If you write a lot of royalty free music and get your share of custom gigs, you’re going to get a lot of jobs where you have to score for video. In fact, that might be the most common job you’re going to get. Unless you’ve gone to film school and have formal training in the field. scoring for video or film is a totally different animal than just writing some music for a radio intro or nightclub act. With film scoring, the music has to precisely match the mood that the film is trying to convey at the time. And these moods can change from one second to another. So how do we get good at something that we have very little experience doing when thrown right into the fire? This article will give you a few tips that should get you going in the right direction.
For starters, you want to watch the entire video or film from beginning to end. You may have to do this several times. But why? Can’t you just score it as you go along? You could, but by doing it that way, you may write yourself into a corner or end up going in the wrong direction.
Let me give you an example by taking an actual film. I’ll use Pixar’s “Up”. The start of the movie shows the marriage of Carl and Ellie. The opening music is very bright and cheerful as it depicts their youth and joy of early married life. But as the movie progresses and they age, the music begins to slow down until finally at the end there is Ellie’s funeral where we hear just a piano.
The composer knew to score the movie this way because of how the entire story played out. It was a natural progression of youth to eventual death and because of that, the music, which won an award, was just perfect for the film. You have to know where the film is going at all times so that you know where the music has to go. By watching the whole thing in advance of composing, you can almost map out the entire score right from the start. This makes your job a whole lot easier.
While watching the film or video, make notes at key points or highlights. Those highlights are where you’re going to want your music to stand out. If the entire piece is at one volume, say very loud, nothing stands out. And thus the high points of the movie don’t stand out. This is why in almost all films you will find the music actually starts to build just before the highlight.
Another thing you can do when scoring for a film is doing the opposite of what the audience would expect. You have to be careful when doing this but if done properly, it can be a very effective tool in shaking things up.
An example would be the film “Letting Go.” During the finale when the alien is making it to his ship and looks at the locket of his late mother, back in the old days this scene would have played out with a big emotional orchestral score. Instead, they went in the opposite direction and things got as quiet as can be. Sometimes silence speaks volumes. Yes, when composing for film you need to know when to be quiet or even non existent. Don’t worry, you’ll have your moments to shine.
Another thing you want to do is get yourself out of the box. What I mean is this. A lot of times you’ll see a film and immediately think that it lends itself to a certain type of music. For example, what if you were scoring for a Star Trek film? You’d be tempted to make all the music in the film sound spacey. But look what they did with one of the latest Star Treks made by JJ in the scene where Spock meets older Spock for the first time. The music wasn’t spacey at all. It was more like the kind of music you’d expect when two friends meet each other for the first time. Just plain old regular folk.
Too many times we get wrapped up in the cliche. When we do that, our music tends to sound just that, cliched. And in turn it makes the film or video look bad. Don’t be afraid to branch out and try new things. Not every sci fi has to have space music. At least not all the time.
Another thing you want to keep in mind when scoring for film or video is that not everything has to be “mood” music just drifting aimlessly. People still want melody. Listen to the Star Wars theme. That’s a singable melody. Heck, everybody knows it. Everybody can sing it. You don’t want the music to completely overtake the film unless it’s during a part where there is no dialogue and the music has to carry the action. But you do want the audience to be able to identify with it. Harry Potter films are another great example. Everybody knows Harry’s theme. Come up with a theme for your video and repeat it at the proper places. Don’t overdo it. During the course of a 10 minute video you might repeat that theme maybe a grand total of 3 times, beginning, middle and end and that’s it. Sometimes less is more.
Another tip that will help you a lot is this. Don’t be afraid to borrow ideas from the past. I’m not saying copy the music itself but the style of music. For example, if you’re doing a James Bond like video score, watch a lot of James Bond movies and make a note of the music. If that’s the sound you’re going for, you need to know what it sounds like if you’re going to recreate it.
Finally, and this may be the best advice of all, don’t over think things. Be quick with your decisions. Go with your gut. Sometimes you have so much music to write, because there are so many characters to keep track of, that trying to “think” through each one would turn the process into a mind numbing chore. If you feel something when watching the video, go with it. More often than not, the audience will probably feel the same way.
These are just a few of things you can do to get better at scoring for film or video. In future articles I’ll have some more tips that should help you a lot.
Until then.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim