The Fi Hall of Fame: A Brief History of Film Music - Film Independent (2023)

FAQs

What is the first film score? ›

Camille Saint-Saëns' 1908 score for “L'assassinat du Duc de Guise” was the first original film score composed. “Talkies” soon appeared, and music formed an integral part of the sound track along with dialogue and sound effects.

A film score can also help convey emotion, such as sadness or happiness, without the need for words from the characters. In movies without a lot of dialogue, a well-written score can help set the tone and let people know what kind of scene they're watching.

For festival rights, most songs can be cleared at around $500 per side. Meaning $500 for the publishers, $500 for the master. If you don't have enough money in your budget to pay for all the rights up front, you can clear only the film festival rights and add an option to get all media rights up to two years later.

Package Deals

For a studio feature, composers may be paid $60,000 to $250,000 for a low budget film, $250,000 to $350,000 for a medium budget film and $400,000 to $2 million for a high budget film. Ultimately, it depends what has been budgeted for the music and composition aspects of the film.

The root is a Norse word “skor” meaning “incision”, referring to cuts made on a stick so that a tally can be kept. Twenty cuts fills the stick, so the older English term “score” meaning “twenty” comes directly from this. “Four score and seven years ago” is 87 years ago.

1. Star Wars (1977)

Film music can provide certain descriptive cues that improve our understanding of the narrative within the film. We can rely on these cues to boost our emotional response to the visuals on screen and therefore interpret the specific emotions that are being inferred.

Music in film serves several functions. Among them, it helps shape emotional responses, creates a rhythm to scenes and segments, and comments on the action. Music is often crucial to the experience of a scene and, in some cases, becomes as iconic as the movies themselves.

The music builds tension and holds the audience's attention. For example, the music in thrills, action films and horror films is composed with suspenseful music. Tension building is created by the use of instruments that are played loudly or quietly at specific times.

When a song is used in a movie and the movie is played in theaters in the US, songwriters and publishers don't get any performance royalties. BUT…. if that same movie is played in theaters outside the US or on TV, then the songwriter and publisher receive performance royalties.

What is the most expensive copyright? ›

It's actually THE most expensive song to license. So what is it? It's AC/DC's “Thunderstruck”. The producers of “Varsity Blues” paid $500,000 to use it, and that was all the way back in 1999.

Do you NEED a degree to be a film composer? No, absolutely not - and honestly, nobody in the business wants to see your degree.

A: The standard composer deal is that you agree to sell the copyright to your music to the studio or production company in exchange for the ability to collect 100% of the writer's share of performance royalties (backend royalties), which you can collect through ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR.

Keep a record of who owns what and how you can use it. Void of any agreements or contracts, composers generally keep the rights to their creations. Even with buyouts or work-for-hire, composers are often still entitled to the writer's share of performance royalties, unless their contracts specify otherwise.

Threescore used to be used for sixty, in the way that we still use a dozen for twelve, and (occasionally) score for twenty. The use of threescore as a name for sixty has long since died out but is still remembered in this phrase.

Lincoln's address starts with “Four score and seven years ago.” A score is equal to 20 years, so he was referencing 87 years ago — 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

A 'score' is a group of 20 (often used in combination with a cardinal number, i.e. fourscore to mean 80), but also often used as an indefinite number (e.g. the newspaper headline "Scores of Typhoon Survivors Flown to Manila").

Almost all programs for film scoring in the US and abroad are at the Master's degree level only. Two exceptions do exist though, the Berklee College of Music in Boston as well as the Musician's Institute in Los Angeles, which offer undergraduate degrees.

What does scoring a movie mean? ›

What Is a Film Score? A film score refers to the original music that accompanies a film. In most cases, movie music is written by a film composer hired for the production. The movie score heightens the film's emotion, creating an aural mood for each scene, along with sound effects and dialogue.

The tone of the film is essentially the way it feels. It's the vibe, the personality of the piece as a whole or of a particular scene. It's usually a good idea to create a consistent tone throughout a piece, or at the very least be aware of it, so you can regulate the tone as needed.

