
Dear Doug: My wife and I have just finished watching your documentary, The League of Grateful Sons. It touched us deeply. I trust that it will find a wide audience. I am pleased that we could feature it as we did in the July issue of Citizen magazine.
Dear Vision Forum Family: We just received and viewed The League of Grateful Sons DVD over Christmas. We could not have imagined ahead of time the impact it would have on us. To just say we loved the documentary would not express accurately the fullness of our hearts. Instead, let’s say this: because of it, we love the Lord all the more, who through that generation preserved the freedoms we enjoy today. We can’t express our gratitude enough for all of your efforts in honoring those who have gone before us. THANK YOU for not letting us forget.
Dear Vision Forum: We gave a copy of The League of Grateful Sons DVD to my father for Christmas, along with a card expressing our gratitude for what he’d done on our behalf in WWII. My sons and I each signed our names as a part of the League of Grateful Sons. He was very emotional and called on Christmas afternoon, already having watched the entire film! He said he was going to frame the card. Thank you for doing such an outstanding job on an area that is a blind spot for so many and also for helping us to gain an insight into our father’s life before it’s too late.
Names have been removed for the sake of privacy.
[1] Taken from http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/blogs/dwp/2005/12/
October 21st, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Oops, I forgot to inclued footnotes on some of them. I believe that all reviews were from the same source.
September 18th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
“I didn’t see any reason to honor the fathers, except for the fact that they were their fathers!”
I think that is reason enough, as Kyle has well pointed out, but also- these are men who fought on Iwo Jima! Is that not a good reason?
Anyways.