For three decades, Williams has been a successful composer with a slew of awards, nominations and television and movie credits to his name. And while the credits continue to build, Williams despairs that the room for serious music in film and TV is getting more narrow. The conference was an examination of the connection between sound and film, a connection that harkens back to the earliest days of the industry when silent movies were often accompanied by live music. There's more of the business side and less of an interest in musical values. A lot of the shows don't even have themes anymore.
Music remains an important part in many films, but the commerce side is showing there as well.
Having just reviewed dozens of movies in the nomination process for the Academy Award, he said he was taken by the number of bombastic movie scores seemingly required by the many action-adventure films. Williams graduated from Duke with a major in history, but music was his love. He went to New York, and his compositions with bands, advertising and other mediums caught the attention of the composer Henry Mancini. When Williams headed to Los Angeles, Mancini helped him get jobs. I worked at Universal, which had 18 hours of prime time broadcasts.