Getting the Score

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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 [...]

As a director you have to be a storyteller, yes, but also a leader. And to be a leader who gets the most out of the people he leads, there is nothing better than walking a mile in their shoes.
That doesn’t mean I suggest you have to sit down and compose, but listening to what [...]

Today’s topic: Should the composer read your script? Well, sure, but not to write musical ideas from.
You know how it goes, you read a book and then you go see a movie and the movie is never like you imagined it. You had completely different ideas of what the characters looked like, etc…
A composer reading [...]