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What's wrong with "on the nose"?

Discussion in 'Tips, Tricks & Talk' started by Gharun Lacy, Aug 27, 2017.

  1. #1 Gharun Lacy, Aug 27, 2017
    This thread stems directly from some of the thought provoking discussions started here:

    https://redbanned.com/index.php?threads/oceanmaker-10-min-action-film-marvin-hamlisch-contest.106/

    One of the comments I got a lot (it got me thinking) about one of my scores was that is was "on the nose". So I commenced to look at some of my favorite movies to see how some of the greats handled transitions, playing through, on the nose etc. What I discovered is that, most of my favorite composers play with being right on the nose and toy with melodrama without being corny or cliche. This is way harder that it sounds.

    We all know Williams walks right up to the line and taps it, and sometimes straits kicks it over along with the golden era guys who were writing for a different time. But I was surprised (now that I'm paying attention) at Broughton (Tombstone), Kamen (Die Hard), Horner (Zorro) and Silvestri (Back to the Future and Predator).

    What I determined is that action flicks tend to lend themselves to being more on the nose because, in general, they have lowest common denominator type target. All the scores that tried to be to cool and hip were immediately forgettable to me, and to a certain extent, so were the movies.

    Now, hardcore "Schindler's List" type drama is a whole different ball game, but for the most part.....I like "on the nose" scores. Am I just a relic of a dying age (rhetorical, I already know the answer)? The study will continue.

    Thoughts?
     
  2. #2 Mike Verta, Aug 27, 2017
    You're misapplying the term "on the nose." "On the nose" is not the same as "Mickey-Mousing." Mickey-Mousing is playing the action, musically - e.g., an object falls so we do a harp gliss downwards. On-the-nose means we emotionally, melodramatically, break the 4th wall. For example, a guy falls, and we do a wah-wah-wah on trombone afterwards. Play the fall action with a trombone gliss, that's Mickey-Mousing. Play the MOMENT with a wah-wah, that's on-the-nose. Both have their place; both should be used very sparingly.
     
  3. #3 Gharun Lacy, Aug 27, 2017
    Gotcha, Mike.
    The place it really stood out to me is in death scenes. Doc Holiday shoots Johnny Ringo and we get brass clusters. Hans Gruber falls of Nakatomi and we get brass stabs. Han Solo gets saber kebabed and we get melancholy strings. All of them give a beat or two to let the brain process what's happening (not Mickey-Mousing) but then the score kicks in to amplify the emotion that is already on screen (on the nose...right?). Nothing fancy here. Just picture and score on the same page emotionally. That's what I'm talking. Playing the moment. Not every moment, just the big ones.
     
  4. #4 Mike Verta, Aug 27, 2017
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2017
    It's a subtle distinction, but an important one, and the moments you're talking about are all not coincidentally 3rd act dramatic peaks. I think it would be hard to accurately judge the appropriateness of application without an understanding and acknowledgment of dramatic structure. Play every action like it's the 3rd act climax and you've got on-the-nose. Play the actions and you've got Mickey-Mousing regardless. Does that help? Remember, no scene is an island - it is inexorably linked to its specific function and position within the dramatic arc. This is why most modern scores are entirely forgettable - they tell no story because they are not linked to the structure; they're just appropriate moments for individual islands/scenes. In their own way, they're all "on-the-nose," only so soul-deadeningly uninspired that they don't play like that; instead just like vanilla noise with delusions of grandeur.

    "The bad guy comes through the door." Do you use a declamatory statement for that - something on-the-nose or not? The answer MUST be derived by considering its specific position and specific function within the specific dramatic arc it's serving.
     
    Gharun Lacy, Jean Bellefeuille, Matt Varone and 1 other person like this.
  5. #5 Brian Bunker, Aug 28, 2017
    This might be just me, but the version of "On the Nose" I know comes from screenwriting. It's used for dialogue that, without subtlety or artifice, just dumps information that could be given to the viewer in a better way.

    Something like:

    "Hey, Tom - I'm really happy that we just won the World Series."

    "I know, Brad! I'm very happy about it as well."

    "Mixed with my happiness is a touch of sadness because I know that it may affect my contract discussions."

    "Me as well. My feelings about myself as a man are related to my ability as a ballplayer."

    Is TERRIBLE writing. Because it's terribly on the nose, right? It's when you don't find a way to show their actions and feelings naturally, and instead just come out and say it.

    So, if you're musically 'telling' what people think and feel instead of 'showing,' you're playing on the nose.
     
    Adam Alake and Gharun Lacy like this.
  6. #6 Mike Verta, Aug 28, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2017
    Describing an abstract thing like music with more abstract concepts makes it hard to pin down, I feel, so let's recap using some specifics.

    "Bad guy pulls out his gun."

    No matter where it occurs in the film, if you put a harp gliss and bass drum hit on the event, you're playing the action. This is not on-the-nose, though should be used sparingly because excessive use is Mickey-Mousing, like old cartoons. But let's say this happens at the very beginning of the film, when he first walks in the door and before we know who he is - now it's on-the-nose, because irrespective of the action, we're excessively milking drama we haven't earned - we don't know he's dangerous yet and that such an action would be important. But if this action happens after we've established dramatically who he is, and how dramatically significant this action is, then it might not be on-the-nose anymore.

    The position of the action we're accenting, in dramatic space, is key. A mother saying goodbye to her child at the end of the film, which we play with sweeping strings is NOT on-the-nose; it's good dramatic support which we've earned. Milking it that hard in the first scene is on-the-nose.
     
    Sean Barrett likes this.
  7. #7 Gharun Lacy, Aug 28, 2017
    LOL. @Brian Bunker I see you went to that Tommy Wiseau school of screen writing. Good example. I have heard Spielberg accused of that from the film maker perspective; telling the audience how to feel. I think the context of the picture has a lot to do with that. Arnold blows away the bad guy, it's OK to play unapologetically heroic. No need to be too complex here. Denzel Washington watches his mistress walk away at the end of a movie. This calls for a more nuanced "showing". I'm starting to see how the level subtlety in the composition should reflect the level of subtlety and complexity in the drama.

    Lightbulb moment here. We have to earn the emotional payoff of the moment through the development of the entire score in parallel with the filmmaker earning the payoff through the development of the characters. Seems self-explanatory but I never thought of it that way before.
     
  8. #8 Sean Barrett, Sep 1, 2017
    Man, some great advice in this thread.
     
  9. #9 Jason Tackaberry, Sep 2, 2017
    I was just watching Get Out and, as with so many other horror movies (especially of the Shyamalan variety) there was a creepy character walking suddenly and fleetingly in front of the camera which was punctuated by a quick stab in the score. Similar to the cliche of a character looking through a medicine cabinet, closing the door to reveal someone behind them, with a big stinger.

    I'd always thought of this as on the nose. But if the character was already established (as in the case of Get Out), from that perspective it might qualify as mickey-mousing?

    Whatever it's called I groaned. :)
     
  10. #10 Mike Verta, Sep 2, 2017
    This is why I say that in either case, you have to use it sparingly because it gets cheesy fast.
     
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