Scala Radio Q & A with film and TV composer Thomas Farnon

Thomas Farnon's new piece Protest featured as part of Scala Radio's New Release Friday

Author: Jon JacobPublished 13th Nov 2020
Last updated 15th Dec 2020

Thomas Farnon is a British composer born in Guernsey who has worked with Lorne Balfe, Rupert Gregson-Williams and Hans Zimmer, contributing music to Churchill, Wonder Woman, and American Hero. He also produced the score for the Lego Batman Movie.

On Friday 13 October Thomas' latest piece - Protest - featured as part of New Release Friday on Scala Radio. We spoke to Thomas about his work as a composer and how he came to write Protest.

As a film and TV composer yourself, what do you think brings audience back time and time again to film music?

I think part of it is access. If as a composer your music is in a film or on a game you're reaching millions of people. In comparison, a concert hall has a comparatively small amount of access because, for example, a concert hall may only have enough seats for 5000 people. I also think people like melody. There's of melody in film music and people love that.

We've been listening a lot to The Crown just recently and revelling in Hans Zimmer's opening sequence. Is there a secret or technique to identifying what that addictive musical hook is that makes for a successful theme music for TV?

I think what Zimmer is particularly amazing at is finding that hook that relates to people. That's one of the reasons why he's so successful. Some film composers don't write melodies, but what they do write is just as effective. Some music for example plays off atmosphere. Often it's the times when music is tied to images that's really important. That's when the composer is getting the power of images. In comparison, abstract music creates images in your head and that music can mean 100 different things to 100 different people. Film is a bit more prescriptive. Those images will always be tied to the music, which can either help or hinder.

I write film, tv and game music the majority of the time, but I think the reason I like writing abstract standalone music is the way you as the composer have control over the image you're creating. That's what I love about it. You're not having to serve the picture, which is fantastic. It's nice to have this kind of freedom to go and write something new.

You've written a new piece we've played on Scala Radio today as part of New Release Friday - Protest. How did you come to write it?

I wrote it during lockdown, back in May. There was nothing else to do in lockdown but look at world news and try and figure out what was going on. I was really inspired by the protests that were happening. I wanted to look at it from a different point of view. I wanted to take the idea of the passionate people coming together to achieve something. What moved me about it was that there were thousands of people that had that seen something that they didn't think was right, and then take that idea and try and change something. That was what moved me was - the actual act of going out to try and change something that wasn't right. I thought about how I could kind of do that with a piece.

I explored what started as something that was kind of solemn -it started off with a brass refrain - a steady march. That was the physicality of the people marching through the streets. Gradually throughout the piece, it morphs and grows. And then right at the end, there's a final clear refrain. After four and a half minutes of developing it, you get that final clear, big triumphant refrain. It's four minutes of music inspired by world events and me trying to find a way of putting that to music.

I spent ages writing it. I tried loads of different ways of getting it there. In the end I structured it in a way that felt natural and didn't worry too much about form. It's 'through composed'. It was meant to be quite accessible so that people noticed that, and it wasn't too hidden and buried.