Composers rage at Netflix
NewsThe Guardian reports fury among film composers that Netflix lets viewers skip the title sequences and miss out on their best music.
The bypass button is said to be pressed 136 million times a day.
Murray Gold, who composed Doctor Who, says he won’t let his wife hold the remote control: ‘“It really bugs me because, a lot of the time, people’s default setting is to skip past the titles. When we watch the American Office at home, I won’t ever let my wife skip. The opening titles are so short and I just want to hear the music.’
Full article here.
Some people just need to get over themselves.
While there is a lot of good music written for title sequences, there is a lot of dross, too – music that just doesn’t go anywhere, is overlong, and sounds pretty similar to the bland ‘mood’ background music heard during the actual show. I skip over the dross. If I find the title sequence music tolerable, I let it play. But I doubt this is the reason why many viewers use the skip option.
I’ve noticed many musicians love preaching liberty and freedom of choice. Right up to the point where it offends their sensibilities.
Sounds much like the continuity announcers bursting in the second the credits role on TV
Well, if you watch “Chef’s table” for instance, and have the choice between being tortured bei Vivaldi’s 4 seasons at the beginning of every episode or just press “skip intro” – what would you do?
What a very First World problem.
I love, and remember, good TV theme music so I must not be skipping many credits: Jim Parker’s resounding march to open and close House of Cards remains a favourite, as does Trombey’s wonderful music for Van der Valk, a series I rarely even saw, and just a few bars of Burgon’s Brideshead Revisited takes me back to the aquatint portrait of Waugh’s Oxford.
I’d never seen Doctor Who, but I played its theme, and jolly good it is too.
But I was eternally grateful to Netflix for the skip credits feature when watching The Crown. Its opening theme seemed interminable (sorry, Mr. Zimmer, but once in a binge is enough).
composers rage against the fast forward button, lol
if the music is good, I don’t press that button, I never skip the title sequences of Bond films for instance
Surely, the point of the “skip” button is that you don’t have to sit through the titles for every episode when you’re watching a 12-part series. I imagine a lot of people do watch the sequence in full at least once.
Rage? Fury? The title is a mismatch for the article (again).
Yet there’s one thing that annoys softly spoken Britell: the “Skip intro” facility on streaming services, which was brought in five years ago and lets viewers bypass a show’s opening credits. “I am very against it,” says Britell. “TV theme music is incredibly important. It’s almost a show’s DNA identifier. It serves as an overture to bring you in and sets the tone. I think that formal entrée is crucial.”
We are halfway into season 2 of Succession. The opening music is wonderful, but we have skipped past it every time after the first episode. Waste of time otherwise. It doesn’t serve the purpose of an overture, that’s BS. Britell is self-servingly off base with his comments. He should exit the TV world on occasion and get real. Our enjoyment of Succession hasn’t diminished one bit by bypassing the opening credits. Once was fine, by 30 times in succession over three seasons serves no purpose.
Talk about wild overstatement. Read the article, it’s hardly ‘fury’ and also these are TV themes we’re talking about, not actual film scores.
Some title sequences I truly love, soak up as part of the show’s ambiance & only occasionally skip if bingeing. And others are dissociated flavour of the month I can permanently do w/out.
The Guardian reports fury..
This could be the start of every single item that ever appears in The Grauniad.
Read the Daily Mail recently?
Generation “Skip Intro” and “Skip Ad”. What’s not to love? How about “Skip Manners” and “Skip Tolstoy”?
As for the end credits of films and the music for that…when the decision was made to include everybody who appeared on the payroll for the film – from taxi-drivers to catering – they were signing the death warrant on people remaining to see any of it.
I would watch the end credits if the included the musicians. Surely at least as important as ‘Second assistant driver’?
The trouble for me is that a lot of these themes are musical junk and drag on too long. Years ago, TV theme composers wrote catchy tunes that wrapped up in 30 seconds or so and still managed to set the stage. Some were brilliant, like Dominic Frontiere’s work for The Outer Limits or Lalo Shifrin’s Mannix theme. There was a puppet show from England, Fireball XL-5, that had a great theme song that even 60 years on I still remember it clearly. The Avengers had a great tune, too. Can’t say that about Succession or anything from Netflix.
Succession has great music and a fantastic title sequence. But it is very long, and after 2-3 times, who wants to sit through all that again?
My best example: Opening of “West Wing” by Snuffy Smith. I can’t help but conduct!