TUTORIALS
Welcome to the Tutorials. Here you will find tutorials and articles about several topics regarding music, film music, composition and generally the work of a film composer. If you want to read more articles on the topics of film composition and orchestration, please consider joining me on Patreon.
What is the function of film music?
The function of music in the movies is a very wide field. Music can serve several purposes that are either important on the emotional side of the movie or help/enhance the…
Introduction to working with a Film Composer
The process of creating music for his/her movie usually is for a director a bit different than working with any other film department and often involves a lot of nervousness. The reason for this is the lacking control over the whole process. Usually, the director has a…
Finding the right composer for your movie
If you have worked with a film composer before and you were happy with the result, the first thing would be to ask him/her again if he/she feels up to it and has time. If – for whatever reason – you need to find a new film composer, there are several ways. Depending on what kind…
Know what the job of music is in the movie and be prepared
Before you hire a composer, think about what your movie needs. Watch movies in roughly the same genre/style as your own movie, listen to what the music does there and get a basic understanding of the musical stylistics of this genre…
The best film music for your movie might not necessarily be your favorite music
It happens quite often that inexperienced directors want to add music to their movie simply because they like it. For example they try to hire one of their favorite rock bands for their drama just because they think it is cool music…
A film composer’s job definition
There often is a misunderstanding about what is part of the film composer’s job and what isn’t which often leads to irritation and arguments and can also torpedo the whole financing concept of a movie if the composer’s job was defined wrong in the calculation…
What is an adequate time frame for writing the score?
The worst problem most composers suffer from is the tight schedule on their projects. Many composers sleep not more than 5 hours per night when there is crunch time which of course doesn’t allow to write the most creative music. The main problem often…
Have a vision about what the film music should be
Having a basic idea of what your movie needs musically is a very important thing when you enter the dialogue with the composer. There is that common misconception between directors that composers are happy when you just let them do their thing…
Spotting Session
The so-called spotting session is the meeting between director and composer where both watch the movie together. Usually, this is a great chance to find a concept and ideas for the film music in a mutual way and to avoid any misunderstandings…