What does it take to create a good action film score? It’s safe to say composer Chris Bezold knows the answer. Bezold has scored many films in the genre, including two that were recently released: Saban Films’ Repeater and Samuel Goldwyn Films’ As Good As Dead.
Repeater follows hired hitman John Smith, who is in the crosshairs when rival contract killers come gunning for him. For Smith, his directive is straightforward: seek, locate and terminate. As Good As Dead follows Bryant, a man with a mysterious past who moves to a Mexican border town to live the simple life. While there, he befriends a troubled local teen. As the story unfolds, we learn that Bryant is much more than a man who moved to Mexico to live the simple life. He’s running from a violent past he believes he left behind.
Action isn’t the only genre that Bezold — who is in the Army National Guard — works in, but it’s the one that probably comes most naturally to him. Stepping away from action for his most recent project, Bezold composed music for the documentary feature Inclusion, which focuses on the Americans with Disabilities Act.
We recently spoke with Bezold about his projects and process…
When you begin a new project, what are some of the first things you do? Collect a pallete of sounds, etc.?
After speaking with the director or producer and/or watching a rough cut, the first thing I typically do is sit at the piano and play around while thinking of the film… sort of like warming up. Sometimes this creates a solid idea and sometimes not. Next on the list would be collecting an initial palette of sounds. I’ll usually have an idea for this after speaking with the director and seeing a rough cut.
Initial inspiration/direction comes from speaking with the filmmakers and seeing a rough cut of the film (if not at picture lock). Through this, I’ll learn the tone of the film and how the filmmakers want the audience to feel, which will then direct how I start composing ideas for the picture.
One story I enjoy sharing is when I worked on Your Move, which starred and was directed by Luke Goss. My initial understanding of this film was that it was more of a standard thriller/suspense movie. When I spoke with Luke about it, he told me, “It’s a love story, a story about how far a man will go to protect his family.” This totally changed my initial mindset about where the score would go, especially the main theme. After this conversation, I went to the piano and wrote the main theme that you hear after Luke’s character rescues his family.
What tools and programs do you use to create a score?
Steinberg’s Cubase is my DAW of choice. I’ve used it since Cubase 5, and now we’re at Cubase 12, so it’s been a good run. I’m also a fan of Native Instruments and use its S88 keyboard. The S88 provides all the music production technology that works seamlessly with my setup. It also provides the full keyboard and weighted keys, which, as a piano player, I really value. For collaboration and project management, nothing beats LucidLink, which cuts down massively on time to creative collaboration and delivery.
Chris Bezold
You wrote the end title song for Repeater. Can you walk us through your process on this song?
This was a great opportunity. The end sequence was done really well, and the visuals are beautiful and provided a great foundation for the song. The song was scored to picture, and you see that from the first second as the music starts, all the way through the end credits crawl. The climax with the full band happens right on the cut of the end title card and keeps going until its conclusion to the calm outro when the credits crawl begins.
This was an amazing, worldwide team effort. I wrote and produced the song from Southern California. My brother, Devin Bezold, performed the electric guitar from Washington state, and lyrics were written by Casey Lamaku out in Arizona. We then brought in talent all the way from France, with Christophe Beau as our featured vocalist, Barbara Azanha performing backing vocals, and Nicolas Bonneyrat on bass guitar, drums and acoustic guitar. The song (along with the rest of the score) was mixed and engineered from Northern California by Jon Mayer of Spider Farm Productions.
As Good as Dead
Is there anything that would surprise viewers when it comes to your scores for Repeater or As Good As Dead?
Repeater might be a little surprising in the sense that we really wanted unique sounds. The producer told me he wanted an “out of this world,” electronic-focused score. We did this by recording soloists and then running the audio through a lot of different processing to create the soundscapes and melodies you hear throughout.
You have collaborated a lot with Repeater director R. Ellis Frazier on many films. Why does your partnership work so well? How involved is he with the music?
I’d say trust is a big factor. Frazier is an incredible director, and he trusts the musical process. He’s also a talented musician and will sometimes play a few licks on his guitar to spark some ideas on the musical tone for his films. We’ve consistently delivered together, so with a partnership like this, the more you work together the tighter you become on your creative processes and understanding of how the project will roll out.
Repeater
Frazier gives great direction then lets me run with the ideas. I’ll share progress as we go, and he’ll add some notes, but he’s very sensitive to giving creative freedom, as he wants to see what I will bring to the table myself. Then we build off of those ideas.
What does your general workflow look like?
The first thing I’ll do after meeting with the producer and director is spot the film. Typically, they’ll provide a cut with temp music that reflects a general direction of where they want music to go. We’ll discuss this and what they may like and/or dislike about the temp. The next thing I do is work to lock in the main tone, and how in turn this serves the film. You can write the most beautiful, amazing piece of music, but if it doesn’t serve the narrative on screen, then you’re not doing your job as a film composer.
Simultaneously, I’ll also start sketching out thematic ideas and then ultimately try them out on the opening and main title of the film. This sets up the movie we’re about to watch, so usually we’ll spend the most time locking this first cue in. When it’s settled that we’ve hit the mark, then I’ll start into the next cue. I’ll have a general map laid out from the first cue to the last so I can keep eyes and perspective on the entire project while working on one cue at a time.
Repeater
Scoring the picture is a lot like putting a puzzle together for me. Often, I’ll have something workable, but it just doesn’t fit right. I’ll search and edit and rewrite until I find the right piece for that scene. Once all the cues are approved, the audio assets are sent to the mixer, who then adds the final polish before sending it on to the post house.
You score a lot of action movies. How do you keep each of them sounding unique and different from the last one?
It can be tempting to go back to old habits, techniques and sounds, so I’ll look to an area of composition I didn’t use as much on the last film. For example, on the last movie, maybe I didn’t experiment with many time signature changes, so on the next one, I’ll start writing something in 6/4 or 9/8… something that will take me out of that previous comfort zone and force me to write differently.
As Good As Dead
It’s easy to do the same thing when it works and it’s comfortable, so I find I need to set a new standard for each film. Maybe instead of heavy percussion, I’ll try using other instruments to drive the rhythm that are not typically used in this way. Repeater was a great example of this.
You recently worked on the documentary Inclusion, which focuses on the Americans with Disabilities Act. Is your approach different when you are scoring a documentary as opposed to a scripted film?
My main work was on the main title and end credits. It’s a similar process, however my focus is amplified in my effort to draw the audience in to what the documentary is about and why they should care. Because it was such a powerful documentary, I pushed to make a hard-driving yet very emotional and powerful theme that highlighted the strength and perseverance of the people in the story.
