Episode 01: What To Write?

In this podcast episode, Karl Irwin discusses the process of writing film scores. He emphasizes the importance of delivering on the filmmaker's vision and adapting to their preferences. There are two types of filmmakers to work with: those who don't do music and rely on the composer's interpretation, and those who know music and have a specific vision in mind. The latter may provide a temporary score or reference material for the composer to follow. However, there is also a third category of filmmakers who may not have a clear understanding of music and express what they don't want rather than what they do want. Understanding the filmmaker's vision and the core message of the film is crucial for composers to create a suitable score. Hello, I'm Karl Irwin, and this is Spotting Cues, a podcast for amateur film score composers. So I'm an amateur film score composer. I'm a professional musician, I'm actually a music educator, an instrumental music educator and a composer. For my background, I went to school for music education, and I did my master's work in music composition. I write concert works for a variety of different types of ensembles, but I also do my share of film scoring. I tend to write for student projects, short films, and I'm always looking for projects to do on the side. I don't really make any money on that, it's just something that I do kind of as a side hobby using my professional skill sets. I've been doing that for about 20 years, I've been teaching for about as long as well. So what we're going to be talking about today is what to write. What to write. A very good-fitting kind of first episode, what do you write? How do you decide what to write? How do you determine exactly what kind of music is going to work with a particular kind of picture? So this is a kind of a complicated topic, because ultimately we as film composers will give up a whole lot in this question to the will of the filmmaker. And this brings me to the first point, which is the number one goal. The number one goal in writing a film score or soundtrack of any length and any type, and that is to deliver on the filmmaker's vision. So we need to deliver on the filmmaker's vision. This is not really about delivering on our vision of the filmmaker's film, although we'll talk about that in a little bit. The ultimate goal is to deliver on the filmmaker's vision, and that might mean that you're writing music that you otherwise wouldn't choose to write on your own if you were just going to write music. You need to write music that is going to satisfy that vision, whatever it is. So this brings us to the filmmaker's philosophy, and in my experience over the years in working with particularly young filmmakers, I've found, and I assume this actually continues on to very seasoned filmmakers, but I've found kind of two types of filmmaker that it can be a really good experience to work with. The first one, which is fairly rare, I will say, that is the filmmaker that says, not really overtly, but their philosophy is that they don't do music. That's what they hired you for, right? They don't do music. They hired you to do music. They don't really know what the conventions of music are at any appreciable level. They hired you to handle that, and this is a truly collaborative kind of relationship. They do the film. They direct the acting. Obviously, they will direct the music to a great degree, a significant degree, but ultimately they will admit up front that they don't do music. They hired you to do the musical interpretation of their picture. Very rare. I've had that happen a few times that a composer will come right out and say that. I respect this a great deal. There are actually a lot of filmmakers out there today and have been out there for a long time through the history of film that are considerably like that. If you look at the pairing of Steven Spielberg and John Williams or George Lucas, John Williams, pretty much anybody John Williams works with, these people really leave it to him to determine what is the voice of music in the picture to a degree, to a degree. Now, in some of those cases, you'll see that there is some preparation behind the scenes where it seems like the composer was able to determine what the voice of the music is, but really they were following temp scoring, and that brings me to the second philosophy. So the second philosophy, the first one being I don't do music. That's what I hired you for. The second possible philosophy for the filmmaker would be I know music and this is what I want. And I see this a whole lot more frequently. I know music and this is what I want. That is when the director says I know what music can do and I know what it can do for my picture and I can tell you what I want you to do in terms of original scoring to accomplish that end. This is far more frequent and I know some composers don't like this. They hear the term temp, temp music, temporary music, and they kind of shudder. There's a lot of debate about someone like I mentioned George Lucas a minute ago. And, of course, you think about Star Wars and John Williams. Whereas George Lucas certainly left a lot up to John Williams. The fact of the matter is on the early pictures, on the very first movie in particular, it was heavily temp scored. There was a temporary scoring using classical pieces and romantic pieces, existing literature, that John Williams would go on to score almost exactly where he was taking the textures and even the pitch collections of those temporary tracks, that classical romantic music. And then he was gluing it together using the conventions of music to put things in the same key, to give proper modulation, to get from one idea to another. But otherwise he was using the same orchestral textures and even the same pitch collections to accomplish the film score