!!32 tips you have to know for scoring!!

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Epic

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The Must Have List of Tools For Film Scoring

"okay, its not really 32 tips cuz I repeat some, but oh well"

-have harmony

-have melody

-have counterpoint

-lots of creative sound design

-have awesome changes

-have awesome runs

-have realistic symphony Dynamics

-If any part sounds fake or thin, redo it!

-make it flow

-shock the audience

-impress the audience

-take the audience where you want to

-create an atmospere and then have fun in it..

-make sure that the score has that real commercial sound to it..

-come up with something new and creative with anything..chords sounds,harmony, melody, rythym..but make sure it still sounds professional

-If the bed sucks, the piece will

-real dynamics!!! Synthesizers can do more than you think, it just takes more muscle....

-do something magical from chaos

-do something beautiful from harsh

-If the writing is good, you dont need reverb, sound effects ot anything else to feel the piece, If you find yourself adding all that stuff to compensate, than just trash the composition

-make sure that the piece goes somewhere at every second

-Dynamics...with horns is a must.....

-Go crazy and make the orchestra blast!!!!!

-Dynamics are a must!!!!A real orchestra is going to scream sometimes.... and even in soft stuff.......Strings and brass have to play loud enough to get out there full sound......

-without capturing realistic dynamics, the music will seem plain and flat

-take chances with dynamics....

-Have two or three creative changes in the writing that make the audience go wow...and other musicians go how did he do that??

-Echoing the orchestra..is...A good effect....For example after a group of winds plays something immediately and cleverly have the string section play it....kind a like counter melody,
but know when the correct itming is to echo..It can have a wonderful effect

-Most effective changes come within edginess and chaos going into something pretty and dreamy......

-the strings must flow.....never just stop a whole section
of strings..listen to a real orch, how they gradually stop...

-after composing, try muting certain instruments...sometime you find a better texture with less, but only sometimes!

-all orchestra film music should have tha commercial thickness to it a lot of amateur musicians are afraid to add to much, but then don't add enough you must have a certain professional sound.....It doesnt mean that you will always have a bass part, mid, and high part playing, but listen to orchestra stuff. WHen
something plays alone, or the symphony is thinner sounding, it still has proper writing that allows for that. Usually, if you listen you will almost hear some kinda of sound design filling
in the emptiness......


Epic.....
 
One mans view on film scoring..............mmmm, not sure I agree with some of them, they're a bit heavy-handed, ie: let the orchestra blast???? No, no, and more no! :)

I'll give you one tip to superceed these: (well to be honest it's a bunch of tips rolled into one. :)

Above everything else, stay out of the way of the motion picture, the music should never barge it's way through and distract from the story line. Your music should mirror the characters and you should have seperate themes for each of the main characters or character groupings (ie: a love theme between two people) To write good film music is to understand the film, you have to understand the characters and where the climaxes are. In action scenes care should be taken not to over crowd the sound but still convey what is being pictured with carefully placed hit-points to mark out certain parts of the picture to give it context. Film composers are very smart people, and it's this intellegence for understanding a film from a technical stance that allows you to write good music to what is being conveyed. Certainly inexperienced film composers go for the wham-bam-thankyou-mam technique of writing to impress which only serves to disrupt the film from over zealous music which may stand proud on it's own but put to picture doesn't work at all.

Bear my points in mind, they will give your music the edge, Film music is exactly that - Music to Film, not Film to Music! :)

Happy Scoring :)
 
Epic: Rather than tips for film scoring, this sounds more like tips for writing orchestral music in general in the style you like.



James McFayden: I agree that your points were very well stated. I especially like how there was no mention of "orchestral" music in particular or any mention of particular instrumentation... The idea of understanding the film is important... that is what really guides the direction of the music.


:)
 
James McFayden: I agree that your points were very well stated. I especially like how there was no mention of "orchestral" music in particular or any mention of particular instrumentation... The idea of understanding the film is important... that is what really guides the direction of the music.


:) [/B]
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Yea, thanks. Sometimes on DVD commentary tracks, the composer has his own track or with the director and these can be great places to pick up the advice you need. On Forrest Gump, Alan Silvestri speaks about the music and the theme he used at the start and immedietly you are hit by the way Silvestri is always thinking about the film and what it is really trying to say, and not trying to state the obvious, and the music can be a character in the film in it's own right.

As much as I don't want to say it, it's the smartest, cleverest people who can score films well, people who watch a film and get all the metaphors. Also, you'll notice the top most film composers are competant (sorry exceptional! :) ) score writers who can write real orchestral scores instead of someone sitting with a Sample Library and pick up tip of Sampling the Orchestra from Sound on Sound. Althoug, the exception to the rule is Danny Elfman, and although he can read and write notation, they are usually in his own 'language' and usually only in the treble clef (well, so I've heard, anyway)

:)
 
if i get pissed off, then i make a beat, or if im angry etc i make a beat.

it aint easy making beats wen ur happy etc. but its good to make music to reflect ur feelins, cos that comes thru in da music...
 
James McFadyen said:

Although, the exception to the rule is Danny Elfman, and although he can read and write notation, they are usually in his own 'language' and usually only in the treble clef (well, so I've heard, anyway)

:)
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And David Arnold - a good composer who does not read music and always uses an orchestrator hired in to do this work for him.
 
Uhhh, y'all are missing a HUGE part of this:


LISTEN TO YOUR DIRECTOR!

All of the theory in the world isn't going to help you if you don't listen to your boss: the director/producer(s). You can wow and zow all you want, but if it's not what the director wants, it's not going in his/her film.

...or so *I* think...
 
That is very a true word spoken. I have never worked on any big-time movies and found that the indie directors are much more open for suggestions from the composer. Sometimes as far as saying "you are the composer, you know best. I'll tell you if I don't like it.". In other cases they can become very prescriptive.
 
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