Alexandre Desplat Quotes

I've composed a fair amount in my life, and some of them have made it on to the screen, some compositions that I've done, a few. And I like doing that. I had never really considered doing a full-length thing. I've worked with other people creating full-length pieces.

My music wouldn't sound the way it does if I hadn't had the experience of conducting.

I write music visually.

I had a really pleasant time composing music for 'Raaga.'

I've held onto little musical sketches that I thought could be useful, and the more time that I spend doing them for each film, then the more I have to draw on.

I started teaching myself guitar because I loved singing so much. Then one day kind of out of the blue I found I was writing a song. It just happened organically.

When you're working on film music, you're only working on 20, 30-minute sections at a time.

The bass line is the anchor for me. I started with the bass, and either doubled that and then added the harmonies, or sometimes added my own harmonies that I've always wanted to sing on the song. And then it just went on from there - singing violin parts and trumpet parts and just trying to emulate the sounds of the instruments.

The structural thinking I use in the concert hall is unnecessary to most film projects, and most film composers make better use of the enormous range of pop and other materials and techniques required of them than I probably would, faced with the same challenge.

For me, making music just starts with a simple melody, and lyrics will come sometime after that.

There's no magic for getting into the groove... just banging away at it. Sometimes the lyrics come first, sometimes the music.

When I think of Morricone, more than his using a specific instrument or a specific sound, it's his way of approaching music that sticks out.

I love making music. I love being involved in arranging music. It's very natural to know what I want to hear next and come up with ideas that are variations of what might be good.

I get like a melody that comes up and I try to write it down or record it. Hum it into a tape recorder or write it down on some manuscript paper. It could happen at any time, on the road or off the road, but mostly, you know, at home.

However, I began composing as soon as I started taking piano lessons.

In the film work, I love to work mainly from the script and from talking to the directors, so a lot of the music, big portions of the scores that I've made, have been composed before the movies were even shot.

Composing music is hard work.

I think of myself as a film composer.

I never watch the dailies. What I usually do is have a look at the rough or final cut, and I just get something from the story. Sometimes I start composing even before the director has shot anything. The dailies don't help me at all.

I never dreamed of writing for concert or opera. I always dreamed, if I was a composer, to write music for films.

Isn't composing music akin to film direction?

My films are musically inclined.

Usually I write on guitar.

The creative process for a musician is very different than for a filmmaker. I have an idea, and I can pretty much execute it.

More than influences, my music is based on instincts. I make music to match the script and the world of the film.