– An interview with Bobby Gumm.
Bobby Gumm is the Music Supervisor for Trailer Park. Trailer Park is an agency with more than 500 people and they produce trailers for big movies such as Jurassic Park, The Hunger Games and Captain America.
What is the difference between music in films and music in trailers?
The biggest difference is that if you’re pulling songs for a feature [film] you tend to have a little more time to tell your story. Whereas in a trailer you’re telling a more condensed version of the story. So there may be a great song that has all these really great lyrics that you can use throughout a scene in a movie, but then once you try to use it in a trailer and cut it down it doesn’t work. So you have to figure out a different approach just to get you through it. I think that’s why a lot of tracks get used more than once, because it’s rare that you find a good trailer track.
What are you looking for in a track for trailers?
It’s a little hard to define what it is you’re looking for, but it definitely has to build. It can’t just be the same beat over and over again for three minutes. Most movies have a three-act structure and most trailers have a three-act structure or a two-act structure. We need the music to take us through those acts so if the music doesn’t build or evolve or do anything or go anywhere, then it doesn’t gives us the act structure that we need. It has to have [meet] a lot of different criteria: It has to move quickly and it has to have lyrics that get to the point very quickly, it has to build and do different things. So once you factor in all those criteria, you’re not left with very many songs.
Is there a difference between the musical taste in Europe and in America?
I definitely think the taste in America is different from the European taste. In Europe people are more open to doing weird sort of out-of-the-box things. I feel like a lot of weird trends start in Europe and then they come over here and then we sort of commercialize it. I’ll hear an artist for the first time, and if it’s something weird and different, then the first thing that goes through my mind is that this it is definitely not from the United States. I haven’t had a chance to license any of it [yet], but there are definitely bands that I’ve pitched a lot for projects. You guys are always on the forefront it seems, so I wouldn’t want you to not make weird music.