I’m curious — for those of you who music-supervise your own projects or pick temp tracks…
What’s the very first emotion you listen for?
Is it tone? Heartbeat pacing? Tension? Vulnerability?
I’ve been curating a cinematic playlist for my own sync catalog, and I’m always fascinated by how differently directors describe the “feeling” they need before they even touch genre or tempo.
Would love to hear your take.
(And if you have a favorite scene where the music made the moment, drop it — I love studying those.)
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Create what emotionally moves you...regardless the style....chances are it will move others as well and those are always needed in scenes. Create the feel that inspires you and as the composer you then create sections or albums of your library of that theme which you can draw from. For example... Emotional Distant Piano. Dark Dramatic Piano, Uplifting Dramatic Piano etc. Oh so many favorite scenes....
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It's almost always about the feeling of the song. I will often play with different genres, tempos, moods, styles. If it's a sad scene, do I want ironically happy music? If it's happy, do I want to try a bit of melancholy? Etc...
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Doesn’t it depend on the emotional music scene within the movie? Or are you / we discussing making music without the video, Kat Spencer ?
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Doesn’t it depend on the scene which is going on?
In my short example with Harry Potter, the two characters are having a battle talk, so I created a back and forth minor chords before the other fight scenes started. The wand round move was discussed in class for a higher pitched sounds arranged to make it fit the scene. For this effect,
Less than 7– 10 seconds- It took about 1 hour - across the 4-6 instruments I used for this nice orchestration. The emotion is def mystic and
Light in this scene, before the different fight particles start throughout the short.
The very end of this piece … the music seemed off. - not connecting emotionally- and to my sense of finality. Then, I looked at some scores, in which the online teacher gave us from the actual movie .
I made a few corrections and it sounds a lot better.
I know I’m talking about my short example, they trying to share the emotions I put into it, as well as similar tips I had to do to make it decent.
Granted, the sounds are a little thin; this is due creating it within Dorico 5.1 Pro. I did best to use plugins to make it work before combing sounds w video in iMovie.
I thought the music made during the water scene made this moment. I tried to keep same sound into when the glass breaks - since close together.
The Gravity video sounds best over all; it’s on same playlist on YouTube and on my Services page on my website.
You asked to drop a video ! (Smiles)
https://youtu.be/sgyfczoStBA?feature=shared
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Hi Kat,
Bill from Tucson. I'm a writer/producer, not a musician or composer. Your question got me thinking about my film. (And The Pudgie Goes To). My term for the film is, music enhanced. There are 15 songs, only one an original. Your question made me realize, when I was choosing the songs, I was just like the composer/arranger. Each song was chosen for the mood and tone of the scene, but also with the overall tone of the film in mind. I don't know if it was easier because all the songs have lyrics, but i believe the lyrics put immediate emphasis on the mood.
The story is about a screenwriter struggling in Hollywood. After six years, he's still driving a beer truck in the shadow of the Hollywood sign. To give an example, the opening song is "I Must Let the Show Go On", by Three Dog Night. The lyrics ring out tragedy, mixed with dark humor, but the music has a playful circus atmosphere and with the background scenes showing the sights along Hollywood Boulevard, it does seem as if the whole thing is a circus.
Thanks to your question, I went back over every song in the film to see if I got the mood I was looking for. I believe I did. Great question!