Raphaelle Thibaut talks ‘Sea Lions of the Galapagos’

Photo Courtesy of Sarah Roche

Raphaelle Thibaut can’t remember how she developed an interest in music and composing. 

She was too young to have an specific memory, but the first one she can remember of her having a relationship with film music involves her bringing a recorder to movie theaters and recording moments in films that had only music playing. She didn’t really know that film composing was a job, either; she simply had an abstract interest in music, studying it at a conservatory in France. 

Her small hometown in France didn’t encourage her to pursue the music industry if she didn’t want to be a performer — and she didn’t. She went into a career in the advertising and tech industries and didn’t start working as a composer until she was 30. 

“I was just fascinated how music and films have strong storytelling power, in that there’s an actual narration in the music,” Thibaut told The Panther. “I was always also, when I was a kid and studying classical music, I was always attracted by the pieces… to me that sound very, very cinematic, where I could really read a story through the music and I could really see something happening, almost like I was watching something on the screen.” 

She continued: “I guess that’s why I was so obsessed with it, but in a very abstract way. I was not even thinking of it in technical terms because to me, it was not even a job. It was very strange, my relationship to film scoring, at least when I was a kid, because I was really in the very technical training field... In parallel, I was very obsessed with film music, not really knowing how it was working… who would do it and how. I had no idea how this works.” 

The Panther sat down with Thibaut to discuss her career and her work on the latest Disneynature film, “Sea Lions of the Galapagos.” The nature documentary, narrated by Brendan Fraser, follows the young sea lion Leo as he navigates the island chain and its animal inhabitants, trying to find his place and home in the world. 

Leo’s journey was inspiring to Thibaut. He begins the film as, in her words, a sweet and cute pup that doesn’t look that different from a domesticated puppy. As the film progresses, Leo grows into adulthood, a journey that comes with many challenges.

“I would say what I was really inspired by was all these personality traits and different traits of his character that we see unfold throughout the movie,” Thibaut said. “You start with the very sweetness of this little pup to the very powerful Leo at the end, who really fights for an island and gets it.”

Thibaut continued: “I think the instrumentation really played a role in this, too. It was not even a conscious creative decision, but I realized that if I used very intimate instrumentation when it comes to Leo as a baby… and then as you grow with him throughout the film, the theme that I have for him gets richer and bigger in terms of instrumentation. And then the end is like the explosion of richness and instrumentation and this huge orchestra… when he’s actually found a home and he’s gonna stay there. It’s funny how the music grew without even me being aware of what I was doing. I found that very interesting.” 

An accomplished composer, Thibaut is very familiar with the nature documentary space, having previously scored “Secrets of the Whales” and “Dogs in the Wild: Meet the Family,” among other projects. Outside of “Sea Lions of the Galapagos,” she’s also worked with Disney on “Secrets of the Whales” and “Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones & Harrison Ford.” 

“I’ve never really wanted to fall into this field of wildlife documentary. It was never intentional, but I’m very happy with it,” she told The Panther. “It’s such a playground. It’s just so fun to write for these documentaries… and usually, wildlife documentaries mean that you work with people who are in love with nature, who are explorers, who are professional nature cinematographers. They can’t be bad people. People who love nature so much and are so fascinated by it, they can’t be bad people. So there’s gonna be truly the most generous, kindest people that I’ve worked with in this sector, for sure.” 

Inspirations for Thibaut include Ennio Morricone and Italian cinema music from the 1960s and 1970s. To her, those compositions merge genres and feel bold. 1970s European composers, to her, create strong, cinematic melodies within hybridized music.

“(Music hybridization is) still today what I prefer about my job, is when I can merge genres and create these hybrid scores that mix the training that I had in the classical sense — very constrained, very limited in the way of what you would do with it — and then just process things and create these hybrid pieces,” Thibaut said. “I think it comes from a dire influence from these composers.” 

However, she didn’t use that approach on “Sea Lions of the Galapagos,” as Disney has a specific sound. Describing it to The Panther, Thibaut almost said that the company has a “Disney score;” they utilize a very orchestral, traditional music style.  

“I would say that I (created a hybrid) but not in terms of genre, in terms of instrumentation for ‘Sea Lions.’ It was really more about trying to find a way to subtly bring in instruments from the Galapagos in the mix without being too in-your-face. I really didn’t want it to be too obvious, and the production didn’t want that…,” she said. “So I had to find a way to use traditional instruments in a way that was very hybrid and processed.” 

That instrumentation mainly came from an orchestra, recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Other instruments Thibaut mixed into the soundtrack were meant to showcase the contrasting environments that decorate the island chain Leo is constantly exploring. From volcanic land masses to mesmerizing oceans, Thibaut’s work was cut out for her. 

“I wanted to use these instruments in a way that you could really feel the dichotomy between the land and the sea or Leo, this little sea lion when he’s a baby, and then (when he is a) grown up sea lion that’s able to fight for its land,” Thibaut said. “It was all about the oppositions and how I used the instruments in ways that are subtle but also that play on this dichotomy between things in the film.” 

Thibaut worked with the film’s producer, Silverback Films, to create the score. She didn’t start with themes in mind, but focused more on the aforementioned distinction between the film’s locations. She did end up developing themes, using the same theme for Leo and his mother and developing another theme devoted to Leo and his sea lion acquaintance Maya. 

“I wanted to draft some suites (when I first started), which is generally what I do when I start a project. I love to work on suites that are not to pictures, just to find the DNA of the score, the ground where everything is gonna grow from, and the score kind of grows naturally,” she said. “I’ve found that every time I do that, the score tends to have a bigger soul at the end, because it grew with us and with me.” 

Giving advice to students interested in film music, Thibaut emphasized that there’s not one path to get to a film composing career. 

“I think there are as many paths as there are people who want to be film composers,” Thibaut told The Panther. “I think the only advice that I could give is, persistence is your best ally. I know that all the composers who successfully became established composers are the ones who persisted and never gave up, because it’s such a tough field. It’s such a tough industry. It’s easy to at some point be like, ‘Oh, it’s just too hard’ and just go somewhere else. Just keep writing, keep sending your work to people.” 

All Dodge College of Film and Media Arts students have been told to consider their classmates as their network — another point that Thibaut emphasized.

“It’s amazing to have other student friends, because this is your network. This is actually your family, it’s more than a network,” she said. “This is what’s going to cheer you up when it’s not working so well (and) the people who are going to cheer you up when it works so well, and potentially the people you’re going to work with (and) the people who are going to give you opportunities in the future… There’s also something that I want to tell students, is how lucky you are to have this community already with you, because it’s so priceless. It’s honestly the best.” 

Students can stream “Sea Lions of the Galapagos” on Disney+.