# Movies or scenes without music



## bc3po (Aug 24, 2016)

random question.... I am going to be guest teaching for a week at my alma mater this fall. I was wondering if anyone knows of any movies (or scenes from movies, or tv shows) that are dry without music? Thanks!


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## Jediwario1 (Aug 24, 2016)

pretty much any scene from No Country For Old Men


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## David Stiles (Aug 24, 2016)

You might have heard the story about how John Williams composed music for the trash compactor scene in Star Wars, but George Lucas subsequently decided that the scene ran better without music, and that's why the scene has no underscore.


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## Harzmusic (Aug 25, 2016)

Saving Private Ryan - Omaha Beach Scene.


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## sleepy hollow (Aug 25, 2016)

Cast Away - Plenty of interesting scenes without any music. I think only the last half hour of the film has music.


Wiiilsoooon!!!


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## gsilbers (Aug 25, 2016)

bc3po said:


> random question.... I am going to be guest teaching for a week at my alma mater this fall. I was wondering if anyone knows of any movies (or scenes from movies, or tv shows) that are dry without music? Thanks!



ascap and bmi ask the clip licensing dept of the studios for scenes of movies. not sure the price but its educational so it might be cheap.


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## bc3po (Aug 25, 2016)

gsilbers said:


> ascap and bmi ask the clip licensing dept of the studios for scenes of movies. not sure the price but its educational so it might be cheap.


And they have access to the movies without the music track?


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## C.R. Rivera (Aug 25, 2016)

"ascap and bmi ask the clip licensing dept of the studios for scenes of movies. not sure the price but its educational so it might be cheap."

Doesn't such use in educational settings fall under the "fair use" clause for critiques, comparisons, examples, etc., etc?


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## Fab (Aug 25, 2016)

I wonder if using scenes which were deemed to be best without music is a good practice? I feel like it's missiing the point somewhere, no?

edit : on topic reply > the car chase scene from Mission impossible 4 (right after the diving bit if I remember correctly)


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## gsilbers (Aug 25, 2016)

bc3po said:


> And they have access to the movies without the music track?



They have split audio masters. the same ones used for advertising. so the music can be muted.


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## givemenoughrope (Aug 25, 2016)

Good luck making No Country better with music...unless you are just doing a scene or two out of context (although the film is too well-known for that to matter). Plenty of films that only have sound design and could hand benefitted from score. Off the top... Texas Chainsaw and the original Black Christmas.... I don't remember any or very much in Dallas Buyers Club, Gomorrah, Pusher, Killing Them Softly...


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## bc3po (Aug 25, 2016)

Thanks so much for the input everyone!


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## jononotbono (Aug 25, 2016)

Check out Psycho. The famous shower scene with Hermann's Psycho theme has been removed so you can compare what the power of music does add to the scene!

Sorry, it's not exactly what you asked for. Interesting none the less though!


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## Mr Mindcrime (Aug 25, 2016)

You might take a look at a movie called "Fail Safe", released in 1964.


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## Hywel (Aug 26, 2016)

Shoot me down if you think it's a silly idea... but.... what about the old black and white, silent movies?


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## C.R. Rivera (Aug 26, 2016)

If we shoot down that idea, we will have to use a silencer to make sure it is not a musical note!


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## bc3po (Aug 29, 2016)

Hywel said:


> Shoot me down if you think it's a silly idea... but.... what about the old black and white, silent movies?


Its a good idea! I really want to try for something modern though. When I was in school we looked at a lot of silent and old movies, it was a lot of fun but I never got to practice with modern visuals, sounds, and techniques.


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## NoamL (Sep 1, 2016)

Fab said:


> I wonder if using scenes which were deemed to be best without music is a good practice? I feel like it's missiing the point somewhere, no?



Yes I agree.

At NYU they had us rescore _No Country_ and of course, none of our scores really worked:



Best thing is to take a movie scene where the released soundtrack is sample-accurate to what's in the film and then do an audio knockout. There's tutorials online. You can get pretty good results. Of course it should be for student work only.


