SEVEN SCORES: Michael J. Lewis - Unman, Wittering and Zigo

The term "Hitchcockian" is thrown around easily these days, reviews tend to use it for anything with a slight phsychological edge or if there is a twist at the end. What they forget is that a "Hitchcockian"film is consisted of much more, so while having a twist isn't harmful, there's a lot more to be done for such a distinction. Unman, Wittering and Zigo is a movie that could easily claim to be Hitchcockian if there were people who actually saw it. It's quite an obscure little feature about a school teacher John Ebony (David Hemmings) who is convinced that his students want to kill him just like they did with their previous teacher. The kids are some of the creepiest scoundrels this side of Village of the Damned and we soon start to feel for Mr. Ebony - unfortunately his collagues are the exact opposite! Michael J. Lewis' music was written for a chamber orchestra; below he recounts some of his own personal horrors about the picture:

I regard Unman, Wittering and Zigo as one of my best scores. It also ranks as the least talked about of my output. It was a relatively small budget film produced by Gareth Wigan, a former agent of mine in London, who later became Senior Adviser International at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Los Angeles and directed by John MacKenzie (The Long Good Friday / Fourth Protocol). Gareth was another of those people who hired me and then trusted, and encouraged me, to do what I instinctively heard in my head.

It was agreed that we would use a chamber orchestra, unlike the large ensembles I had used in earlier films and to use no violins at all except for the string quartet cue. It was a chance to allow the darker voiced viola to take the lead. (Smaller groups are often more of a challenge to write for as each part is more exposed). No percussion. A chamber ensemble seemed very fitting as the story was set in an all boy’s English public (private) school. A rather unpleasant bunch of adolescent males. I had now done a number of big scores and confidentially expected that all would flow easily at the sessions.

Session 1 came and so did totally unexpected trouble. For some reason, which I have never understood, and blame nobody, the session was a disaster. Nothing worked.The cues sounded awful. Not one cue was recorded. I was mortified. Could not believe it. Gareth, John and I went for lunch at an Indian restaurant near the studio and their attitude was fabulous. The approach was. “Let’s go back this afternoon and see what happens”. They assured me that their belief in my music was complete. We went back for Session 2. The cues on this session were far more difficult musically than on session 1. Terror reigned. Was my career over? Had I lost it so quickly? I had just got my first mortgage. Help. Just had my first child. Bingo. The ensemble worked great. The cues sounded fabulous. Just as if nothing had happened. Sessions 3 and 4 the same. Gareth said “Go and rework the cues that misfired and we will book another session. I know all will be fine”.

The orchestrator did some revision and I reorchestrated some myself and all worked out great. What happened I will never know. The changes made were quite small. But, what I do know is after that I did all my own orchestrations and have never had another hiccup. Once is more than enough. Thank you God. It was a definite turning point for which I remain very grateful. Time allowing, I believe all composers should orchestrate their own music. Only when you open up your composition on score paper do you really get to know your own work. I love orchestrating.You become a painter - mixing all the colours on your palette. Such fun.

The sample below features two cues: 'Meditens' is a reflective passage from the score while 'Fugetto' is a more action-oriented section with agressive string-writing.