Criminal Minds - 10 Questions with Composers Marc & Steffan Fantini

Steffan Fantini (left) and Marc Fantini

CBS's Criminal Minds is returning for a tenth season this fall. I was given the opportunity to ask two of the series' three composers a few questions about the series and their work. Brothers Marc and Steffan Fantini have been with the series since day one. They currently compose alongside Scott Gordon who completes the trio, who have also collaborated on 'Army Wives' and Criminal Minds' spinoff, 'Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior'

I put 10 questions to the brothers, and as with their work, they divided and conquered, answering 5 each.

1. Criminal Minds is entering its tenth season this fall and has notched up over 200 episodes. How has your scoring matured as the series has aged?

Steffan: Hopefully we have grown as story tellers musically. We have been told that our music is a big character of the show which is very humbling and also very exciting. I think we constantly want to push the envelope musically and I think the producers and everyone else involved encourage that very much. We try to never repeat ourselves and the mandate is to make each episode a one hour feature film at the highest level possible. We are constantly looking for and creating different sounds, themes and textures which are unique to each episode. I think one of the many reasons Criminal Minds does so well is that the audience can tune into an episode in any season and they will be pulled in to this feature film type show without ever having had to see a previous episode.

2. By nature, the series is pretty dark, and the humor is sparse. Does that sort of material suit your preference, or do you look forward to the light hearted, less serious parts of the series?

Steffan: First and foremost we are all fans of the show. We enjoy all aspects whether it be the dark and scary, the emotional, the suspenseful or the humorous moments. Musically, we enjoy the variety and as the show has progressed, we get to explore these characters outside of their jobs at the BAU which is quite fascinating and allows for some cool opportunities musically. Every unsub or criminal has a different feel and attitude and so does the music which accompanies them.

As for the humorous, it’s a fine line and often a challenge as the show is quite dark as you correctly point out. We can only go so far comedically or it gets silly and pulls you too far from the drama. Over the years, we have found that balance musically so the show can morph from terror to emotional to humor then back to suspense very naturally.

3. What are the sources of inspiration you call on when composing for the series? Are there any fellow composers, TV series or movies that you admire for their scores?

Steffan: Generally I look to feature films for inspiration although it’s a bit dangerous as far as trying to get a feature film score composed in a very short time span. We only have three to five days to complete a score that usually has around 35-40 minutes of very active music. Feature films we have worked on have months of time set aside to compose the score. As far as inspiration from other composers, absolutely. I love Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Alan Silvestri, Christophe Beck just to name a few. Since we are doing both features and TV, switching between the two is really great, however, the line between the two has become somewhat blurred in that TV music has jumped way up in quality in my opinion.

The incredible thing that has happened through working on over two hundred episodes of Criminal Minds and seven seasons of Army Wives, is we have all gotten so much better at looking at a scene and knowing exactly what to do. We have also gotten much faster. With three of us working and dividing the music among us, we can get a much higher quality score. It allows us to get more experimental and actually delve deeper into the music because we are not responsible for writing the entire score alone.

4. You're a pretty unique pair in that you happen to be brothers working together. Could you outline some of the advantages and disadvantages of that, and do you share the same skillset, or do you specialize in different parts of the job?

Steffan: I think we share some of the same skillsets in that we each understand how to work with the orchestra. We both know how to write a variety of cues in many styles and feels (action, suspense, emotional etc) and so we are somewhat interchangeable in that sense. I do think that being primarily a pianist/keyboard player and my brother being primarily a guitarist, we bring a different skillset in that way. When we work on a show or a feature film as a team we are constantly in communication via Skype or iChat or source connect so that we can play music for each other from our own private studios throughout the process. As a team there is a healthy competition which I think is quite good. I want to blow the others away with my music and so do they so it helps to keep us on our toes and continue to strive to do better.

5. I'm sure you get this question a lot, but how long does it take you to complete the score for an episode, and could you outline the basics of the process from start to finish?

Steffan: We start the process with a spotting session. We basically sit in a room with the producers, writers, editor, director and sometimes the actors to watch the episode and discuss where music will start and stop. We also discuss the feel of the music that they are looking for. Ultimately, our job is to help with the storytelling from a musical perspective. It’s all about servicing the picture and the vision of the film makers. Once this is decided, we each go to our own private studios and begin creating crazy unique sounds and themes for the episode. We share those new sounds and themes with each other so that the score has a very uniform, cohesive sound. On Criminal Minds, there are three of us so after we decide on new sounds and themes for the score, we basically divide and conquer. After we hand in the finished score, the producers and anyone else involved with the musical decisions will give us notes. We then address those notes quickly and the score is then sent off to the final mix.