we know as Star Wars. And that is why you can listen to Star Wars and you can find music that is really a direct knockoff of, you know, Stravinsky and Brahms and, you know, Holst and all these other classical and romantic composers. So there is that kind of approach. Again, I think some composers are afraid of that. I'll give you my feeling on that. I am very, very happy, personally, whenever I run into a filmmaker that says, I know music and I know what I want, this is what I want, and here's a temp track. Because when I get the temp score, a temp track, it means that I don't have to guess. I know what they're after. I have a really, really good template to follow. I can now rest on my understanding of the conventions of music to adapt the temp score that they've provided into an original work that will suit the needs of their picture. And I know that we'll be on the same page because they've provided me with a significant amount of information. For this to work, you need a temp score or perhaps you would need at the very least relevant reference material. And that is to say that the filmmaker says, here is a scene and I'm thinking about this music from this other movie or this music from this work, and they provide that to you. And it may not be synchronized in any way or cut into the picture, but at least you have a reference and it is a relevant reference. Meaning that if you write music like that and you score it to picture so that it synchronizes properly, it is very clear that you will have accomplished the vision of the filmmaker. Okay? So that is the second one. Now let's go back to the first one, and that is I don't do music. That's what I hired you for, right? That you can have a filmmaker that has that kind of view. In this case, the concern that I have is that I need to now know what is this movie about? What is this movie about? And I need to know it at the deepest level possible. I need to know really what is the core message that the filmmaker is after. And then from there, I need to branch out and understand the subtleties that are being portrayed in various scenes that are occurring, various shots, various scenarios in the picture so that I can then rely on my conventional understanding of music, particularly Western music if that's suitable, to then apply those conventions as they normally would be understood for that meaning that the picture is about. So, for example, if I have a filmmaker that is creating a film that's very Hitchcockian, and they say this movie is very Hitchcockian, right, very much like a Hitchcock picture, and it deals with paranoia and isolation and psychological thriller kind of matters, I know that I can rely and rest upon that vocabulary of music. And I know that I can draw from that to score the picture. And I probably will hit it relatively on the mark, not only in terms of the filmmaker's vision, but in terms of what the audience expects to hear to support the picture. Okay, so there's these two. I don't do music, that's what I hired you for, in which case I need to know what is the picture about at the very deepest level possible, and then I need to be upfront about what I think the conventions of music are that satisfy that meaning, and I need to get that out in the open as soon as possible, right? The second one being I know what music does and what it is, and I know music, and this is the music that I want, in which case I would be expecting and requesting temp score or relevant reference material to go along with various scenes and scenarios. There is a third category, which is the scary one. This is the scary one that I have had some experience with over time. I've had a couple of times where I've run into this kind of filmmaker, and that is that they, what they really mean, no matter what they say, they might say that they don't do music and that's what they hired me for, or they might say they know music and this is what they want, but what they really mean, what is really happening there is this statement. I like music, and I know what I don't want. Let me say that again. I like music, and I know what I don't want. So, this is the kind of filmmaker that may provide some reference music. It's unlikely that they will temp score a picture, or if they do temp score a picture, they'll put in temporary music, and they'll say, I want this kind of music, but I want it to be in a completely different kind of instrumentation, right? Which means that they really don't understand. Likely, they don't really understand music well enough to even be asking such a thing. This is kind of, this is very scary territory, right? So, they may give you some reference music, and the reference music will be music that they like. They saw a movie, and they liked this music from that movie, or they saw, or they listened to an album, and they liked the music from this album, and maybe at some subtle level, that music has some relevance to the picture they're making, but it's really, really far stretched out, or it's not well defined, okay? So, they're referencing music that they like, but it may not have relevance to the picture that they're doing. They like music, and they also know what they don't want, but they otherwise are unable to explain what they do want. And again, I've had experience with this a couple of times, and this sort of premise can masquerade as one of the other two more straightforward starting points. Now, what do you do? What do you do in this situation? Well, I'll have to be honest with you, and both times when I discovered this, a couple times I've dealt with this, when I've discovered this happening, I won't say it didn't go well. It eventually went fine, but it really was a tough slog, and there were a few things I had to try to finally get to a place where we had some acceptable music. I'm not sure that we ever really got exactly