The art and science of composing movie scores, and best resources on film music studies.
The crescendo of the opening credits in “Star Wars”, the brooding background music in “The Godfather”, the background score of movies such as Inception, Rocky, Lawrence of Arabia. While all these movies were great, one cannot deny the importance of a great film score.
Here we bring to you some great resources on film score.
In the movies, violins are often used to add dramatic effect, as a part of the background music.
Learn to Score Films and Video Games
Want to learn how to compose background score for films and video games, here’s what you will need to learn.
- Compose orchestration with software
- How to come up with musical ideas starting with nothing, and get over music writers block.
- How to use a digital audio workstation (Reason, FL Studio).
- How to Score Trailers
- How to work with film directors and game designers
- Learn how to apply music theory (rather than just memorize stuff)
- Learn to arrange for string instruments
- Create realistic piano using software
- Create realistic orchestral percussion using software
Best Internet Resources
IMDB (Internet Movie Database)
SoundtrackNet: The Art of Film and Television Music
News, extensive listing of film composers (including up-to-date filmographies), reviews of soundtracks, and more.
Film Score Monthly: The Online Magazine of Motion Picture and Television Music Appreciation
News and articles, frequently-asked questions and answers, links to other great film music sites.
Soundtrack Collector
Industry news, links to other film music sites, soundtrack database that can be browsed by title or composer.
Music from the Movies
Provides news, reviews, composer information, and links to related sites.
FilmTracks: Modern Soundtrack Reviews
Provides reviews of contemporary film soundtracks.
Silent Film Resources FAQ
Provides links to silent film resources on the internet.
FILMUS-L
While this film and television music site is no longer active, a searchable archive of the list is still available.
Useful Links
Know the Score: A Brief History of Film Music
Music composer Mark Korven talks about his Terrifying Score for ‘The Witch’
One of the most beloved aspects of the horror film ‘The Witch’ was its score, which was composed by Mark Korven. Korven’s music terrified audiences everywhere and for very good reason: It’s scary as hell!
Below is an interview with Korven where he talks about the inspirations for the music, the instruments used, and so on.
- We wanted to keep things quite minimal, and keep any human imperfections in the score. The score is tense and dissonant, but there’s also a certain fragility there, which reflects these people living on the edge of existence.
- Musically speaking, the score is far more dissonant than anything I’d ever done. It just never lets up.
- The director didn’t want any traditional harmony or melody in the score, so it came down to the instrument selection. The backbone of the score was actually a Swedish instrument called the nyckelharpa. It’s a medieval keyed violin and when Rob first heard it he said, “That’s it, that’s the sound of the score”. The water phone was used a lot as well, and that’s a 20th century experimental instrument.
Mark Korven had eve asked one of his luthier friend (guitar maker) Tony Duggan-Smith to come up with a musical instrument that would make terrifying sounds. And his friend came up with the “Apprehension Engine”. It seems Korven had used this instrument to create some of the spooky sounds used for ‘The Witch’.
Music composition tips by Ramin Djawadi (Game of Thrones, Westworld)
Ramin Djawadi is a German-Iranian composer, best known for his Grammy-nominated score for the Marvel film Iron Man (2008) and score for HBO’s popular television series Game of Thrones. He is also composing for the Westworld.
Knack for Instrumental Music and Orchestral Music
I started learning music when I was 4 years old. As a teenager I just discovered that I really have a knack for instrumental music and orchestral music and hybrid music and all those things that kind of happen in film music. From then on, I knew that’s what I wanted to become so I really set out to do what I do now (become a film composer).
Process of Composing
Composer Ramin Djawadi tells us a bit about the process of composing songs, be it for “Game of Thrones” or any other film project.
I always start with conversations with my director or producer. Before I write anything, I want to try to get into their head and explore what their vision is. Most of the time, they always come with ideas. They might be very excited about a certain instrument that they feel I should try and use with possible [songs], and they have feelings for certain characters about how they want the music to sound, be portrayed emotionally.
Then, my job is to actually put that into notes.
With “Game of Thrones,” I get the episodes and then I watch it together with the show runners. We discuss the actual scenes together and where the music should start and stop. Then I get to sit down and write about it all, and then play it back for them and then we discuss further.