6. Many television series have just one, maybe 2 composers, but Criminal Minds has three - yourselves and Scott Gordon, and used to have a fourth, Mark Mancina. Does the 'many hands make light work' theory ring true in your line of work?

Marc: Yes, when you are working on smaller portions of the score you can dedicate more time and work at the highest possible level instead of being panicked knowing you have to get thirty minutes of work done in four days. You know you are only responsible for that section so you can put your heart and soul into it.

7. I'm sure there's many geeks out there who would love to know what equipment, hardware, and software you use to do your work. Could you give us a quick rundown of your kit?

Marc: We use Cubase as well as Protool. Cubase is what we do the sequencing on and we record to Protools. As far as any special gear, I would say most of it is software. There is a couple go-to string paths that we use that work really well.

8. Since you started out, what do you think are the biggest changes that the film and television industry has experienced from your point of view as composers?

Marc: There are two big differences I think. One of the main differences is when we first started we were a team of three and four people and we came up against a lot of opposition for that and it was difficult. As years have progressed the powers at be have seen the light of day that this is actually a credible way to work and there are so many more teams of composers now than ten years ago. I’m not saying we started that trend but they were very reluctant to accept a team very early on. Now they realize at the end you can sometimes get a better result with a team. The other difference is the lines have been blurred a bit with TV and film, especially with cable TV. The music has gotten a lot better on network TV and cable. It’s definitely catching up.

9. From your unique perspective, where do you think the film and television industry is heading in the near future. Are there any new innovations that are in their infancy? In particular, what do you see as the biggest opportunities and obstacles you'll have to face as composers?

Marc: I think the industry is heading in a good direction. All the recording rights societies, like ASCAP, work very hard to get the composers paid. As long as there is money available and a future available I think it will attract a lot of talent when it comes to composers.

In my opinion the studios are taking more chances too. With shows like Breaking Bad really pushing the envelope, I think those types of shows have changed the landscape of television. It sets the bar pretty high. As far as innovations, I think we are seeing maximum development of something that was in its infancy 10-15 years ago, which is computer samples and tools at one’s disposal that you can get your idea across pretty quickly. As far as new things, it’s hard to say because most of the time we have our noses buried in our work but as new things come out we love it. I can’t say specially though.

The biggest obstacle would be that there is a lot of talented people in the industry and only a certain amount of work and you have to really want to do this because it is a hard business. I would say just like an actor or director, it’s hard to break in the door. Once you are in the door you have to do great work to stay in the door. You also have to be so motivated and you can’t take no for an answer.

10. To finish up, what are the most challenging, and the most rewarding parts of your job?

Marc: The most challenging part is starting with a blank slate and trying to come up with something that is great every time you work on a project. It is also the most rewarding part coming up with something new and fresh that no one has done before. I get a sense of reward and accomplishment from that. Probably one of the most difficult things is working with timelines and deadlines. You don’t have a year to come up with the greatest thing ever. As soon as you get a job you pretty much start immediately and have to come up with something then.

That's the ten questions asked and answered. It's always fascinating hearing what the numerous folk behind the scenes of things like television series have to say. In December 2012 I interviewed ABC's Castle composer, Robert Duncan. You can read that interview here. I asked him some of the questions I asked Marc and Steffan, so it makes for interesting reading looking at the differing perspectives people in a similar occupation share.

Marc and Steffan are on Twitter, @marcfantini and @steffanfantini respectively. Criminal Minds returns October 1, 9|8c, on CBS for the tenth season premiere, titled 'X'

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Jimmy.

About the Author - Jimmy Ryan

Jimmy Ryan lives in New Zealand. He is an avid follower of drama television and has a keen interest for television ratings and statistics. Some of his favorite shows right now are Person of Interest, Scandal, House of Cards, Orphan Black, The Blacklist, The 100, and Castle. You can visit his television ratings website, www.seriesmonitor.com or follow him on Twitter, @SeriesMonitor.

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