What Does It All Mean?

Score

Music created for dramatic purpose. The term relates to “scoring”—writing musical notation—which one indeed does, especially if the production can afford an orchestra. The term does not include source music or songs, such as those used in a film montage. The complete body of a film’s music is instead called the soundtrack.

Source Music

Music that has a rational justification within the film—unlike the dramatic and emotional function of the score. Specifically, this means music whose source one sees, senses, or at least believes to exist (unlike the thousand violins on the boat of a drifting castaway). For example: music from a radio, a television, or a song played by a pianist on a nightclub stage. Source music may be licensed, but can also be custom-written by the composer. Sometimes it even costs more than the entire score. Especially if it’s by Taylor Swift.

Cue

A piece of music with a clear start and end. A film score may have over a hundred—or fewer than ten—cues, depending on the film’s length, tone, and the director’s vision. Cues can last a few seconds or be as long as a symphonic poem (like John Williams’ finale for E.T.). Very long cues are often subdivided. With good old Max Steiner (King Kong), it feels like there’s only one cue—the music just never stops. You don’t really do this anymore.

Spotting

The most important meeting between director and composer. Here, the timing, structure, and purpose of each cue are discussed in detail based on an edited version of the film. Directors often communicate their vision using temp tracks. Neglecting elements during spotting can later cost a lot of time, effort, and money. Still, a good spotting session does not replace ongoing communication during the composition process.

Layouts

The first versions of various cues, usually created on a computer. Extremely important, as their approval by the director or editor confirms the composer’s direction and also gives the production and sound design teams an initial sense of the film’s musical atmosphere. Some composers make their layouts so brilliantly that they can send a moody orchestra home on recording day, if necessary. Others are used to directors who can imagine a full orchestral version from a solo piano cue or a quickly cobbled-together demo. I lean toward the former approach—you can’t rely on the imagination of clients. That wouldn’t be fair either, since I’m the one paid for the music, and others are paid for many things, but not for having a grand musical imagination.

Temp(orary) Tracks

Temporary pieces of music placed by the director during rough cuts at all the points where music is intended. At best, this is a great help for composers, since—if the director has been thorough—they know exactly where the musical highlights should land in a cue. But one should not cling too tightly to the form of these tracks, since they usually come from other film scores and, despite working in isolation, cannot possibly create a cohesive musical arc across the full film. The trick is to quickly produce your own layouts before the director and producers become too attached to (“locked into”) the temp tracks.

Carpet

“…and there needs to be a little something underneath, so it doesn’t feel so empty…”
In fact, a subtle musical underlay with no strong accents can sometimes help when a dialogue scene feels a touch too dry. But that’s no reason to make it shapeless or boring. Ideally, such a carpet is developed from musical material used elsewhere in the score to subtly enhance the soundtrack’s cohesiveness. Good film composers know how to weave very fine carpets.

Sound Design

All audio elements other than music are merged here before the final mix. In addition to sound effects and ambient atmospheres, sound design gives each scene its distinct sonic character. A room can sound pleasant or threatening—sound designers achieve this through variously constructed reverberation spaces, in which speech and sounds resonate, or through added layers of sound, sometimes in inaudible frequency ranges. Sound designers are usually just as proud of their work as composers are. And since their domain is the claim to “sonic realism,” whereas musical composition seeks to emotionally transcend that reality (at least within the score), the final mix can become a battleground. (“…that crash is smothering the melody!”, “But thunder always comes after lightning…”, “Yes… but we’ve had thunder for five minutes, people get it—it’s a storm…”)

Approval

A prerequisite for everyone involved to feel good—and for the composer to receive payment. The score must be approved by both the director and the producers. This can sometimes take a while, especially if scenes are changed after the final mix, or if the director and production are not in agreement. In case of doubt, you can consider the music as being approved once the film is broadcast or shown in theaters.

Final Mix

Here all sound elements come together: score, source music, sound design, sound effects, production audio, and of course, dialogue. This is often where the battle of egos unfolds—sound design and music run in parallel, and on top of that, speech clarity is at stake. Ultimately, the balance is decided by the director and the re-recording mixer. It helps to remember—even during the most beautiful cue—that the music wouldn’t exist without the film. So it can only be in the foreground in rare exceptions. Its main task is that of a supporting role. The film makes the music.

Crisis

It happens all the time. Just when you think everything’s going smoothly—schedule and budget on track, no writer’s block a week before the final mix, and for once you’re even making some money—bam, after the first test screenings, the film gets completely re-edited and shortened by twenty minutes. No cue fits anymore, the beautiful main theme scene is gone, and everything has to be redone—and well—preferably by yesterday. Yep, a crisis.

Why didn’t I learn a useful profession…?