The Way he works on films

What are you more specialized in? Docos? TV Series? Shorts ? Feature Films?

I don’t really have enough time to do as many docos as I used to do few years ago. I’m not really “into” shorts usually, but, sometimes, I receive a fantastic script and I do it with a real pleasure. I have done some TV series in Europe and in Canada, not in Australia yet. Today, I try to invest more time into feature films.

Do you work more for a specific type of films?

Most of the time, either directors ask me for « intimist » films, I mean films about human feelings and sensitivity, or it’s totally the opposite and they ask me for very epic/heroic films, like adventure or historic movies.

" I'm always charmed

by female directors' movies."

Is there a specific type of directors you prefer to work with?

No, I don’t think so. I like exciting and ambitious projects, I feel always excited by challenges. I love also working with female directors. I’m always fascinated by the way women get onto some topics. Their films are always full of nuances, very fine nuances of feelings, always a very particular way of treating human relationships; I’m really in love with female directors.

How do you start working on a film?

If it’s the first time I work with the director, I start to watch all his previous films and preferably in a chronological order. This way, I have a better understanding of the way he works and how he has evolved. So, it’s as if we had already worked together.

And what do you start with? The main theme or the incidentals?

First, after I’ve read the script, I listen to the director and to the writers. I try to understand their vision of the movie and what they expect from the score. Then, I tell them what I heard from the script, what music appeared (Read about Loïc’s synesthesia). And, usually, I use the music I’ve heard from the script as a base of work. I work on it to achieve more precisely the director’s expectations. But, most of all, I’m always at the director’s service. That is his film, not mine, and it will be his music, not mine.

" The most exciting film is always

the one I haven't done yet"

Technically, do you only use computer or do you employ musicians?

Both actually, most of the time. Like any other of my generation, I've grown up with computers. So, it’s really my main work tool. I usually compose the first themes versions with computers and it’s those versions I submit to the director. It is a very efficient and cheap way of working. It allows us to make as many modifications as we want on the score without having to pay extra fees on studios or musicians. Now, what happens next depends on the budget only. If it is a bit “short”, we stay on computers and use virtual instruments, which sound good enough. We have made impressive progresses in that domain for the last 10 years. Sometimes, I employ 1 or 2 “real” musicians to play the main solo instruments. But, obviously, when the budget allows it, we record in studios with a complete orchestra and it’s really one of the moments I enjoy the most in that work.

Do you conduct the orchestra?

No, I trust real professionals for that. A real conductor will always be better than me at that and only the final result counts for me. So, I prefer to rely on a conductor than doing something messy only for the glory of doing it myself, all alone.

What has been the most exciting project you’ve worked on?

I’m always tempted to answer that the most exciting project is always the very last one I’ve done. But, to tell the truth, I would say that the real most exciting project is always the next one; the one I don’t know anything about yet. The new script I will receive tomorrow in my mail box. The one I still have everything to discover from, a new story, new characters, new situations, new music. This one excites me the most.