Saturday, December 1, 2012

24 Days More

Like many people, I'm very excited about the upcoming movie of Les Misérables. Much has been made of the actors singing live on set, rather than to their own prerecorded voices.

I've seen several clips, and so far I like what I see. But I have a question: Was there a conductor on set? The actors seem perfectly free to pause, stretch, whisper, do whatever "feels right" to them, followed closely by the on set keyboardist (who would be replaced by a full orchestra in post). But was there a musical director/conductor present during filming too? You know, someone to keep in mind how the music and tempi relate to the overall piece? Someone to say "No, this bit really needs to be strictly in tempo, and please sing more"? Or were the actors the "conductors", shaping each moment as they personally felt it, without keeping the big picture in mind? That seems to me too large a job for just the keyboardist, who had to concentrate on following the actors.

I sure hope it all comes off well.