Getting music that fits the tone.

I admire your ambition, Harmonica, but why not complete the script first?

What you do regarding the music is cut in temp music as a reference point for your composer; that's what the composer is supposed to do, satisfy your score requirements.

Thanks. It's easier for me to visualize the action if I know what type of music is with it as I'm writing. Cause then I know what tone I can write it in, if I know what musics are appropriate for what tone. My last script the action scenarios were not as complex or grey area, so I find these action scenes to be more challenging.

harmonica44 said:

For my feature, it's a dark thriller somewhat inspired by movies like United 93 and Blood Diamond.

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Congrats on script #396.

indietalk said:

Congrats on script #396.

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Well, to be fair, this IS the one Harm's been talking about for a while now. And rewriting is never a bad thing.

harmonica44 said:

For my feature, it's a dark thriller somewhat inspired by movies like United 93 and Blood Diamond. Now when you have action scenes, where several characters you care about are forced to fight to death to prevent from being killed, but are killed anyway, should I go for the slower dramatic music, or is fast action music, okay depending on the feelings of it's rhythm? When doing heavily dramatic and controversial scenes of violence, the music can make it more exploitative feeling, so I wanna be careful in what type I should choose.

Helping decide the music this far in advance will help me visualize the action better, as I write it as well.

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Either, both and neither are the answers. You can pull excellent examples out of film for all of them (Ink comes to mind for a movie that had slow, dreamy music during the action/fight scenes and it worked well. Great film in general, if you like fantasy). One of the things a film composer tries to do is to blend moods throughout a cue; starting off action music that transforms into sad dramatic music might be exactly what the scene needs.

That said, don't micromanage. Get an idea of what you think might work, and when the movie is done, give it to a composer. Let them know the ideas you have (temp score if you want, some composers have different opinions on that), and let them come up with their own ideas. They STUDY and work with the interaction between film and music. If you are writing and directing you have a thousand other things to think about, even if you are focused on the importance of music (music geek opinion: you should be), the composer will know more about it. They will definitely think of things that you don't; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but if you are too focused on the music that you have in mind when you wrote the piece, then you won't be open to something that might fit the realized film better, if that makes sense.

In my fledgling career I've run across lots of different types of directors. I do appreciate a director that has a general idea of what they want. Doubly so for those who can tell me what they do and do not like from rough drafts. My LEAST favorite is when the director says A, I think B would be better, so I do both, director says "no, no A" and then uses B in the final edit. *bangs head on desk*

JoshL said:

In my fledgling career I've run across lots of different types of directors. I do appreciate a director that has a general idea of what they want. Doubly so for those who can tell me what they do and do not like from rough drafts. My LEAST favorite is when the director says A, I think B would be better, so I do both, director says "no, no A" and then uses B in the final edit. *bangs head on desk*

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The worst directors are the ones who say "I don't like/want that" and when you ask what they do like/want all you get is "I'll know it when I hear it." That is the reason for close-ended contracts; they have to make a decision eventually.

Bang on Alcove.

For me the thing that separates a good director from a bad director is the ability to be decisive.

Harmonica44. The answer for you depends on the plot and the pace of the action and edit but from what you've described I would go with faster paced music that climaxed with slower dramatic music.
I know a scriptwriter who listens to film soundtracks while writing because it helps inspire him. Perhaps this would work for you too.

harmonica44 said:

Thanks. It's easier for me to visualize the action if I know what type of music is with it as I'm writing. Cause then I know what tone I can write it in, if I know what musics are appropriate for what tone. My last script the action scenarios were not as complex or grey area, so I find these action scenes to be more challenging.

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I can't even start writing until I have music that defines the tone of what I want. Once I've got that, I can sleep with it in my ears and generate ideas before touching pen-to-paper (literally, I use notebooks to organize my thoughts on the fly).

Also, thinking about Sound Design as you write can open an entirely new door in your scenes. So you're not wrong to think about it so early.

My advice would be too only let it guide you so that you can finish writing, but don't count on it being what you end up with in post.

Originally, I had intended to let scenes play with only sound design and ambient (city noise, etc) because I'm not a massive fan of soaking every moment in tunes. However, after the initial cut, the feature took a different shape and now I'm creating a score that's really odd but quite fitting as a collaborative effort with my post audio guy.

It's alright to figure out a tone first. And, we aren't the only ones that do it. Darren Aronofsky's the same way.


EDIT: Michael Allen said pretty much the same thing. Hahaha.

Michael Allen said:

Bang on Alcove.

For me the thing that separates a good director from a bad director is the ability to be decisive.

Harmonica44. The answer for you depends on the plot and the pace of the action and edit but from what you've described I would go with faster paced music that climaxed with slower dramatic music.
I know a scriptwriter who listens to film soundtracks while writing because it helps inspire him. Perhaps this would work for you too.

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I was thinking of going for that type too. Since it's a dark action drama about battling terrorists, for the fast music I was thinking of having the kind music you would hear in westerns, but with the sounds of the instruments changed to suite a modern gritty urban environment. Then the slow United 93 style music for the dramatic climatic action moments. Of course there will be more musics throughout but these would be my two main action tones if those work together.