Composers

[Patriarch]

Find out who the character is... then you make a theme that fits that mood. But I would like to stress again, that this approch does not work for all types of movies. It mostly works in films where the characters are very defined, or where the music could help emphazise a certain important aspect of that character.

The score I'm doing now is a film with an old, eccentric, yet devious millionaire... hes kind of both the cozy grandfather type and a kind of faust character. To illustrate this the theme Ive made is kind of quirky and "old man like"... however the theme is slightly off, and one of the melodies playing off the quicky passages is kind of devious... an english horn plays the melody and makes it devious and luring. Hard to explain, but this seems to emphasize the complexity of the character.

[eidde]

Id suggest you watch Once upon a time in the West.
Each character has their own theme music, be it Harmonica or Guitar, Its a really obvious and good example to use.

You dont want to tone down anything, I the trick with film music is actually to try and not be noriced.

Give characters a theme, but blend it in to the overall soundtrack so that you only notice it if you look for it.

I think the best soundtrack music is stuff you dont notice when you watch the film, but it supports the mood of a scene without changing it.

I think music is actually far more powerful than you may give it credit. Changing the music in a scene can transform it far more quickly (in my opinion) than changing location, actors, even the script to some extent.

Giving a character a theme tune or instrument is a good building block for the overall soundtrack - but unless the film calls for it not vital.

[Brainmuncher]

Ah- thanks a lot
Charachter theme's have always stumped me...but I see it's still essentially 'mood'- just the 'mood' (personality I suppose) of the person in the film as opposed the film itself.
I'll give it a go tonight

[Vlad the Impaler]

Not been back here for ages! So hello to anyone who remembers me.. ;|


I studied John Williams for about a year, listen to some of his works (you'll no doubt know them anyway). I would recommend Star Wars the most, that has a ton of themes running all the way through it! Like one for every character. He puts them in all over the place to show the emotion of the character, i.e sometimes he'll transpose the theme to the minor or make a minor theme major to show you how the character is feeling. Thats just a simple example but you get the idea.