Yet Daring's work is as integral to a viewer's sense of a movie as that of its director and star actors. Daring, a veteran of the business, composes music for films and television shows. He is credited for the scores of nearly 50 movies and 100 television series. Among other films, he has scored "Prefontaine," "The Secret of Roan Inish," "Lone Star" and the recently released "Sunshine State."
A successful movie career began for Daring with a liberal arts education at the College. Daring fondly remembers his undergraduate years.
After changing majors several times, Daring settled on music. Composing, playing and learning about music were a significant part of his student life. He earned a fellowship that allowed him to spend a summer composing; he used those months to write a rock opera.
The opera was performed in the then newly-constructed Buckley Recital Hall. Daring remembered that event with pride and recalled the incredible turnout on the opening night as a huge confidence booster. The hall was packed, even the atrium outside the theater was filled with people. There were so many people that, Daring half-jokingly said, "we probably broke every fire code in the state."
The success of the rock opera encouraged him to pursue an independent study his senior year. He spent the whole year studying and composing music. Hampshire College, newly established at that time, had a small mixing studio. Daring received permission to use the studio and experiment with the equipment once a week. His time slot ran from Saturday at midnight to 6 a.m. on Sunday. Every weekend, he worked through the dark hours teaching himself to use the technology.
Daring called it an exciting opportunity, adding that "nowadays you can do those things in your living room, but back then there was no such thing."
"The first movie is the hardest," Daring said, discussing breaking into show business. "Once you have that, it gets a lot easier." Daring's first movie came in a roundabout way.
Music was a big part of Daring's life at Amherst, but he didn't become a professional composer immediately. He went to law school, supporting himself by writing and performing songs.
Daring's big break came in 1980 when a young first-time director named John Sayles contracted him to do the legal work for the film "Return of the Secaucus Seven." The film was made on a budget of $60,000, and one day, while Sayles was finishing the editing of the film, he called Daring and told him he had $700 left. Sayles asked Daring if he would write the score to the movie for the remaining money, and Daring agreed. The film ultimately became a critical success, and made Time magazine's list of the year's top 10 movies. Daring's legal work was over-"Return of the Seacaucus Seven" launched Daring's career as a composer.
For the most part, Daring works on a particular type of film. "In Hollywood, you often get pigeonholed," he said, adding that he is generally classified as someone who works on films that are characterized as "artsy" or independent.
Sayles' films fall into that category, and after their first joint project, he and Daring continued to work together––Daring has composed the scores to nearly all of Sayles's films.
The degree of ease or difficulty in a particular job often depends on his working relationship with the film's director, according to Daring. According to Daring, a good director will know pieces are going to need tweaking, and he has no problem altering his score as part of the creative process. "Any good composer knows he will have to make changes," he said.
It takes Daring an average of six weeks to compose the score for a movie, although the job can stretch on much longer, he said. One of his most rewarding experiences was working on "Music of the Heart," which took nearly a year and half to complete.
Daring spoke about the secrets to professional success in general terms not specific to the entertainment industry or composing. "Learn to read and write-learn to read and write as well as you can," he said. "You either can write music or you can't. But the world of getting jobs and work is very political, and you have to be able to represent yourself well."