How Long Does It Take to Write Music for a Film?
When I look back to the films I scored, one thing is particularly clear. It is a complex and intense process. With many moving parts like changes in the “final” edit, recording small ensembles to big orchestras and the already tight schedule, this adventure needs to be planned quite precisely in advance.
To plan a project like this cohesively, it is good to know how much time needs to be invested.
Here is what I learned writing music for several films:
Writing music for a film can take somewhere between 2 to 3 months on average and it should rarely exceed that timeframe according to most industry experts. With that said, several factors will be taken into account to determine the length of the project.
To score music for a film is one of the most rewarding projects in my career. At the same time also the most demanding. Considerable time pressure, immense sleep deprivation (at times), and the ability to plan and set a fixed, flexible schedule for yourself.
In this article, I will give you a blueprint that you can follow to make the planning stage easier on you and to help you speed up writing the music for a film and being all-around more profitable in the process.
Let’s dive right in…
Learn to manage your time
This is the backbone of any film score project because it will determine how fast you can get work done. Your work hours should be sacred and you should avoid any unnecessary distractions. Some people make use of a system called Pomodoro, which is a set of 25-minute bursts of work with 5-minute breaks in between.
Becoming a master of time management is not only good for composers. It is also good for anyone that wants to be effective and efficient in any type of profession. Make sure that you collaborate with people who are good at time management. This is going to ensure that you are working with a team that will be highly efficient.
Watch the rough cut several times
Composers are usually given a shorter and unpolished version of the film that allows them to get an accurate idea of the score they will need to create. The scenes that require the most musical push are going to be the emphasis of this rough cut.
Watching this and taking notes on how you are planning to tackle the score is very important. If you are not given a lengthy rough cut, you are going to have a harder time creating a quality score.
Consider Expectations
One thing that is very risky is to create a film score without talking to the director about expectations. Some directors could tell the composer to come up with anything they feel is going to be ideal, but there are other directors who may be expecting a very specific type of score.
It’s a good idea to sit down with the director and his production team to watch the movie and discuss any expectations they may have. This is a great way to start the project once you have watched the rough cut and you have an idea of how to approach the film score. Also known as the spotting session in this industry. The spotting session will be crucial for the success of every music project.
Create a Moodboard
You are not likely to consider electric guitars for a film about the second world war, just like you are not going to decide on a big orchestra for a teen movie about parties and teen drama. Choosing the right kind of instruments for your movie will play a major role in how it affects the audience in terms of their mood. A mood board is going to be extremely helpful for that process.
Less is more when creating a score
There are some film scores that have become legendary for their simplicity and their incredible ability to set the mood. There are two examples that come to mind above everything else.
The first one is the main theme for jaws, which barely makes use of an orchestra to set the mood with nothing but 3 notes that play out through most of the piece. The second one is the main theme for Halloween, which uses a very simple ostinato that shifts keys but maintains the same pattern. Both of these scores have achieved iconic status just as much as the movies themselves.
Create a Demo aka Layout First
Depending on how well you know the director and if you might have worked with the production company before, there might be no need to create a super polished version of the score in the first round of layouts. It’s better to come up with a version that is good enough (which more often than not needs to be very good) to send to the director for approval. In my experience, it is far more important to have time with the director in the studio. That way you can actually see the directors’ emotional response to the music that you created. This is certainly not possible at all if you just send a link and have the editor and director listen to it maybe even on their phones. Directors certainly care about the emotional impact on them, but not the technical details of how you achieve it.
Final thoughts
The job of a composer is to create an emotionally impacting story of their own that underscores the story told in the picture. It has to be music that enhances the mood of the movie in every scene that calls for it. As we mentioned earlier, simplicity may be the best choice in many situations, while a more complex approach could easily be the ideal thing to do in others.
The main thing to keep in mind is that a good composer is going to take those steps in order to guarantee the best possible outcome for each project. Time is going to be a crucial part of a good project in many cases, so it’s always good to be ready to work efficiently.
