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Scoring It Big: Adding Music to Your Film

Published on April 16, 2008

One of the most important elements in a film is music. It helps to tell the story, sometimes accentuating what is already on the screen and other times adding further to a scene.

If you make documentaries, you want viewers to sympathize with your topic. Music evokes emotion and can communicate the intended message often better than words. "If you take the music out of your film, it changes," said Nick O'Toole, a composer for several films including Robert Greenwald's Outfoxed.

On an empirical level, music can serve to define the location, time period and can parallel with the action on the screen. But, if used the right way, music can convey a feeling or add to aspects not implicitly in the film, such as foreshadowing.

A still from Power Up, directed by Sverre Fredriksen

"I try to find music that will emphasize the visuals, add meaning or set the right mood," said Sverre Fredriksen, director of the film Power Up, an official selection of the seventh annual Media That Matters Film Festival.

There are many possible routes a filmmaker can take when putting together the music for their film such as hiring a composer, using royalty-free music or creating their own film score.

Getting Started

"I have a very clear idea of the music/sound for my films from the start, as I believe it's just as important as the visuals," said Fredriksen. "So I start thinking about it in the pre-production stage."

As a first step, many filmmakers create a temp track, or scratch music, prior to choosing the actual music for their film. Since this is before the film is screened, any music can be used. This is to help the director, producer and possible composer get the general mood of the movie.

A still from Massacre at Murambi, directed by Sam Kauffmann.

"I usually try to create a temp track before I meet with a composer, otherwise he or she has no idea what I want," said Sam Kauffmann, director and producer of Massacre at Murambi, an official selection of the seventh annual Media That Matters Film Festival.

Copyrighted Material

Some filmmakers use pre-existing, copyrighted music in part or all of their film. Even if the film is not being distributed or sold, royalties must be paid on the copyrighted material. The process of getting rights should be started as soon as possible because it can take time.

To get the rights, the publisher of the song and the record company that released the recording of the song must be contacted. This contact information if often included in the CD booklet or can be looked up on The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' website.

The cost of this depends on many different factors. For example, Massacre at Murambi originally had some of Clint Mansell's music from the movie Requiem for a Dream as the film score.

"I went through the trouble and the expense of getting film festival rights from Mansell, his music publisher and the record company," said Kauffmann. "It took about two months of a lot of work and about 800 dollars."

As a result of his film's screening in the Media That Matters Film Festival, PBS's P.O.V., wanted to air Massacre at Murambi on the series. Kauffman ended up hiring a composer to write a new film score because television rights for Mansell's music were too expensive.

Commissioning A Composer

To avoid a copyright situation, another option filmmakers have is to hire a composer to write a custom film score. There are many advantages for a director to work with a musician to create the music for their film.

"A composer will create a tailor-made score," said O'Toole. "It will be something unique that no one else will ever have. Plus at the end, you own it." A director will get to critique the composer throughout the process and will actually get to sit there and customize the film score, O'Toole explained. "It's an amazing experience."

Once Kauffman decided to change the film score for Massacre at Murambi, he called his friend who teaches at Berklee College of Music, and was referred to a graduate student named April Thomas. "We met right away and I played the film for her--with the Mansell music. I explained what I'd tried to do, and why I thought certain things in Mansell's music worked," he said.

After Thomas took some notes, Kauffmann sent her off with a copy of the film stripped of the music. A few days later, the two met again so Kauffmann could hear the new composition. "She played the film for me with her tracks. I thought she'd done a good job, but it was pretty different from what I was used to hearing," he said. "So we went though each section and she explained what she had done and why. I made a lot of suggestions, and gave her my feedback on everything she'd done."

After their third meeting, the film score was taking shape to the vision that Kauffman had had for it. Thomas then arranged to have some musicians play strings and a sound engineer record the tracks. "I was confident that the quality of the film — the message it delivered — was the same, if not better, with the new score," Kauffmann said.

A still from Grace directed by Kathleen Hulka

Kathleen Hulka hired composer Nathan Terry, a music major at the University of the Arts, to write the score for her film Grace, also an official selection of the Media That Matters Film Festival.

"I communicate best visually, so when we met to watch the animatics and discuss my ideas for the score, I was at a loss for words," said Hulka. "Honestly, I don't know how I managed to communicate the feeling I wanted it to evoke, but somehow it got across."

Working with a composer is a process, something that takes time and clear communication to get right. "During the film's production, Nate sent me short clips of musical 'sketches' to get feedback and focus his direction. " she said. "As the end of production approached, I sent Nate a cut of the film with the final timing locked down. He went to work and about a week later handed me his creation."

