All language subtitles for MasterClass Hans Zimmer Teaches Film Scoring - 30Life of a Composer Part 2

The thing all of us musicians are being

taught

is or all artists are being taught is

find your voice. Right? I remember

reading Keith Jared talking about this

going, you know, everybody was telling

him to find his voice and he's going,

I got my voice. I was born with my, you

know, with my my musical voice. And he

was much more interested in

what how what he what he can use it for,

you know. So, I was I don't think I was

born with it, but you know, through my c

cultural influences, where I'm from, you

know, what I listen to as a kid, you

know, just the way I learned an accent.

I have an accent. I have a voice, you

know, and when I want to do the blues in

the Louise, I can do the blues in, you

know, it's it's still my voice. And if

you know, stick with Ridley, if I want

to go and do faux Roman music in

Gladiator, you know, I can or faux

Vagnerian music, it's it still sounds

like me. Um, so rather than trying to

find your voice, just acknowledge that

it's there and just listen to it, you

know? It's it's like recognize it. I

remember having a some weird fight

undoubtedly aboutuling which is where

things usually get unstuck with me. Um,

you know, with Gabinsky and my music

editor Melissa coming in afterwards and

going, you know, God was really pissed

off. And he said, you know, he'd fire

your sorry ass except for when you sit

down and you play those moody chords,

you know, and so no, and he's,

you know, yes, don't fire me because

I'll play some moody chords for you that

might

No, I don't play virtuistic, but I

I have an aesthetic and I have a feel

and you know

what when my fingers land on the piano

it's different than when somebody else's

fingers land on the piano.

I don't know if I believe in talent, you

know. You know, people keep saying to

me, "Oh, he's really talented or this

guy is really talented or this woman is

just an amazing talent." And then when I

investigate a little bit further, it

turns out it's just somebody who works

really, really hard and really dedicated

and makes their life about something

they're passionate about. And at the

same time, just being passionate about

something doesn't mean you're any good

at it. Um, you see it you see it all the

time that that that you think you think

somebody is a talent and they do

something really remarkable and you go

and what's the next thing you're going

to do and there's sort of nothing. You

know that happens time and time again

where where people can create one great

thing and then it stops and the whole

point is it's not maybe so much about

talent but it's about what's the next

thing. The first thing, yeah, of course

you're going to write the greatest album

because you just, you know, like as a

teenager, you know, when you join a

band, you, you know, your first 17 years

of experience is all going to get packed

into that first song. And yeah, there

should be enough material there to make

something great. Or the first movie you

make, of course, it's going to be great

because there's all that, but it's the

second movie which is tricky and the

third movie which is tricky. And I think

that's where the that that's where the

talent part comes in in a funny way that

um the talent to stay relevant, the

talent to still have something to say,

the talent to still um find something

that moves people. The thing I notice

about the people I work with that I

think are talented is they usually do it

despite everybody's good advice. you

know, they grab something out of the air

that nobody saw before. Um, if you say

to them, "Don't do this," they'll figure

out a way of doing it. Or if you say to

them, "It's a bad idea. This is a

terrible set of notes. A terrible set of

notes. Don't play that." They'll play it

and sort of con suddenly out of ugliness

create incredible beauty. And it's that

sort of recklessness which you know

which I think it takes to

manifest talent, you know. So

write as well as you can. Write to the

best of your ability, you know, and test

the limits of your talent. because I

have no idea if there's talent or if

there's no talent. But I just see people

constantly pushing beyond the boundaries

that other people have imposed on them.

One of the reasons, you know, I I I was

fascinated by wanting to do this was

because one of the first things that

really got me interested in film was

seeing the documentary about Van Hatsuk

doing Fitzaldo, Burden of Dreams. And I

remember going with a whole bunch of

people and we're all watching this and

they're all basically sitting there

going, "Oh my god, look at this. This is

just crazy behavior." you know, and then

one thing after the other goes wrong and

this guy is just plowing ahead making

this movie against what was it? There

was a war going on. Yeah. like

everything was going wrong and all I

kept thinking about was I want this is

this is I want to hang out with people

like that who are that passionate about

things that are doing things you know

that have the singular vision this laser

beam focus you know all I know is the

people that

I come across that do great work are the

people that ask the most questions and

they are by nature inquisitive and they

can be inquisitive about the the the

weirdest things. I mean, you know, it's

it's I mean, you can have a conversation

about all sorts of things with Vera and

the there there is a you know, like he's

darting around all over the place and

it's it's

you get the sense that there is a a huge

big uber super supra question that he's

forever trying to ask, but he doesn't

know what that question is. So he's

looking at all these other little things

that seem to feed into how to formulate

the question, you know, and all the

people I know, all the people I've

worked with that are really good at what

they do and that that keep making great

music or making great films, that they

have a childlike inquisitiveness

about them, a childlike innocence about

asking the question, asking whatever

question it is. and suddenly finding

great joy in in something that other

people think is trivial. And despite

look, this is this is a musician's life.

A musician's life is really simple. It's

everybody tells you not to do it and get

a real job because everybody will tell

you you can't survive. You can't earn

any money at it. That you know, it's

it's all over anyway. And then secretly

and I I might be completely wrong. So

this is supposed to be called

masterclass as opposed to disaster

class, right? But just for a moment

imagine

that with all the new technology that's

being invented and all the progresses in

medicine and science we make and the

economy and everything else that all

that stuff is it's all very well but

it's not what I do. The only thing that

I can find refuge in and the only thing

that I can contribute to the world is

tell your story. And I have a feeling

that when all is said and done and we

built the highest highrises and we built

the fastest machines, there's still

going to be room for somebody to tell

you a story or somebody to write your

piece of music. And

I'm not a brain surgeon. I'm not a

rocket scientist. But if I can tell you

a story, if I can move you just with a

couple of notes, I don't know if it's

talent, but I didn't, you know, I didn't

waste my time. And at the end of the

day, I think that's what it's about is

are you wasting your life or you're not

wasting your life? And when I see Vanna

Hatsuk in the jungle uh under brutal

conditions and putting people into

brutal conditions and

I don't think anybody had a dull time.

It wasn't boring what they were doing.

You know, they weren't wasting their

time.

And I think that's there's a lot to be

said for