So, that’s always the process in writing music.
Things to Take into Consideration
What do you take into consideration about plots and characters when you’re creating music for film?
I always look at the music as storytelling. that can be underneath the dialogue, or when there’s no dialogue then the music can come more in to the foreground, but it’s always telling a story. That’s the fun of being a film composer, you can guide the audience and create emotions. When there’s a big action scene you really create the action music to that. It just enhances that scene. Or when there’s an emotional scene that you write, a nice love theme, that just does something for you while you see and hear the show.
“Game of Thrones” is a great example because characters develop and things change over time. The ups and downs of that show is really a beautiful thing to paint with the music and to enhance that.
Source: fortlauderdaledaily.com
Westworld’s old timey music covers, composed by Ramin Djawadi
Westworld Composer Ramin Djawadi’s covers of Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, are already quite popular with fans. If you love Ramin Djawadi’s arrangements for Westworld, you will also like the Westworld soundtrack. Westworld is apparently doing so well that HBO has already released an album of music from it.
You can buy the Westworld theme and four covers on iTunes or listen to the album streaming on Spotify. The four other tracks are Djawadi’s versions of “Black Hole Sun,” “Paint It, Black,” by the Rolling Stones, “No Surprises” by Radiohead, and “A Forest” by the Cure.
Alan Menken: Beauty and the Beast Music Composer
Legendary composer Alan Menken won a record 8 Oscars for his scores for Disney’s animated movies – returned for Beauty and the Beast’s live action adaptation with new songs, all of which are a perfect fit for the film and its characters.
Alan Menken is the man who helped launch six princesses, more than a dozen musical films, and a national songbook of singalongs. Composer Menken, not only wrote the score for “Beauty and the Beast”, but also “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “Enchanted,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and many others.
Watch: Disney Song Medley by Alan Menken
Interview with Alan Menken:
How do you manage to write the perfect musical number?
Well, I’m just the best composer! [laughs] No. It’s by asking myself a million questions before I go near the piano. What’s the vocabulary of this musical? What character sings it? What dialogue leads into it? What song is it like? Where does it start and end? What happens within it? You have to think of a million different things and then go “OK, I think I know what it is now”. And then I want my collaborator in the room with me, and then I want as much feedback as I can get, and then I dive in.
How much time does it take you?
Sometimes, after I’ve done a lot of thinking I literally let my hands go when the song is done and sometimes it can take a while. People always ask me if I ever get the writer’s block and the answer is always no. It’s only bad assignments. If it’s a good assignment I will find something. If it’s an assignment I’ve already had before and then to live with the same thing again, that could be difficult. But the most important thing is to really suss out what the song needs to be and then I let my brain take over.
You write songs that resonate with grandfathers but also with their grandchildren. How do you manage to appeal to the 70 year old and the 7 year old?
Music is a vocabulary. When I play the first few notes of something I want you to know dramatically what is being said. I want the audience to get what kind of song this is. I even want you to know that if I take you into a dramatic moment and you remove the lyrics and it’s just the music, at least 50% of what you’re going to get from that scene you’ll be getting simply from the musical choices I’m making. A lot of it has to do with clarity and not being afraid to be accessible and clear. My songs are not about me. I’m being selfish in being selfless because if I say “I wanna write an Alan Menken song to go in here”, it’s not going to be as good. I want to write a Belle song. I want to write a Quasimodo song. I want to write an Aladdin song. Whatever it is I want it to be for that character and for that moment, and then get the hell out of the way.
Working on this film would have brought back memories of working on the original film all those years ago. Did you find yourself contrasting between then and now?
Not really because it’s such a different situation. In the animated feature we were creating it for the first time. Also, back then we were really in charge; Howard Ashman was the Executive Producer and lyricist, and I was the composer. We were dealing with animation directors who were very smart but we were the ones who know how to write musicals. With the Broadway show I stepped back a little bit because it’s a much broader team putting on a Broadway show and I wanted to be supportive and add the songs I need to add. When it came to this, I stepped back even further. I could because I have a director like Bill Condon, who is so smart and so capable and also loves musicals. I step back a great deal and still give my reactions and my thoughts, but I have a huge team.
