|
Interview with Justice League's Kristopher Carter By Jim Harvey 11-23-2001 Music composer Kristopher Carter was able to take time out of his busy schedule and participate in a Questions & Answers session. This is what became of it. 1. Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got interested in music? Music has been the driving force behind my life for almost as long as I can remember. I began studying the piano when I was only four years old, and even in my early lessons I was encouraged to write as well as practice. Those early experiences kindled an insatiable appetite for music of every kind, and as I grew older I took up other instruments: the guitar, electric and acoustic bass, trumpet, violin and mandolin. I began to compose seriously when I was in middle school, and split my writing time between composing "classical" instrumental chamber music and writing songs. I received my music degree from the University of North Texas with a major in music composition. While I listen to all types of music, I enjoy most a weird combination of classical music and heavy metal (go figure...). 2. How did you get the gig as one of the music composers for BATMAN? I college I played in the University of North Texas Symphony Orchestra with a double bass player named Ian Walker, who also happens to be the son of Shirley Walker. Ian played on the scores I wrote while I was in school and was kind enough to introduce me to Shirley. On a summer visit to Los Angeles I had an opportunity to share my work with her, and when I graduated from college, Shirley offered me a chance to work as her assistant. In that capacity (in addition to answering the phone, typing, and proving I have no talent to make a decent pot of coffee!) I began doing a small amount of orchestration. Passing the orchestration test, I received the opportunity to write half the cues of the "Lockup" episode, sharing show with Brian Langsbard, another one of the "Bat composers," as we were called. Shirley and Bruce Timm approved me to do an entire episode, and "Catwalk" was my first solo effort for the series. 3. How did you come up with certain themes for the characters and villains? Themes on the shows have undergone quite an evolution. On the original "Batman" series, Shirley created the themes for all the characters, and it was standard procedure to use that thematic material as the signature for the characters. In "Superman," Shirley created the main Superman theme, but there were often instances where the first composer to deal with a certain character would create the sound for that individual, and then all of us would use that material. The guitar-driven style we utilized in "Batman Beyond" is not as conducive to the kinds of easily-identifiable melodies used in previous series, and thus the characters were represented in much more subtle ways as sonic "colors"--for instance, I used a particular synth ambience with a hint of wind chimes as the main "theme" for Inque, and that sound is present in much of the music I created for her. 4. Why did you approach BATMAN BEYOND differently than Batman or Superman? I think Bruce Timm gives a great explanation of the stylistic switch in the liner notes to the "Batman Beyond" score CD. In the early stages of creating the series, the producers liked the idea of the music having a "younger" sound for their youthful hero. Having been so successful at creating symphonic scores for Batman and Superman, Bruce expressed his concern that we wouldn't be able to do the electronic and rock sound they wanted. Much to his surprise, we are quite comfortable working in a large array of musical styles, and after creating a variety of samples for Bruce we were able to zero in on the exact sound he desired and we proceeded from there. 5. For BB: ROTJ, was it originally planned to mix the classic and techno sounds of the show? And where did the inspiration for the 1950-esque theme for Joker in the flashback come from? Absolutely! Because Return of the Joker provided some of the missing story between the two series timelines, it seemed natural to return to the "classic" Animated Batman sound to accompany the flashback sequence. Having the orchestra hired for that portion of the movie provided the opportunity to use it in the rest of the score is well. Having the power of a symphony orchestra and the power of hard-edged electronic and metal combined made for an incredibly huge sound! When Batman comes across the Joker's playhouse in the abandoned Arkham Asylum, his whole demeanor in the room, sitting on the easy chair with newspaper and pipe, and his speech about his desire for a family, was very much from a world that was the 1950's. I wanted to play the scene entirely from his point of view, with a certain innocence contrasting with the absolute dementia of his character. Even after the initial fanfare of the scene, I stayed with the fun Joker was having toying with Batman, even though Batman is serious and there is quite a bit of danger present. This continues on until Tim/J.J. is revealed, and then the score shifts back into the reality and horror of the situation. 6. What BATMAN, SUPERMAN, and BATMAN BEYOND episodes, that you composed, are you most proud? I would have to say every episode I've worked on is something I've been proud to be a part of. All of us on the music team are fans of the show as well, and it's really a great experience to compose to something you really like in the first place. The writers on the show do a great job of coming up with cool story arcs, and the animation is always first rate. As to my favorites, I would have to say I enjoyed most the epic story lines I worked on: I did both parts of Superman "Apokolips...Now!" with Darkseid's invasion of Earth, and I also composed the score to the two JLU episodes of Batman Beyond. I really enjoyed working on the second Inque episode, where she turns Aaron into the blob at the end... so twisted! I also had a great time writing "Sentries of the Last Cosmos," which, incidentally, was our team's submission for this year's Daytime Emmy Awards, and it won the award for Outstanding Musical Score! 7. Will you be doing compositions for JUSTICE LEAGUE? If so, any specific episodes? I actually just finished the score to my third JL episode. What an amazing project! It's by far the most epic series Bruce and Co. have taken on. As in the past, each episode will be an individual composing effort, with myself, Lolita Ritmanis and Michael McCuistion rotating episodes so we can keep up with the hectic schedule and still produce the best scores we can. I think it's important for the fans of the show to know that the three of us have been around these shows since the beginning, and so even though we are sometimes known as the "techno-rock" composers of Batman Beyond, we are all in fact primarily orchestral composers with classical training, and the orchestral sound of Justice League is not so much a departure from Batman Beyond as it is a return to the epic sound we made on Batman and Superman! 8. What are your future plans? Do you plan to do movie work, or stick around WB? Even though Michael, Lolita and myself all work together on these animated series, we each have separate careers as film composers, and when we're not helping Superman save the world, we all work on a variety of other projects. This past summer I completed my eighth independent feature film score, "Treading Water," which is currently making rounds on the film festival circuit. I also did a few episodes of R. L. Stein's "The Nightmare Room," which is on Sat. mornings on the WB. Basically, we all would consider ourselves "film" composers as opposed to "animation" composers (although we would argue against the need for any differentiation!), and as each episode is crafted with the care of a little 30-minute feature, we are entrusted to create scores of a quality befitting such. Any less, and we wouldn't be truly doing our job! Thanks for the Q & A session, Kristopher! Originally posted on Toon Zone News. [ Back to Backstage ] |