What is Film Scoring and How to Write Music for a Film
by Academy Award-Winning Composer Michael Giacchino
Academy Award-Winning Composer, Michael Giacchino, has participated in a sheer array of films, and according to the composer himself, each one of these movie scores took a lifetime to write.
Be it the amazing Ratatouille, the high-octane pulsation of Speed Racer or the unexpected sadness and melancholia of Up, Giacchino’s orchestral sounds are not just logical additions to a motion picture — they are the epitome of the composer’s encyclopedic knowledge of the pop culture.
Every time the composer starts playing the first notes that will eventually comprise the score to a film like Star Trek, he’s tapping into his incredible affection for movies and letting it pour. What are those instincts, inspirations, and instrumentals that help composers discover the films they want to use in their feature film work? How do they know that arrangement at that specific moment would work that well?
Lesson 1: Always repeat
Film scoring is the art of writing original music to accompany a motion picture. The score comprises the film’s soundtrack, which oftentimes also includes pre-existing pieces of music and other orchestral arrangements that enhance the narrative and the storytelling factor of an audiovisual project.
Michael Giacchino won an Oscar for his work on Pixar’s Up, thanks mostly to the movie’s opening sequence, which provides a clear depiction of Mr. Fredericksen and his wife’s marriage. Composers think of film scoring as a delicate process. In this case, it is clear that the composer wanted to spend time showing the bright side of the couple’s life before setting the audience up to be completely shattered when the inevitable happens.
Film scoring and musical arrangements allow filmmakers to build an idea and a theme that might keep coming back in different ways throughout the film. The pivotal element, in the case of Up, was repeating the melody over and over, each time with a different orchestration and in a different key for altering the mood. As the couple age, the music changes its pace and beat, ending with the funeral of Mr. Fredericksen’s wife.
Of course, there is not a single approach to film scoring. On Up and the vast majority of his projects, Michael Giacchino has had the chance of composing chronologically; however, most composers agree that writing music for a film is definitely an emotional process. Whatever they write, they want it to be a proper reflection of whatever they feel at the moment.
Lesson 2: Do the opposite of what you’re supposed to do
Michael Giacchino worked alongside J.J Abrams in Super 8. The film’s original soundtrack includes memorable pieces, but it is “Letting Go” the piece that stands out the most. Super 8, being an Amblin movie, certainly should have the influence of John Williams: big orchestral arrangements; however, Giacchino opted for the opposite effect for this specific track.
If you recall the movie, the finale of the film shows the alien making it to his ship in a very emotional series of scenes. Normally, scenes like this are best accompanied by complex orchestral arrangements; however, Giacchino chose to underline this moment with simple lines of music, reaching a level of quietness that emphasizes the emotions behind the moving images.
Lesson 3: Be Adventurous
While working on Star Trek, Michael Giacchino had a tough time. In the beginning, and as mentioned in an interview, he was trying to appease what he thought Star Trek music should be. His initial work sounded kind of spacey — kind of what a project like this would sound like — , but after hitting wall after wall, the composer reached out to writer Damon Lindelof for advice.
It is said that Lindelof told Giacchino to forget he was making a Star Trek movie, and that he should focus on writing a score to a film that’s about two guys who meet and eventually become best friends. The composer, then, created a friendship-driven score by mirroring the relationships between the characters in the film.
Lesson 5: Give people the melody they want
Golden age composers were not afraid to come up with melodic lines and play them. In fact, melodic lines allow filmmakers and composers to introduce the audience an idea they can hold on to.
The vast majority of today’s films are built based on pure energy: let’s move the audience from point A to point B, which work to some extent depending on the project, but sometimes the audience wants something entirely different, and composers can give people something that lives on beyond the cinematic experience itself.
Writing music for a film is a key component under the overarching audio post-production umbrella. Many composers are the ones responsible for interpreting the ideas behind the script and for making every scene memorable. Be it a film or a TV show, music will always play a major role, and composers should always be provided with enough freedom in order to come up with the best possible score.
