scoring

[pauldrystonewall]

so how do you guys approach music for your films?

i am part way through scoring a short film, and the way i have approached it, is to write a main theme, and then various incidental pieces, based on that theme.

apart from a couple of specific stings, i am leaving it to the editor to decide exactly if/when to use each track.

is that method generally acceptable, or would it be better for me to do a fully timed score, leaving nothing to chance...and if that is the case, can anybody advise on some software that will help me synch audio and visual?

cheers.

[eidde]

hello

My efforts so far involve working with a musician friend. We decide on a short theme, or style for each character, and tend to use these for when they are onscreen, fairly subtly though.
also a main theme throughout the whole film - I think thats important - gives you something for the credits too...

[pauldrystonewall]

i like the idea of a piece of music to represent each character, very prokofievs "peter and the wolf"!

i may use that next time.

i have just launched a new website specifically for my composing, check it out.

http://www.paulharckham.com

[Patriarch]

Hi... when I work, im in constant discussion with the director about where the music goes, where he thinks music is needed, where I think its needed, and then what is needed. I wouldnt leave that to the editor... not unless its a last resort...

as for different themes for different characters... it depends ALOT on what you are scoring. Only do it if it makes sense in the film... usualy this would be films of a more epic, or grand style... or maybe animation... but hardly an everyday drama about infidelity...

I once scored a zombie film... I had a main theme which I played in varioud ways. When zombies where on screen the motif was played by muted trumpets, with an off chord. When it was our heroes i played it with a piano... so instead of a theme for each character, it was more like an instrument

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 16, 2003 04:16 AM: Message edited by: Christian Marcussen ]</font>

[eidde]

&gt;i like the idea of a piece of music to represent
&gt; each character, very prokofievs "peter and the
&gt; wolf"!
I suppose so [img]smile.gif[/img]
I was thinking more along the lines of Once Upon a Time in the West.

good luck

[Matt Green]

Watch the music section on the extras on the Resident Evil DVD, listen to Manson, he's got the right idea, in my opinion...

[untamed_aggression]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Matt Green:
Watch the music section on the extras on the Resident Evil DVD, listen to Manson, he's got the right idea, in my opinion...</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeeeeeeeeees... with all the talk of R notes and b?llocks... and Resident Evil doesn't even have what most sane people would call "music."

But anyway...

I'm looking forward to getting my first original score composed for my films, but as it is, they all use currently existing music, albeit very well.

[twister!]

Take a look at this link. http://www.filmsound.org/filmmusic/

It's got a few food articles about the theory and aesthetics of film music.

[Matt Green]

Resi Evil's music fits the movie, if you don't like the idea's that Manson uses, check out the game and Silent Hill, which have brilliant uses of sountracks, so to speak. Most games use music similarly to movies.

[untamed_aggression]

I agree... just to get off-topic a little, if they had stuck to the formula of the games, Resident Evil would've been a winner. But they fired George Romero, the GODFATHER of zombie films, and hired professional t?sser Paul Anderson to direct it, 'cos he did such a [sarcastic]GREAT[/sarcastic] job on Mortal Kombat and Soldier.

Anyway, yeah, I thought Res Evil movie score was just noise. The games were fully orchestral and in my opinion much more effective.

I was in a local movie memorabilia shop t'other day and I was listening to a conversation the guy was having over the phone. He was saying that directors nowadays tend to disregard the score until very last, almost as an after-thought, and then it's usually buried in the final mix under a wash of sound effects. He said that "it takes a very confident director to keep the score at the forefront of the movie."

Any thoughts?

I personally am constantly thinking about music. I absolutely love movie scores (they're all I listen to excluding Evanescence and Tenacious D) and drawing from them as inspiration. And I've been praised for my use of (admittedly copyrighted) music in the flicks I've done.