What are the stages of making a film score?

Answer 1

The stages of making a film score vary according to genre, production size and the director/produces style of work.

The answer to *when* to start working on a film score is the most varied. Some directors start working with a composer well before shooting begins, still in the pre-production stage. Some will write, re-write or add scenes to fit specific pieces of music. Other directors might choose to start working with a composer in the post-production stage, sometimes after the film is edited and the composer must fit his compositions to the all-ready edited film.

Generally, once a composer is hired to write the score for the film, the composer is given the script or the script treatment and starts working on musical compositions to suit each of the scripts sequences based on instructions received from the director. These instructions can include orchestration, style of music, emotional quality, rhythm and desired themes, depending on the director. Some directors leave the composer to his own devices while others take an active part in creative decisions and even the composing itself.

After a few days, week or months of work (depending on the film) the composer submits sketches (musical equivalent to drafts) of the musical compositions he or she has come up with. These are sometimes MIDI simulation of the composition, sometimes MIDI simulations played by Virtual Instruments (VSTi) or low-quality recordings of live instruments.

These composition are heard by the director (or anyone in-charge of the music department) and he will give his feedback.

If the film is still in pre-production stage the director will give general feedback based on the emotion or feel the music conveys and the composer will re-write the compositions and submit new sketches with the changes the director has requested (often more then once or twice).

If the film has all-ready been shot the sketches will be taken to the editing room to see how they fit into different sequences of the movie. This enables the director to see how the music and picture fit together and give more specific notes to the composer.

If at this stage there are still changes to be made to the score (this is the case more often then not) the composer will be given a Rough Cut (movie edited still in work) of the film to fit his compositions to both in timing and in feel.

Sometimes compositions go back and forth from the director/editing room to the composer many times before the final score is agreed on. Once this is the case the editor either edits the movie to fit perfectly with the pre-written score (all-ready recorded in high quality) or the composer waits for the Fine Cut of the movie (the final version of the edited movie) and then records his composition to fit perfectly with the edited movie. In case of orchestral music this is done by live playback of the movie on a screen inside a recording studio while a conductor (sometimes also the composer) dictates the tempo and accentuation desired to the musicians

In electronic or non-orchestral scores fitting the music to the film may be achieved by changing the BPM (beats per minute) of the composition or re-writing as much as needed to achieve synchronization.

Once the final score is recorded the music and film are joined together with sound effects, edited dialog, special effects and CGI to create the final product.