Getting the Score

How often can you change moods and how quickly?
That was the question that I posed myself as I worked on this film, and so I looked at the master John Williams for advice, especially his cartoony Indiana Jones scores, including my favourite of the four Indy scores: The Temple of Doom.
The answer is: pretty damn [...]

Saying that film music should not be heard is a simplistic statement that leads many down the wrong path of musical creation and mixing. (See this previous post.)
From a mixing standpoint, only when music is heard clearly can it properly add to the film.
And from a compositional and aesthetic standpoint, creating really boring music with [...]

The Hollywood Reporter posted their top 100 movie scores. The commentary on each score is also quite enlightening, not surprisingly written by Jeff Bond of Film Score Monthly.
This could almost be a list of the top 100 movies as well, which makes me wonder about the impact the musical score has to a film’s commercial [...]

In the DVD featurette about the music of Spider Man 1, Tobey McGuire says that Danny Elfman’s music is good because it is “not noticed” and that this is the best compliment you can give the composer of a film score.
I forget which great golden age composer it was who said something like “if music [...]

In last week’ s post, Scooby Doo showed us that melody is still an important asset to a production at any level.
One of the challenges is when to present your melodies and when not to. A common fear among directors is that melody will interfere with the dialogue.
Of course it is crucial for the dialogue [...]