The world of cinema is vast with many collaborators working together to create such an engrossing experience. But would cinematic classics be the as influential without a supporting score?
John Williams terrified audiences out of the water through the use of a semitone interval in Jaws and generated a mystical portal into the magical world of Harry Potter through a simple solo celesta leitmotif.
Oh and who could forget the disturbing brilliance of hearing the haunting dissonance of John Carpenters “Halloween Theme” indicating that Michael Myers was about to strike again!
In my many years of studying scores for film and tv I’ve learnt that the emotions conveyed through the score is as vital the audience experience as the visuals appearing on screen. A score doesn’t have to be overly complex to be effective in conveying emotions, but it often (with the rare exception) has to sync to the events occurring on the screen.
There are many different methods for syncing music to picture, including:
using sequencing software to calculate timings, using mathematic formulas and free timing to cue points in the visuals. Personally, I prefer the freedom of intuition allowed by the third option listed.
In order for the score to follow the movie action, the music must adapt and respond to the visual cues on screen - otherwise known as synchronization. In film scoring, the composer primarily writes music to enhance the emotional underpinning of a scene. To be effective at this, the composer must write the music in a way that is synchronized to each significant moment of the scene. If the music doesn’t sync, viewers can leave that experience as they begin to notice the music.
Essentially this means, the secondary job of a score composure is to be invisible. The score should integrate and enhance the scenes emotional drive so fluidly that the audience dose not consciously acknowledge it’s presence. It’s a tricky line to walk, that’s why often you find film scores with leitmotifs that aren’t overtly complicated but are extremely effective.
At the end of the day, the job of the film score composure is to touch people's hearts and minds. To create an atmosphere that conjures up the audiences own experiences and memories. A simple and effective way to do this is by choosing the proper musical key that expresses the characteristics of those emotions.
Luckily, I’ve done the hard yards for you and created a cheat sheet to help you out.
Click here > Link to sign up for E-mailing List to access Musical Scale - Emotions List and access to an exclusive tutorial on ‘Guide to Sync Music for Film Scoring’
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