Is Composing Music For A Film Difficult?
A films’ music is one of the most important parts of a movie. And there is always a high demand for music that fits a story and narrative. If you considering getting into the business of film scoring, you for sure asked yourself the question, is composing music for a film difficult?
Here is what I know from scoring several films:
In general, composing music for a film is very difficult. However, creative storytelling abilities, how well the composer and director know each other, or if they have worked together before and the desired level of musical originality are all contributing factors.
Without the right music, a film is only half as good. And with good I mean, emotionally engaging and supporting the story. Music is the #1 factor of how a scene, yes, the whole movie is perceived. No wonder, that the top film composers today demand fees north of $1,000,000 per film. That number sometimes seems outrageous, doesn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, these A-List composers are worth every penny of it.
When starting out though, demanding fees like that, is not possible let alone the norm.
In this article, I will discuss what makes composing music for a film difficult, shed a light on what it takes to compose music for a film, and how you will be able to gain the experience necessary to reach your goal of scoring a feature film.
Let’s dive right in, shall we?
Why is composing music for a film difficult?
The reasons why it is difficult to compose (good) music for a film are diverse. The following 4 reasons being the main reasons emerging from my own experience of over 20 years in this industry and the research I conducted for this article.
1. Being Original
We all want to create original music that sets us apart from other composers that might compete for the same project. Even better, being chosen because of a distinctive style or tone in your music, right?
Of course! But it is harder than ever to do this. With the technology as far advanced as it is, where the editor can use any music for the edit and the ability to swap it out at any point in the editing and post-production process.
Now the composer has to compete against all and every music the editor, director, or producer gets their hands on. You know, the timeline to finish a score is very tight most of the time. Now you have two options. Go with the temp score or be bold trying a completely different approach. While this can be really rewarding, it is also a dangerous game. Why?
2. The Emotional Bond Between the Director and Temp Music
By the point you see the movie the first time, the director, the editor and producer might have seen it 10s if not 100s of times. With it, they, especially the director, also heard the temp score many, many times. The director now has quite a bond to the music and the emotional impact it has on his film and soul. So to go against the grain, present something completely different, or even trying to mimic the music that is used in the temp score is risky and uncertain. Both approaches and your opinion about it, can and need to be addressed in the spotting session. That’s what they there for.
3. Time constraints
That is probably the most asked question I get. “How do you compose music under pressure?” My answer is: First I couldn’t really do it, now it’s just part of the game. Composing music for film means you have to be creative and have a lot of output under high time pressure. While daunting, hard, scary for some, it’s driving my creativity. That means you can learn to make pressure your friend and use it for creative output. What plays into this is also, that in most cases when you start working on a film, the director has either moved on to another project or is just super busy putting the finishing touches on the edit, the soundstage, color, mix, etc. In my own experience, if you have two additional meetings on top of the spotting session, you had plenty of time with the director. Use it wisely and be prepared.
4. Finding the story behind the story
Being a good storyteller and translate this wonderful skill into music is hard. But also the one thing that can set you apart from anyone else. Your unique perspective on the narrative and the underlying, invisible characters in a film will set you apart. Nobody else would say it better than the Maestro himself as I asked in a forum about good books to read, Hans Zimmer wrote this:
Now that you know, what makes composing music for a film so difficult, it would be nice to know how you can make it a bit less hard, don’t you think?
Well, here you go:
4 Steps To Gain Experience Composing For a Film
While it is good to know, why it is difficult to compose music for a film, the solution most of the time is not very easy to obtain. Since a music school will not teach these kinds of things and the possibility of training on a real-life project is neither feasible nor recommendable, here are four quick tips on how to gain experience composing for a film.
1. Read and summarize a book about storytelling.
A great recommendation is anything by Joseph Campbell. For example The Hero’s Journey.
But any other great story, like legends or other fiction books, is very helpful for understanding storytelling.
2. Analyze music that you normally wouldn’t listen to
To get my juices flowing and never run out of new ideas, I created a system that lets me store music from Spotify, videos from YouTube, and websites with great music on them stored in one central place. I use Evernote, IFTTT, Instapaper, and Readwise to do this properly and automagically.
3. A Track a Day (in Only 30 Minutes For 30 Days)
Who doesn’t love a good challenge? I certainly do. To be consistent like this alone, without friends cheering you on and without accountability is very hard. So, if you’re interested to do this together, fill out this quick form. If enough of you wanna do this, we do it all together.
4. Steal the Essence of Music
Stealing is a harsh word. But, see I put “essence2 right behind it. What I mean with this is: Learn to listen to a track’s atmosphere, feeling, mood, beat, instruments, and so on and try to recreate the essential elements without infringing copyright.
By any means, this article is not meant to discourage you. Quite the opposite! If you read this and thought, “Oh I have most of that down”, good for you.
If you see yourself struggling in some of these domains, find your weakest areas, take the above-outlined steps, sit down, and learn it. All the philosophical and experiential skills discussed here you won’t get taught in music school. “On-the-Job” experience, making mistakes, and humility are the main factors that will teach you how to compose music for a film.