How to Write Music for Film?
6 Non-musical elements you should keep in mind before you start composing.
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Music for Films may have different functions depending on the type of film and what the story is about, for this it is essential that composers have fundamentals of music composition and knowledge in audio and score edition softwares, but not everything is about music, it is also necessary to understand the stages of filmmaking and your relationship and function as a composer in each of them. Let's start with what many composers sometimes forget:
It's Music for Film, not Film for your Music.
The first thing you should be clear about is that you are working for a project that is not yours, you are one more member of the group of specialists summoned to develop someone else's idea, this means that the music you compose should be based on the narrative of the film without expecting that it will adapt to your music, unless you happen to be like John Williams during the recording of the music for ET, where Steven Speilberg gave him freedom to play the music without lending attention to the film, telling him that later they would synchronize the image to the music, although this is really unusual and although it can happen to you, it is better to assume that it is not a possibility and leave this type of decision in the hands of the director of the film.
2. Your Music is Not Yours.
Although you are the one who composes the music and you always own your rights as the author of an original work, in the film industry, there are some rights that are transferred to the producer, among them the right of modification/transformation. Once you finish writing and recording the music, you must deliver it to the sound department where everything related to the audio of the film is squared, at this point, if the director considers it, he could choose to delete the music from a scene, cut it , place it in another scene or even remove tacks or instruments from the recording session and you will only know about it until the film's premiere.
This is more usual than you would think, the decisions made by the director and the production companies are for the narrative benefit (sometimes also financial) of the film. However, keep in mind that at the beginning of the film music composition career it is easier to reach agreements with directors and possibly you will be the one in charge of modifying or adapting the pieces that you compose for a film. The best thing is to maintain good communication and that everything is always very clear.
3. The Script and the Creation
Depending on the type of film you are scoring, the time of your arrival at the project may vary. In filmmaking there are several stages:
Creation | Preproduction | Production | Postproduction | Distribution
Each of these stages has specific characteristics of the type of project and reading the script is essential so that you, as a composer, can trace a work path hand by hand with the director. The script is part of the creation stage of a film, it contains the entire story, dialogues, scenes, descriptions of places and characters, narrative instructions and information that, together with the spotting session with the director, will give you the necessary tools to start with the composition process.
Although there are cases like that of the film music composer, Hans Zimmer in the film Interstellar, where he received the only instruction from Christopher Nolan to compose a theme for a father and his son, even before the script was finished. This does not mean that you should avoid having as much information as possible before starting to compose.
4. Compose before Filming.
As I mentioned before, the moment in which a composer is called to be part of an audiovisual project depends on the type of project. In musicals, where the actors and actresses sing during the filming, it is necessary that the lyrics and music are ready even before the recording of the film begins, this means that the composer must write the music during the pre-production stage of the movie. It is worth clarifying that, in the case of musicals, it is usual to have two composers, one for the songs (songwriter) and another for incidental music, if so, there must be communication between both composers to avoid problems of harmonic clashes between transitions.
5. The Team.
Musical composition, orchestration, editing and score preparation , MIDI cleaning, recording, mixing, templates and sessions creation, are some of the many things that a composer can be involved in when entering an audiovisual project, but this does not mean that you have to do it all by yourself. Creating a team and outsourcing tasks so that you can focus specifically on composing or creating music for a film is always a very good decision, just because you don't orchestrate your own music doesn't mean that someone else helped you compose or that you don't mix your own music, nor does it mean that it won't sound the way you expected it to.
It is important to be clear that each of the skills mentioned are jobs that in the industry are done by different people and therefore are different jobs, and this brings us to the last element not directly related to the composition of music but without which it is very difficult to dedicate yourself to composing: The Payment.
6. The Value of Your Work.
Depending on where you are in your career, working conditions may vary. If you are already a composer with a well-established career and reputation, then surely nothing that has been written on this blog post is new to you, but if you are one of those who are starting out with this film music composition career, I share with you some ideas so you don't get discouraged and continue developing your skills in this world of film.
The first thing you should know is that your first projects will not be paid or will have a very low budget, but they will be an opportunity to meet film directors who in the future may invite you to projects with a budget for music, in addition to being a way to do grow your portfolio as a composer, essential to make yourself known.
Being part of projects without a budget does not mean that you should compose music to get by, always write the best music you can, and also understand the potential of the film, the directors and producers will always talk about their projects as something incredible and fantastic, but always try to generate your own criteria and analyze if it is worth investing your time in a film without a budget.
Finally, if you land on a project with a budget for music, keep in mind that composing, orchestrating, preparing scores, and recording music are all different jobs, and even though you're in charge of the music as a composer, it doesn't mean you should do everything alone, but if for some reason you decide to do it, then the payment must be higher, since you are doing more than one job that, as I explained before, is usually done by different people.
In Conclusion
As you can see, being a film music composer is not just making music, it implies that you understand many other elements that are more related to filmmaking than to music itself. As you get more and more involved in this great profession, you will discover new elements that, even if they are not related to music, will enrich your composition process. Do not be discouraged if you don’t get projects from the beginning, there are always film scoring contests and competitions that you can take part in so that your portfolio increases and have examples to show off the music you write!
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