# Film scoring competitions/festivals



## Danny_Owen (May 1, 2010)

Hi guys,

I'm about to start work on some new compositions that have to be to picture for one of my final modules at college. Ideally I'd like to score something that doesn't already have music over it, has high production value, and gives me room to REALLY experiment and try to come up with something completely different.

I was wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of any scoring competitions or festivals that might allow for me to find this kind of footage? I know there used to be one called the 'unheard film festival' in the Netherlands, but it doesn't seem to be running this year judging by the website.

Thanks

Danny


----------



## JohnG (May 4, 2010)

Hello Danny,

Your profile says you're in London, so one way of finding footage would be to ring the film departments of universities and ask whether there are student filmmakers who need music.

Alternative two -- re-score a trailer. They have very high production value and sometimes the sound effects are so loud that you might be able to "rescue" them from the original, even if there's a bit of music in there too.

Alternative three -- score a scene from a "major" or artistic film that doesn't already have music in it. At least then you have good production values and, perhaps, recognisable actors.


----------



## Ed (May 4, 2010)

There's also some DVDs with scenes without music as an extra. Make sure you get the right version of course, but I remember there being one in The Day After Tomorrow and Signs. Maybe someone else knows of some others.

I also did what John suggested with the trailers, its good practise IMO, though a slightly different sensibility than scoring for a film I find.


----------



## stonzthro (May 4, 2010)

Castaway has barely any music at all.


----------



## Hannesdm (May 4, 2010)

There's a composition competition at the Ghent Film Festival:

http://www.worldsoundtrackawards.com/news2.cgi?go=detail&id=1076&lang=en


----------



## Danny_Owen (May 4, 2010)

Thanks for the advice, I might do a trailer and then some DVD extra scenes then, sounds like a good way to go. Hellyboy 1 extended has a track where it's _just _the music along with the picture, I wish they had something where it was everything _but_ the music! I have to do the sound design as well anyway since my course is 50% composition 50% sound design. Once I've graduated I'll certainly hit some more student films I think, a lot on my plate at the moment though!

Thanks again


----------



## Danny_Owen (May 4, 2010)

Missed that one on the ghent- just had a look, looks interesting but you have to pay to enter and it has to be orchestral - I've already got one orchestral piece I'm doing so I've been told I should try to do something else to be a bit more diverse :-P 

Still, good to know about another film scoring competition, I guess there's not that many out there...


----------



## jlb (May 4, 2010)

Danny, could have a go at the awesome car chase in Ronin, there is no music. I had a go a while ago (on youtube) but I think I could have a much better crack at it now

jlb


----------



## JohnG (May 4, 2010)

A couple of provisos for anyone starting out that I wish I'd followed earlier:

1. *Write music that YOU love and think is completely cool*. Of course if one wants to make money and get hired, one would like to write demos that would be attractive to potential clients. However, trying to guess what someone's going to want is a colossal waste of time. Most of the time, _they don't know what they want_, beyond "something great." 

Besides, if you write what's in your heart, there's a chance that you'll be engaged to write music just like that -- something YOU love. If, by contrast, you write stuff that you assume is commercial but isn't really your thing, then you may get hired to write music that also isn't really your thing. Not only is that less rewarding and less likely to draw from you your best work, but it's a lot harder to do well than one might suppose; and

2. *Try to write music that doesn't sound like an emulation of someone else*, as far as possible. An inexpensive JNH or Williams or Zimmer is only a good idea if you are pitching for a low-budget genre picture that asks for exactly that, but it's a very short-term, narrow goal. Writing like someone else likely won't lead to anything but miserable pay and working conditions, because producers know there are literally 5,000 people in any large city who can do an inexpensive knock-off that's good enough for them. It may not be great music, but the standards for the knock-off end of things are understandably lower than for, say, Warner Brothers.


----------