what they wanted, because again, I'm not sure they really knew what they wanted. I think they knew what they didn't want, but they weren't really able to, or took the time to possibly, I don't really know, to establish what they wanted, to really kind of ask the tough questions and sift through music as a genre of art, and really understand the language and how they, what kind of vocabulary they wanted on their picture. These are the things I tried. This is what I suggest. The process without intervention can turn into just throwing paint on a wall and seeing what sticks, and that's something you don't want to be doing, because what it means is that you'll be writing an awful lot of music that goes to the cutting room floor. It might be very good music. It might even be music that, from your understanding, or the understanding of anybody else watching the picture, would be very, very appropriate, but it doesn't satisfy the director's vision, and that's because they can't identify, and they can't settle on their vision. You don't want to be doing that. You're going to be very frustrated writing a lot of music, spending a lot of time on the score, and falling short over and over and over again, even though you're doing diverse things, right? First of all, I think that this often occurs because the filmmaker, in their mind, they like music, but they don't actually know music. In their mind, because they like music, they know music, but they don't really know it. They really don't know the vocabulary. They merely enjoy some vocabulary, but they couldn't necessarily say why at a deep level, and that's most people, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that. I think the goal is to try to convince them that they actually fit into one of the other two categories. I think it's easier to go for the second. That is the, I know music, and this is what I want. I think it's more productive to try to hold the filmmaker's hand and bring them to a place where they do know what they want, and they can identify it, and they can spell it out, and you put kind of the weight on them to do that before you continue the process of writing. How do you do that? So, one, the first idea is to give early examples based on a script and rough footage. You should do this no matter what. So, it doesn't matter what philosophy you're coming from, whether they don't do music and they hired you for it. You should be giving early. I think it's wise to give early examples based on script. Just simple sketches with relatively full instrumentation, but very short excerpts, thematic ideas or atmospheric ideas, if that's the music they're going for. Just kind of the vocabulary. You just need to identify what kind of vocabulary, what instrumentation are we using? What is the general mood at different points in the picture? And then come up with examples for that. If you can get some rough footage, it's uncut, and I have found that filmmakers are reluctant to give rough footage out early because they're afraid that you're going to do work and that you'll be upset when it gets cut, or when the picture gets cut and you have to rethink. So, early on, I say, look, it doesn't matter. I'm just trying to find vocabulary. This is not, I'm not trying to score the picture and finalize anything. I just need to know what words are we speaking in and what language. So, if I could get some rough footage that I can just score a little excerpt to so that you can say, yeah, this is like what we're after. And then that way I can wait. I know that I have it and I can wait until we get closer to a picture lock before I start putting a lot of effort into writing. So, I explain it in that way. So, give early examples based on script and rough footage to try to get some approval. Along with that, I highly recommend that you give explanation. If you're transferring files digitally, you might add a note or an email that explains what you're doing. So, that way when the filmmaker watches your example or listens to your music, they're thinking the way that you're thinking. Some of what we're doing here is actually convincing the filmmaker that what you've chosen for language is appropriate and is a good interpretation. Ultimately, again, you want their vision, but you might need to help them find their vision if you're in this rough spot where they don't really know what they want. So, giving an explanation can either help them understand where you're coming from and help them accept your strategy, but it can also help them to better identify what they want, which may not be what you did. And there's, that's okay. They might be able to respond if you give an explanation, say, okay, that's not the approach I'm actually after, what I really want, and then they'll give you a response. And that is helping them to better identify that they do know music and they do know what they want, and they can give you an example for it. Okay. So, early examples based on script and rough footage. Give explanation whenever you give those files over for review. The second thing is to very directly ask the director to temp score the picture. Tell them this is something that is good. Tell them this is something that composers really do want, that it's not offensive for them to put in a temporary score that they would prefer you to emulate. Tell, you know, you want to convince them and explain to them that this is actually a good thing and something desirable, something that would be good for them and good for you. And tell them, the way I try to explain this whenever I ask for temp score, is I only want them to use music that would absolutely satisfy the picture, if only it was legal to use that music, right? So, the problem with a temp score is that they can't just take music from some other picture, from some other source, and use it because it's illegal, right? You