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## Fab (Sep 2, 2016)

NoamL said:


> Yes I agree.
> 
> At NYU they had us rescore _No Country_ and of course, none of our scores really worked:
> 
> ...




How would you do it, can't find these tutorials. Do you have a link for us please?


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## kevinlee87 (Sep 2, 2016)

*Jaws*


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## NoamL (Sep 2, 2016)

Fab said:


> How would you do it, can't find these tutorials. Do you have a link for us please?



1. Get the audio from the movie & from the soundtrack

2. Bring them into Audacity and line them up sample-accurate

3. Make each audio track mono, then merge them into a new stereo track (movie on the left channel, soundtrack on the right)

4. Use the Audacity VST called "Knockout" in 'extract centre off' mode

You'll get a mono track with just the movie audio (dialog, sfx etc)


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## AR (Sep 3, 2016)

jieff said:


> Cloverfield... only music is during the end credits... and what a freakin' great job Giacchino did there !


You're right. Pretty much every Found Footage Horror Flick is without music. A close friend of mine hired me to compose the music for his upcoming Found Footage Horror Film. Now we're standing in front of a task "how the heck we manage to get some extra tension to the pic without destroying the reality?"


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## AR (Sep 3, 2016)

NoamL said:


> Yes I agree.
> 
> At NYU they had us rescore _No Country_ and of course, none of our scores really worked:
> 
> ...



Many years ago BMW released some short movies starring Clive Owen. Try to get that episode where he's driving a silver series 5 and gets ambushed by men with machine guns driving a GMC. That episode has no music in it (just a slight heartbeat). I often take that scene in classes. Works perfect for learning, how to score an action movie.


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## Living Fossil (Sep 3, 2016)

Films from the Dogma group usually have no music (except source music), also films by Michael Haneke.


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## pkm (Sep 3, 2016)

AR said:


> Many years ago BMW released some short movies starring Clive Owen. Try to get that episode where he's driving a silver series 5 and gets ambushed by men with machine guns driving a GMC. That episode has no music in it (just a slight heartbeat). I often take that scene in classes. Works perfect for learning, how to score an action movie.


You must have gone to Berklee


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## AR (Sep 7, 2016)

Nope. I'm pretty much self thaught  But I have nowadays some assistants and if someone wants my attention, I give him something to score and see for myself, what he's able to do with an "empty" picture. That's better than "I studied in blablabla and have a diploma in !?whocares!?


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## pkm (Sep 7, 2016)

AR said:


> Nope. I'm pretty much self thaught  But I have nowadays some assistants and if someone wants my attention, I give him something to score and see for myself, what he's able to do with an "empty" picture. That's better than "I studied in blablabla and have a diploma in !?whocares!?


Ah, that Clive Owen scene is one of the homework assignments at Berklee.


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## AR (Sep 9, 2016)

No way. Some schmuck over in Boston had that same idea. Do they also use that episode Inarritu directed? The one where he's driving a drug lord or so?


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## stonzthro (Nov 2, 2016)

Deleted scenes often have no music, and have the look and sound of what a composer is more likely to see anyway. Check your DVD shelf.


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## Will Blackburn (Jul 2, 2018)

The Homecoming 1973



Stray Dogs 2013


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## JaikumarS (Jul 2, 2018)

Ask Global Composer Network group on fb. They might help...


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## will_m (Jul 2, 2018)

Cloverfield, like a lot of found footage style films has no score. Also more recently Mother! by Darren Aronofsky.


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## MA-Simon (Jul 3, 2018)

For comedy stuff: The Office. Just started watching for the first time. Basically no soundtrack.


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## Nao Gam (Jul 3, 2018)

I think The American with George Clooney had a lot of silent scenes, that style matches well with assassins/spies and the italian countryside.
It's been a long time since I watched it tho.


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