The experience turned out to be very rewarding for Hulka. "Watching the two parts in harmony gave me chills and still does. I can listen to the music by itself now and feel the story and the pain unfolding."

Hulka, being a full-time college senior, was not able to pay Terry for composing her film score. "He basically worked for free dinner and beers," she said.

Cost should not be a discouraging factor in hiring a composer for a film score. "Someone will do it. [Film composing] is a very hard business to get into," O'Toole said. He explained that many up and coming composers would be willing to do a project for free for the practice and experience.

Also, sometimes even an established composer will do work for free or at a rate lower than their standard if they think the film is exceptional. "We're all looking for the next film to carry us for the next 20 years," O'Toole explained. "If you don't ask, you don't get." There are plenty of composers out there, it is just a matter of asking.

There are many ways that a filmmaker could connect with a composer. One way is to cold call agents. "They all have a few young guys without credits," O'Toole commented. Another option O'Toole mentioned is to contact well-known film composers for referrals, as many of them have younger composers working under them.

There is also Craigslist Los Angeles (or Craigslist near your hometown) and social networks such as LinkedIn.

Fredricksen suggests using the music of an independent band, as some would be willing to do it for a credit in the film. Many bands like this can be found on websites like MySpace and Facebook.

"Team up with talented musicians that are 'up and coming', starting out, or looking for more exposure," commented Fredriksen. "That way you can both benefit from each other: they will get good exposure if the film is to be screened publicly and you can get free music to use."

Royalty-Free Music

There are many companies that sell royalty-free music that once purchased can be used as many times as needed. The music is usually divided into broad categories like horror, drama, romance and comedy. Most of the companies offer whole albums on CD or for download for an average of around 100 dollars. Most also offer the purchase of individual songs, which can be as low as 3 dollars per song. Once the music is purchased, it can be used as many times as necessary without having to pay any royalties.

This can be convenient, as there is no need to worry about legalities or taking the time to sit down with a composer. However, some believe that this method takes away the artistic value of the film score.

"It just doesn't sit right with me. I can spot it a mile away," O'Toole said. He went on to comment that the interactive vibe between the director and the composer is important. "Why would you want to cheat yourself out of that?"

Kevin MacLeod, a musician who runs the website Incompetech.com, agrees that royalty free music does not compare to a custom film score. "Rarely does an existing piece of music exactly evoke the emotion and pacing of a scene," MacLeod said. "There is no substitute for a custom score. The cues start when they should, change as they should, and end where they should."

McLeod's music, however, which he offers for free through his website is different than royalty-free libraries because, as he states, "much of it was written with cut-outs for dialog, and most of it is mixed such that dialog can show through it clearly."

Although all of the music is copyrighted, MacLeod chooses to make the music free of charge in order to "give accessibility to quality music to people who can't afford it."

Making Your Own Music

Of course, if they have the ability, filmmakers can also make their own music. As long as the songs are original then there is no need to worry about royalties. A famous example is Halloween in which director John Carpenter also created the film score.

There are even computer programs that assist in creating a film score. "I've recorded various sounds and then experimented with them in audio software and in the end got a soundtrack that I was happy with," said Fredriksen. "I think it's nice to create something from scratch as it can be fitted perfectly to your needs and it will make the project more original."

Public Domain

There are also many songs that are in the public domain — meaning the copyright has either expired or the composer has given their creation to the public domain. All songs written before 1922 are in the public domain because their copyright term has expired.

However, there are no song recordings in the public domain, and this will remain so until 2067. This is because 1972 US copyright act officially published all sound recordings in existence, enacting 75 years of copyright protection for every sound recording created in 1972 or earlier. Then, in 1998 the Copyright Term Extension Act extended all copyright protection an additional 20 years. For more information on public domain music, visit the Public Domain Information Project website

This means that a filmmaker cannot take a random recording of Beethoven's Fifth and put it in their movie without paying royalties to the musicians who recorded it. The filmmaker must either find a recording of it and contact the artist or record company and work out a royalty-based contract or hire someone themselves to record the song.

The Final Product

Whatever method is used to add music to a film, it is essential to keep the artistic vision of the film intact. An effective film score will only improve a movie, and help to make the strong parts even stronger. It will help uplift the emotional moments and drive the point of important lessons that the audience should leave with.

"One of the most exciting parts of filmmaking is hearing your film with its score for the first time," said Hulka, "Sound makes visuals come alive and the impact — good or bad — that audio can have on the experience of a film should never be underestimated."