can't pirate music in that way and then use it. There's copyright issues and there's mechanical rights that are part of that, and you can't just do that. However, in behind-the-scenes, they can certainly temp track, temp score the film with music from other pictures, because that's not going to be released. It's just an internal kind of way in which you're communicating with one another. So, I explain, I want them to temp score the picture, but they should use music that absolutely would satisfy their wishes. That if they could score their picture using existing music, and then that would be the score for the picture, they should use only those kinds of sources. You want to avoid those situations where they're temp scoring the picture and saying, like I alluded to earlier, I want, this is the temp score, but I want you to do this with a different instrumentation. You don't want them to do that. You want to compel them to pick music that absolutely would satisfy that section of film. If they have something that is like what they want, but a different instrumentation, I would come back to them and say, maybe you should look at these composers and this music or this music library and pick some music from here, because this is what you're describing. And then they can determine from that if that is actually what they want or not. But compel them to temp score the picture with existing music. This then puts you into that second category where they know music and they know what they want. This way you can get a temp score and you can say, OK, now we're clear. We've agreed on the terms here. This is the style. This is the instrumentation. This is the vocabulary. Now it's up to me to make this original and create something that is unique to your picture, but is speaking this language. OK, so ask them to temp score it, but use only music that would absolutely satisfy the picture if only it was legal to use that music. OK, if they could score the picture with any music in the world and it would be legal to do so, they should use that for the temp. And lastly, I would say I think it's really, really important on this subject of what to write to head off misunderstandings in early meetings. You want to head off any potential to have misunderstandings down the road in your very earliest meetings, your introductory meetings, maybe before you've been approved to do the picture, before you've been, you know, quote, unquote, hired, whether you're doing it for money or not, or if it's the first development meeting. I like to explain a couple things at the very beginning. I usually explain some terms like Mickey Mousing versus emotional scoring and that these two things are not the same. I've found filmmakers know some of this jargon, but they don't really know how to use it properly and they don't know what it means. I've been accused at least once or twice, you know, in writing music for a particular scene of Mickey Mousing. And I've had to explain, well, that's not Mickey Mousing. What you're really talking about is emotional scoring, because I'm scoring to the emotional response, either the different perspectives. There could be the perspective of the audience member, what is it that they're supposed to read into this? Or from the perspective of the actors, what is the emotion that they are portraying? And then there's a third one, which is the emotional perspective of the director, in which case they've given specific direction, okay? But emotional scoring can be mislabeled as Mickey Mousing. When you are scoring kind of directly to a narrative of emotion, that can feel like you are hitting point for point some kind of action, but you're not. Mickey Mousing really is whenever you're doing things, you know, a character goes upstairs and there's music that goes up. A character is going down or they fall off a cliff and there's music that goes down. There's a big whack that happens, slapstick kind of whack that happens in the picture, and you give a musical whack to go along with it. That's Mickey Mousing, and I try to educate filmmakers at the beginning of the difference between the two, and that heads off a lot of misunderstanding so that they can be very upfront about what is the emotional context of the picture they're making. Do they want me to play directly to an emotional narrative, or do they want this music to be more ambiguous? Do they want it to be more atmospheric? Do they want there to be more of a psychological cliffhanger going on here in terms of what is the emotional grounding, and I allow them to understand my concept of that early, right? The second thing is that I describe music to the filmmakers so that they can get my philosophy. I describe music as a strong support for the picture. Music is a strong support for the picture. It is not something that the picture is competing with. I find particularly with young filmmakers, and I guess I'm assuming it has to do with a lot of discussion that happens that's kind of sophomoric level of filmmaking that happens in school, in the classroom, where there will be discussions about music getting in the way, you know, these terms Mickey Mousing and music getting in the way, or another common term is music taking somebody out of the film or taking them out of the picture. So, these terms can really sway a filmmaker, particularly a young filmmaker, to reject a lot of music that is otherwise very suitable for their picture. So, the way I try to head this off is I explain that music is a strong support for the picture, and the best way to have a strong support for the picture is to have strong, relevant music that can be the strongest support for the picture. And I think if you can explain this early, you'll reduce the number of occasions where you write good supporting music that does otherwise fit their vision and you know would work