In order to understand the ASM's actions, could you first explain what your job involves?

The music supervisor is the person who accompanies the music of a film or series throughout the production process, from the reading of the script, where musical issues are already taking shape, to the release of the soundtrack.

Initially, we are involved in the artistic musical direction of the film. Our scope of action varies according to each director and whether or not he or she needs support, especially when it comes to casting the composer - obviously the most important member of the music team. Then comes the whole legal phase, with contracts for the composer, musicians and performers, the music we buy, negotiations with labels and producers, and so on. But there's also a technical side. For example, I'm currently finishing Leos Carax's musical Annette: we recorded an orchestra live, during the shooting. The question then arose: how do you record while filming? For example, you have to hide the microphones while making sure that the sound recording is good enough to be mixed later.

The music supervisor is often also the music's executive producer. This is the financial aspect. We supervise the budget allocated to the music in agreement with the producer: how much should be set aside for composing and producing the original music, and how much for buying additional music? There may also be a commercial aspect if we need to take care of the release of the soundtrack (finding a label, etc.).

Our role is to understand the impact of music on images, to help the director determine the right musical style for his or her project, and to act as an interface with all decision-makers. A music supervisor needs to have a good ear: to know about music, but also to be able to listen carefully to what is said or not said, to find the pulse of each project. At ASM, we're all quite different, with our own particularities: we have in our ranks lawyers by training who love music, as well as music producers who love cinema.

For example, you previously studied architecture...

Yes, in Belleville, but I soon realized that I wasn't going to become an architect. Music was my first love. Along with cinema. Today, I feel a bit like I'm doing musical architecture: musical supervision consists in building a soundtrack and a global reflection around a film, and requires great versatility.

Why the need to form a supervisors' association?

The ASM has only been officially in existence for a short time, although the desire to do so took hold before Covid. We need to help each other out and speak with a single voice on a range of issues that sometimes make our profession incredibly complex. We're also trying to think along with the whole picture music ecosystem (composers and their agents, sound engineers, sound editors, orchestras, labels, publishers, etc.), and to strengthen our relations with partners such as SACEM, CNC, CNM and the French Ministry of Culture.

Many of our problems are legal: for example, when we work with American platforms, whether Netflix or Amazon, there's another, American legal logic, with contracts that aren't necessarily based on copyright. This is a problem that came up when I worked on one of the first Netflix series produced in France, Plan cœur. It's a recurring issue for supervisors, and we thought we'd pool our knowledge and help each other to make progress, and in this particular case, advise the platforms as best we can.

One of ASM's goals is also to work to improve the health of this ecosystem and, by repercussion, to have better soundtracks. We have to do everything we can to increase creativity tenfold. We need to make the conditions for creating and producing our music optimal, both financially and in terms of time: we need to give composers enough time to create (try, make mistakes, try again, surprise us). Ideally, we'd also like to see music given more prominence at festivals, and the composer's role recognized for what it is. They really are the third author of a film.

Our partnership project with Sœurs Jumelles to organize master classes in Rochefort next June involves bringing a little technicality to the table, so as to be even more precise about the working conditions of all those involved in music for pictures. We'd also like to lead a discussion on the place of women in composition, by putting forward female composers to explain their career paths.

Can you tell us about your role on J'ai perdu mon corps by Jérémy Clapin, an animated film for which composer Dan Levy won the César for Best Original Score?

Dan Levy and I arrived around the same time, on the second part of the film's production. Producer and director Jérémy Clapin had already been working on it for a very long time. In my supervision, I helped Dan with time management and organizing the production of his music above all, but Dan helped the film in a crazy way.

I wanted to do away with the synchros, but Dan also produces artists, notably S+C+A+R+R, whose track he suggested for the igloo-building scene. The track didn't meet with unanimous approval and I had to fight to keep it. For the raps, there were initially some big American tracks that we couldn't afford. Dan then suggested we work with L'ordre du périph, a band he'd spotted in Bourges. I reassured everyone that it was going to be good, if not better.

For the end credits song, we wanted to use Dan's main theme. As the igloo song from S+C+A+R+R was being debated, Dan suggested replacing it with a song by Laura Cahen, an artist he also produces. The song was beautiful, but didn't fit as well as the S+C+A+R+R song. An inspired editor moved Laura's song to the final credits, and "La complainte du soleil" found its way into the film. The first time we saw J'ai perdu mon corps with the audience, we were all bowled over. This song plays a fundamental role, almost as if we were hearing the voice of the heroine, Gabrielle. It's a condensed version of all the film's emotions, a kind of haiku.

The main theme, on the other hand, is played on an electronic flute, which we discussed at length. In the end, we kept it: time is important to measure the quality of an idea and give us the chance to tame it. It was on this flute that Dan picked up his Caesar.

The music supervisor is there to reinforce our convictions and make sure we're on the right track. When we've done our job well, it doesn't show.

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Twin Sisters article by Marine Wong Kwok Chuen

See the article here