particular piece of music. Those changes are made immediately. The next
phase is to document the music. The music editor writes down the timing
and order of each piece of music used in the film, adds the author's and
publisher's names, and turns it over to the studio legal department to
issue contracts and licenses. The last task is to create a backup of all of the
materials so they can be placed in the studio vault and a copy of the score
sent to the Library of Congress for copyright purposes.
Advice for Someone Seeking This Job
"The way I got established was to work on low budget and no budget
films to gain some skills and meet people. When those people ended up
working on bigger projects, they took me along with them in a lot of
cases," says Chabonneau. "This job takes an investment in material costs,
too. You have to essentially own a mini recording studio in order to be
viable in the present film economy. No one wants to rent equipment for
you, they want you to come fully equipped with state-of-the-art equip-
ment and know how to operate it
effectively. When they consider
hiring you to do a project, the
first questions asked are, `Do
you have a ProTools system?
Is it transportable? Can you
bring it to a stage? How much
are you going to charge us to
rent it?'"
Professional Profile:
Jeff Chabonneau, Music Editor
Music was Jeff Chabonneau's
vehicle into the film and televi-
sion business. Throughout his
teenage years, he played in
rock and roll bands and went
on to study classical guitar at
the University of Wisconsin,
but changed his major to
biology in his junior year. He
enrolled in an anthropology
graduate program at University
of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In the fourth year of graduate
school, he says, "I ran out of scholarship and grant money and decided
I really needed a job."
What do you like
least about your job?
"The element I like the
least is the egos and
personalities involved
in the business."
--Jim Chabonneau
What do you love most
about your job?
"The work itself. I've got the type of brain
where I like doing something very creative.
I think I have a real aptitude for combining
sound and image together in a way that
works. I enjoy that aspect. I like the chal-
lenge. I view it as a puzzle that I can solve.
I like being able to go through and measure
music against a picture and make it
work."--Jim Chabonneau
VOICES OF
EXPERIENCE
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