SCORE, a documentary directed by Matt Schrader, 92 minutes, explores the world of composing music for films.
The film was posted free on YouTube on June 17, 2022 by distributor Gravitas Ventures, but oddly YouTube still offers the film for purchase or rent.
The film maintains that music composition for film is storytelling, and that “every composer is a producer.”
Film music often seems episodic, as it must match the action. In a sense it is then a bit like opera. Perhaps you could bring up the contrast between program music and absolute music. Now absolute music tends to follow forms (like sonata form) and movies are supposed to follow story circles (like the Harmon circle) so there should exist some correspondence.
In many cases, the style of instrumentation, along with rhythm, sets up the mood that suits the film. They give examples like 'A Streetcar Named Desire' with the Bond movies, the Bond movies, and The Dreamers.
The work of many composers, like John Williams, James Horner, Hans Zimmer, Patrick Doyle (Hamlet), Rachel Portman, Marc Beltrann is covered.
The work of a film composer is shown as exacting and tedious as to detail. The workspace on many connected screens looks like huge Final Cut film maps (similar in style to iMovie).
A sequence from 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' (2014) is shown in conjunction with 'lockdowns'.
A favorite score of mine is 'Inception', Hans Zimmer, with a passacaglia ground bass theme that is so sinister.
Movie scores like this give a feeling of déjà vu, or reviewing your own life. But that's only meaningful if advanced civilization doesn't get nuked.
(Posted: Friday, July 1, 2022 at 3 PM EDT)