"But I always value and welcome the idea of getting in earlier, going to set and seeing what's going on. It gets into my thoughts and helps me think of what kind of melody I should give to the characters."
An is a renowned soundtrack composer who has composed for many Chinese films, TV shows and commercials.
In 2000 An wrote the score for a German film, "Return of the Black Buddha," and he started thinking and working as soon as he got the script.
"Usually in China, composers are invited at the very end," An says. "For the German film, I was asked to go to the set and the whole process took a year."
Typically he has three months for a project, from the moment he is told to the moment the score is composed. He had only two months to write "Wind Blast" (2010) directed by Gao Qunshu.
TV series make more demands on composers than films.
Wang says the business model of fast production takes a toll in creativity.
"I have worked on movies when they give 99 percent of the time and money to the film and 1 percent to the music, and then they say they want it tomorrow. You don't have a choice, you have no time," he says.
A critical problem in the Chinese film music industry is copyright. Composers' works are not well protected from copyright infringement and some composers just "borrow" from other compositions.
"I think it's unfortunate, but I don't think it's hopeless. Things will change here in China," Wang says.
An says that when composing is more profitable, more people will do it and be passionate about it, but to date, music hasn't been the focus of productions.
"You have to have original soundtrack in order to be recognized, and many in China are pirated and nobody buys, so it's still a question of music intellectual property value," An says.
In Western countries, composers are not only paid for their work, but also receive copyright royalties from distribution.
In China, most Chinese composers are simply paid a flat fee for the composition and receive little or no royalties. After he finished "Return of the Black Buddha," An was paid for the composition and he also received royalties. After paying taxes and agency fees on the royalties, he still received much more than his fee.
According to Wang, the film soundtrack industry in China today is similar to the situation in the United States a few decades ago. Most people don't pay much attention to the score and there are few elite composers.
"When John Williams started, you think about ?Star Wars.' All of a sudden it made music very prominent in the field of movies," Wang said. "Before, it was always there, you had wonderful composers like Alfred Newman and Alex North, but nobody really took notice of them until a John Williams came."
Immediately there was a big difference and people paid attention to the soundtracks. "You need a John Williams," says Wang.
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