well and support the vision that they've described to you, but that they ultimately reject out of fear and concern that the music is getting in the way or the music is taking the viewer outside. Explain that music is a strong support for the picture. It is not something that competes with it. There is a lot of misunderstanding among filmmakers that music is competing with the picture, but that is not the case. That's not how it should be. The music should be relevant to the picture. It should fit the vision of the filmmaker, but it should be strong, well-written music, and that serves as the strongest support to the picture. So, I like to have that conversation at the very beginning. I explain these terms early, and I explain my philosophy, and then that helps considerably. Now, we're not talking about the mix, whether or not the music is mixed very low, whether it's the more important thing or the least important thing, if there's sound effects going on, if there's additional atmospheric effects that are added to the picture. That's a whole other ballgame, a whole other topic of discussion for this podcast. What we're really talking is about the music getting used versus not getting used. We're talking about writing music that is worth writing, that is going to be used in the picture in some capacity, and will be used in the way in which it was intended by the composer to be used. One thing you want to avoid, just for your own sanity, is getting into a position where you're writing a lot of music, and the music is just getting jumbled around into a lot of places. You don't need to worry about that. If that's what the filmmaker wants to do, it's their film, and it's their prerogative to do such a thing. But it seems to me, and as I've had conversations with filmmakers over the years, it seems to me that you're in a better place if you can get on the same page in terms of the vision, so that you're writing good music that is relevant and appropriate for the scene in which it will be associated with in the final cut of the film. That's a much better place to be. You get more clarity, I think, in the artistic vision if you can get to that place. So, quick recap. First of all, the number one goal is to deliver on the filmmaker's vision. Two types of filmmakers you may run into. The first one is more rare, but it does happen, and that's when they'll say, I don't do music, that's what I hired you for. That is truly, extremely collaborative, where they're really giving you a lot of free reign to deal with the music and set the vocabulary and the tone. When you're in that situation, you need to know what the film is about at an intimate level. It's your job to figure that out and to interview the filmmaker to understand that, and then to give early examples so that they can understand how you're thinking about their picture, and bring them to a point where they do know the music that at least is in their picture. The second philosophy is the one where they don't know music, and they'll readily admit they, or rather, they do know music. They say, I know music, and this is the kind of music that I want. They might give you a temp score, or they give you relevant reference material. Do not run away from this. Do not feel bad about this. Do not shy away from this. This is a very, very good place to be. You are trying to satisfy the number one goal, as we said, which is to deliver on their vision, and if they give you a temp score, that is as close to their vision as you can get in understanding it. So, there's nothing to see here, and everything is going to be just fine. Do your best, then, to emulate that temp score to the best of your ability, and to create something original, but also very faithful to the reference that they've provided. And then the third category, which is the scary zone, and that is when, really, their perspective is that they like music, and they know what they don't want. And you want to try to mitigate the problems that can happen in that situation. Do that by giving early examples based on script and rough footage, so that you can get early understanding. And then second, ask the director to temp a cut of the film. Use temp score for the cut of the film. Help them find, you know, royalty-free libraries, so that they can temp cut it, temp track it. Talk about other films that are... Ask them what other films are like your picture. Is your movie like some other films that are out there? And then talk about that music, and say, if your film is like that picture, then this is the kind of vocabulary that would fit. Is that what we're after? Try to get them to nail down a kind of reference music that would satisfy their picture. And then, when you ask them to temp it, make sure you're asking them to temp it with music that would absolutely satisfy the picture, if only it was legal to use that music for their final product. They should use temp tracks that really nail their vision. They should be looking for that kind of music, so that they can be clear with you. Those are the best ways, I think, to deal with those situations. And then, of course, as I said at the beginning, that vision really matters. So, head off misunderstandings early, in early meetings. Explain your philosophy. Explain what music does in a movie as you see it. And allow them to speak and explain what they think music should do in a movie as they see it. And be listening. And try as best you can to adapt to their vision. It doesn't mean you have to adopt their philosophy, but you will need to adapt to their vision, because it's their vision that matters the most. So, make sure you're up front about philosophy. Listen to what they're saying. Understand it. Repeat it back to them to ensure that your comprehension is accurate. And then, get to work. So, with that, best of luck with this. And happy composing.