The times when I would think back were only where I would ruminate and think “gee, I wish Howard could see this”. I think back on those days with a great deal of affection, but it was also very tough because my collaborator was dying as I was writing it. I should write a book about the creation of that score with Howard, because there were some great moments.
You’re about to return to The Little Mermaid in 2018. What can we expect from that, and is there any other film that you feel you have unfinished business with or would just like to add to?
I think it’s possible that Aladdin might precede The Little Mermaid. Lin-Manuel Miranda, I knew him as a kid. He was fanatic about The Little Mermaid as a kid. He went to school with my niece, that’s how I knew him… he’s involved with Mary Poppins right now, so when he’s available and producer Mark Platt is available I’m sure we’ll get into that. But I don’t know who’s going to be directing it or who’s writing the script, so there’s so much left to be determined on that. There’s discussion about Aladdin, there’s discussion about a sequel to Enchanted, and apparently another Little Shop of Horrors movie is in the works at Warner Bros. I’m also working on an original project at Universal.
When you have time what music do you listen to?
I tend to listen to old classic rock or new records from old classic rockers, my contemporaries. My daughters are into pop music and I’ll listen to Beyonce’s Lemonade or listen to Adele. And I also listen to classical music a lot.
So many kids grew up listening to your songs. Going back to 1991 did you ever imagine that your songs from Beauty and the Beast and other Disney films would go on to become such classics?
I didn’t think about it. Intellectually I knew that it was likely that a generation would know my songs. None of us know how we’re going to be regarded as the years go by and I still don’t know. I know how I am at the moment because it’s a wonderful moment for me because there’s a generation of writers coming up whether it’s Lin-Manuel Miranda or Bobby Lopez – all people I’ve known since before they were well-known – and I feel like they’re my children. That’s certainly an emotion I never imagined feeling. But at the same time I’m still churning out stuff, and I’m not yet ready to be a patrician. It’s very moving to me when young people come up to me and they always say the same thing – “You wrote the soundtrack to my childhood”. All I was trying to do was make some money [laughs] and do a good job.
What was the soundtrack of your youth?
Fantasia. Early Disney. Some Broadway shows. I feel most nostalgic for old Pop music. Early Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dylan and the Kinks. But also classical music, because of Fantasia.
Source: flickeringmyth
Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast will hit theaters shortly. However, fans can get a preview of the film’s music, as the full soundtrack is streaming below.
Arrangements from the original film — done by veteran composers Alan Menken and Tim Rice — are included, as are all-new compositions featuring actors Dan Stevens, Emma Watson, Kevin Kline, and Disney’s first openly gay character portrayed by Josh Gad.
Piano Music and Silent Films: The Inseparable Duo
Once a movie ends, most of us talk about the visuals and the effects, but very few talk about the background score.
But the fact is that a good movie score complements the plot and heightens the emotional response of the viewer towards the narrative, without distracting the viewer from it.
Every film director/producer knows this, everyone knew that even during the era of the silent films. Live music, usually played on the piano, helped to create atmosphere and match the mood of what was on the big screen.
In fact, such was the impact of the accompanying music, by the peak of the silent film era, accompanying films was one of the largest sources of employment for musicians.
Here are some videos of silent movies featuring some amazing piano music accompaniment:
However, all that changed over time with the introduction of technology.
Once recorded sound entered movies, live accompaniment quickly became a thing of the past.
It was not that only music took all the brunt of this onslaught of technology, there were several aspects of film-making that underwent a sea-change with better technology at the disposal of filmmakers.
Fortunately, there are still a handful of musicians who compose and perform original music for silent movies.
The art is alive — but you have to look for it!
Philip Carli of Rochester, N.Y., has created piano compositions for more than 50 silent films and returns next weekend — at the invitation of Pittsburgh Filmmakers — to play along (live piano performance) with a screening of the 1923 comedy “Safety Last!” (starring Harold Lloyd). For more information about Pittsburgh Filmmakers’ film exhibition program, go to theaters.pittsburgharts.org. To learn more about Mr. Carli’s visit philipcarli.com.
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