synchronization and editing; must be able to musically conjure a wide variety
of colors and moods; must be able to work with a wide variety of deadlines,
timetables, attitudes, and personalities; and must be adept at switching back
and forth from the computer to the orchestra, from the scene to the score,
and back again.Fortunately, over the past five years or so, opportunities have grown for dif-
ferent approaches to composition for film. It wasn’t that long ago that almost
everyone writing music for film was trying to create sensationalistic scores.
Think of Star Wars and Jurassic Park, for examples. Almost every film score
sounded like Gustav Holst’s The Planets. It was pretty hard to find a film score
that didn’t rely on sheer bombast and magnitude.But since then we have had very successful movies with much more under-
played music tracks. Think of The Life Aquatic or Napoleon Dynamite. These
examples show that a simple score can not only be effective, but can also
take on a life of its own. You can expect this trend toward variety to continue
as audiences become bored with the repetition of one or two styles. And with
greater exposure to foreign films, the influences increase — listen to the
music in Water, Frieda, or Kung Fu Hustle.When composing for film, there is rarely an instance when you can use a piece
of music you previously composed to fit a scene. Almost all music for film
has to be written specifically for the scene. Because film scores often rely on
and return to one or two main themes, you may find a phrase or a motif in
your “saved bits” folder that would be appropriate — but you will have to
make your composition fit perfectly into the exact amount of time required
by the individual scene. You can’t just awkwardly cut from one musical idea
to another without regard to the musicality of the cut itself.There is an old saying in this business: “You can teach someone to edit music,
but you can’t teach someone to edit musically.” So when the film you are
working on cuts from a tender love scene to an intense car chase scene, the
music has to tell the director’s story without being clumsy or drawing too
much attention to itself.If an independent film is being produced in your area, you might be able to put
together a demo of your work to present to producers, directors, and filmmak-
ers for consideration. However, you will probably have to do a lot of work for
free at first. Be sure that you retain ownership of all of your copyrights and
publishing if you are not being paid handsomely for your work (see the nearby
sidebar on copyrighting for more information on how to do this).210 Part IV: Orchestration and Arrangement