And then there's just the thrill of managing the unexpected in the moment. At the end of our second week when we were seconds from going live, a school administrator came rushing in with a hand-written note for an announcement that need to be added. We got it in - and it was a rush! - but this immediately made me think of a fantastic scene from the great late '80s movie, Broadcast News. I re-watched the movie last weekend and enjoyed the whole thing as always. Although the scene in question relies a good bit on slapstick (the crash into the water fountain gets me every time), it also does a good job of telling us about the energy of a newsroom and about the three main characters: producer Jane, veteran reporter Aaron, and handsome new hire Tom.
The neurotic Jane, played by Holly Hunter, has just realized she can enhance the introduction of a news piece about a returning soldier by dissolving in from a Norman Rockwell painting she remembers from a book in her office. Just before this movie excerpt begins, she's ordered a quick video-capture of that Rockwell picture. As the video editor, Bobby, processes the dissolve from painting to modern footage, the smart and equally neurotic Aaron, played by Albert Brooks, improvises a quick voiceover which will lead into the story he reported. Meanwhile, the new pretty-boy anchor Tom, played by William Hurt, watches the whole scene in wonder, excited by all the drama that goes into a subtle broadcast detail. Oh, and Joan Cusack steals the scene as the panicked assistant who needs to get the new tape into the live broadcast.
At some point, because my mind works this way, Hunter's imploring "Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby...." reminded me of the opening of Sondheim's Company which begins with women's voices calling out mysteriously to the central character of that show. So, I couldn't resist using that as a soundtrack enhancement for the rest of the scene. You may watch my version here, with Sondheim's score coming in about 48 seconds in.
That's pretty silly and I'm not saying the Sondheim makes the scene better, though I was proud how well I timed the cadence at the end.
So I wasn't even going to blog about this, but then I also posted on Facebook about another fun throwaway scene from the movie in which real-life composers Glen Roven and Marc Shaiman provide a manic demo of a new theme song they've written for the show. This has nothing to do with the plot other than helping us think about the crazy variety of things happenings in a bustling news room.
I watched this scene with pleasure many times and soon found myself thinking about mocking it up with a "real" orchestra. So, I tossed this together - probably not a perfect match for what the composers had in mind (my "high-tech, syntho-sequency type thing" could use some work), but it was a delightful challenge. I've always found this kind of melodramatic news theme to be pretty funny, but I suppose it serves its purpose. I remembered hearing that ABC's Peter Jennings was a significant model for Tom's character, so I added some historic "World News Tonight" footage, with the composers lip-syncing off to the side.
It's also a throwback to a time when a traditional orchestra would have been more likely to be featured in this kind of context, although I guess the classic "World News Tonight" theme by Ed Kalehoff includes a more upbeat drum backing (after a John Williams-like brass/timpani fanfare). I'm not sure the Broadcast News demo theme would have become as iconic, but maybe someone will decide to take it up. (I don't think I'll talk my students into using it for their show, though.)
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