Mood is how the author wants the reader to feel, as a result of reading (or watching) their work. The mood of a piece might be funny, sad, creepy, cheerful, nostalgic, curious, and so on. Tone is how the author — or, in fiction, the narrator — feels about their subject matter.

Among the important characteristics of film music is providing a narrative of the scenes, communicating elements of the film setting and emphasizing the psychological states of the characters, as well as delivering a collective emotional tone or mood to the viewer.

What are Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Music? Film music and movie soundtracks can be described as being either diegetic or non-diegetic—both derived from the literary term “diegesis.” Determining whether a piece of music is one or the other comes down to the context in which it is used.

To build suspense, you could also alternate between major and minor chords and clashing chords to confuse the audience. It's also a good idea to add delay or reverb to add mystery and create an atmosphere.

Sound Effects

For example, distant creepy movements and eerie haunting winds that are played in the background are what build up the spooky atmosphere. Sound effects that mimic human fear, including pulsing heartbeats and slow and heavy breathing, also increases the level of scariness.

a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome, usually accompanied by a degree of apprehension or anxiety. a state of mental indecision.

The first musical film, The Jazz Singer (1927), starring Al Jolson, introduced the sound era of motion pictures. It was followed by a series of musicals hastily made to capitalize on the novelty of sound.

What are three famous pieces of film music? ›

Starting with music can create an overall rhythm for a film that's understood well before the cameras start rolling. Additionally, editing scenes can be easier since there's no need to edit to a temporary track: the track used is the actual finished music.

Before the history of music, came the history of cinema. The evolution of cinema began in 1888, with the French inventor Louis Le Prince, who made a short film – Roundhay Garden Scene, which was just about 2.11 seconds long, yet technically a movie.

Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate "production numbers".

Film music and movie soundtracks can be described as being either diegetic or non-diegetic—both derived from the literary term “diegesis.” Determining whether a piece of music is one or the other comes down to the context in which it is used.

As music can tell the story and explain the plot, filmmakers use it very carefully to build the tone and mood of a film. Also, music is used to expose feelings of characters, actions, tensions, and even horror. Music can create a convincing atmosphere for the situation and can turn a good film into a great one.

Instrumental music is an integral part of human life in many different ways. It is used at a number of important events in people's lives including weddings, graduations, and funerals to name a few. Whether it be because of tradition or the comfort it gives to us, music is present.

Music in film serves several functions. Among them, it helps shape emotional responses, creates a rhythm to scenes and segments, and comments on the action. Music is often crucial to the experience of a scene and, in some cases, becomes as iconic as the movies themselves.

Pacing and timbre

The timbre of a piece of music is basically the tonal colour, or quality of that music. You can think of it in terms of how certain instruments inherently sound. For example, you may wish to describe sounds as brassy, bright, dark, scratchy, harsh, warm, mellow, peppy, heavy, light etc.

What is the term for a music theme which represents a character or a place? ›

A leitmotif is a repeating melodic phrase in music that is used to represent a character, setting, emotion, or theme.

An assemblage of songs - a so-called "soundtrack to your life" - is like a roadmap looking backward on the major milestone that got you to where you are today. By looking backward, they can serve to help you see the path you are on going forward.

Musical Concepts. Music is patterns of melody, rhythm, harmony, tempo/dynamics, and timbre combined to create repetition, variation and contrast. We use these patterns to create music and we respond emotionally and intellectually to our perceptions and interpretations of these patterns of music.

What is the purpose of attaching a recurring theme to a particular character or emotion? By adding an aura of feeling around a player music can reveal the nature of that person. Adds character. What famous piece of classical music is used in the movie Platoon to express sadness and anguish?

Scores are written by one or more composers under the guidance of or in collaboration with the film's director or producer and are then most often performed by an ensemble of musicians – usually including an orchestra (most likely a symphony orchestra) or band, instrumental soloists, and choir or vocalists – known as ...