{"id":3923,"date":"2008-02-08T09:03:58","date_gmt":"2008-02-08T09:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=3923"},"modified":"2015-03-19T17:13:34","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T17:13:34","slug":"a-musical-tale-of-atonement-and-a-special-typewriter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=3923","title":{"rendered":"A musical tale of \u2018Atonement\u2019 and a special typewriter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'Atonement'<\/a><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON — Writing plays a major role in Joe Wright\u2019s Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated feature \u201cAtonement\u201d, so composer Dario Marianelli decided that the sound of a typewriter went perfectly with what he had in mind for the score. He needed just the right typewriter and he knew exactly who would find him one.<\/p>\n

Maggie Rodford has been solving film composers\u2019 problems for nearly 20 years, working on such productions as \u201cGosford Park\u201d, \u201cBridget Jones\u2019s Diary\u201d. \u201cGladiator\u201d, \u201cHannibal\u201d, \u201cBeyond the Sea\u201d, \u201cGreat Expectations\u201d, \u201cPride & Prejudice\u201d and \u201cHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire\u201d.<\/p>\n

As managing director of the Air-Edel Group in London, Rodford is involved in all aspects of music production and publishing plus artist representation. Her job title changes from film to film and on \u201cAtonement\u201d, as the music coordinator, she worked with Marianelli and Wright and liaised with the film’s producer Paul Webster and Working Title\u2019s music supervisor Nick Angel.<\/p>\n

She says, \u201cBefore they started shooting, Dario called me and said he needed to sample an old typewriter. I had a portable Corona that my grandfather owned. He was a doctor in Cumberland and he used it so pharmacists could understand his prescriptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marianelli was delighted: \u201cIt was a beauty of a machine right from the 1930s. It worked perfectly, and that\u2019s the one you hear on the soundtrack.”<\/p>\n

The British composer, whose score for \u201cAtonement\u201d won a Golden Globe and also is up for an Oscar and a BAFTA, first encountered Rodford on \u201cI Capture the Castle\u201d in 2002, he says: \u201cShe kept coming up with brilliant suggestions about ways of doing things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, when he felt overwhelmed by all the musical demands of Terry Gilliam\u2019s \u201cThe Brothers Grimm\u201d, he turned to her again: \u201cIt was just too big an enterprise for me alone, and I realised that I was beginning to panic even before I had written a note. In the space of half an hour, she managed to lift a huge weight off my shoulders with her unfailing and contagious optimism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodford comes by her musical understanding naturally. Her father, Malcolm Garrard, who died when she was 8, was a music engineer who pioneered stereo broadcasting at BBC radio. Rodford joined the BBC, too, and also trained as a musical engineer before she joined EMI and then Air-Edel.<\/p>\n

She says the key to successful film composing is individuality: \u201cComposers need a deep understanding of what\u2019s going on onscreen in the drama, but they need to have an individual sound. It can take some many years to develop but in others it\u2019s inherent early on. It\u2019s a very competitive area and the ones who succeed all have that individual voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story appeared in The Hollywood Reporter on Feb. 8 2008. Marianelli went on to win the Academy Award.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Corona<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON — Writing plays a major role in Joe Wright\u2019s Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated feature \u201cAtonement\u201d, so composer Dario Marianelli decided that the sound of a typewriter went perfectly with what he had in mind for the score. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[2130,2132,484,1727,2131,2134,2133],"class_list":["post-3923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-interviews","tag-atonement","tag-air-edel","tag-dario-marianelli","tag-joe-wright","tag-maggie-rodford","tag-nick-angel","tag-paul-webster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3926,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923\/revisions\/3926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}