# Scoring scene by scene or the whole thing?



## Syneast (Mar 8, 2021)

I've scored long-ish films before, but I'm about to score my first feature film. How do you guys approach it? Scene by scene in separate projects, or do you cram the whole thing into one project?

I did a 40 min film in one big project once. It has it's pros for sure, but going back and changing the tempo of one part will affect everything thereafter. Then I have to spend some time matching things back up with the picture. It's doable, but maybe there's a more clever way of doing it?


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## Germain B (Mar 8, 2021)

I recommend you to check Anne-Kathrin Dern's Youtube's channel. She made a serie of videos of the whole process (ongoing) and its workflow.
She clearly advise to separate each cues into its own project.
I think she talks about this subject in one of her Q&A video.


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## jononotbono (Mar 9, 2021)

Syneast said:


> but going back and changing the tempo of one part will affect everything thereafter. Then I have to spend some time matching things back up with the picture. It's doable, but maybe there's a more clever way of doing it?


It’s exactly why films are delivered in reels (not the only reason). If you edit one reel, the other reels aren’t affected by the edits. This is the same workflow you should adopt when scoring a feature. You want to write every cue in a separate DAW project. And you’ll have a cue sheet telling you exactly how many cues there are all with their timecode in and out points. This is something that happens after you and the director and every other person involved has spotted the film to know where music is going to be. I’m sure you already know all that, I’m just highlighting that because you have a cue sheet (if you don’t you should really make one - use Excel or Google Sheets - depending on how secure things have to be) and therefore it’s simple to have a cue per DAW project. It’s important to be organised with all this stuff.

Typically each cue will get comped into a Pro Tools session (with the current edit of the whole film) and initially you can bounce a stereo mix of each cue (as and when they are approved) and import into the ProTools project (with the current picture and anything else with all cues having timecode markers - they should just lone up if you export your stems as broadcast wave) and the purpose of this is to get an idea of what each cue sounds like going into each other, checking levels with sfx, Foley, dialogue (all of which is generally rough and placeholder or non existent (there is usually a rough dialogue track though at all times).

Obviously if you are writing each cue in seperate DAW projects, you’ll need to make sure the starting timecode is correct. When it comes to bouncing stems, it’s a good idea to have the time code in the title of the stems (just for safety) but definitely export everything as broadcast wav as they contain metadata such as timecode. Aiffs do not hold this data so it’s a useless format.

Im not the most experienced person in the world. I’ve worked on a few features (including working with Jake Jackson on one of them - which reminds me of a very good point - speak to the mixing engineers and ask them how they want everything delivered. They all have their own methods and how they set up their mixing templates, how they want tracks to be named, whether tracks need a number (Typically used for importing into a Pro Tools session so all tracks with corresponding numbers will import on specific tracks with pre routed busses etc - some don’t use this approach) and if it’s all slick, it will save a lot of time and hassle down the road) so far and this is how I’ve so far always done this. If you don’t work in separate DAW projects, it becomes a NIGHTMARE for inevitable picture conforms and edits!

So yeah. Every cue in separate projects!


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## Daniel James (Mar 9, 2021)

Generally I score cue by cue. It works better for me particularly for movies, feels a much cleaner way to organise things when it comes to stems, conforms, orchestration etc.

However I remember hearing Willbert Roget talking about doing full gigs in a single project. I think it was his Call of Duty WW2 score that he brings up.

Here is a video of him talking about his process and showing the full sessions. Personally this would trigger all sorts of OCD in me, but the scores he creates are fantastic, so if there is an spokesperson for the single project its Willbert. Check him out!



-DJ


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## jononotbono (Mar 9, 2021)

Ah man, I can't imagine doing that for film. Unless it's a short. 
I've haven't worked on a Video Game yet so I couldn't possibly give advice on Video Game scoring workflow. Definitely something I'd love to try some day!


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## ed buller (Mar 9, 2021)

cue by cue. NEVER EVER EVER !...one session that is the whole film

best

e


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## Smikes77 (Mar 9, 2021)

I kinda do both. For eg. I do scene 1, save it as "scene 1" and include the timecode in the save title so I don`t get confused later on, and continue with the scoring other scenes and save ( "scene 4" and not necessarily in order of scene 2, scene 3 etc.). That way, if I am 50 minutes into the film and I want to bring back themes, I already have the midi in the project. What I may try on my next, is to bounce out the midi and save it in a folder to bring out later.


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## Rob Elliott (Mar 9, 2021)

Smikes77 said:


> I kinda do both. For eg. I do scene 1, save it as "scene 1" and include the timecode in the save title so I don`t get confused later on, and continue with the scoring other scenes and save ( "scene 4" and not necessarily in order of scene 2, scene 3 etc.). That way, if I am 50 minutes into the film and I want to bring back themes, I already have the midi in the project. What I may try on my next, is to bounce out the midi and save it in a folder to bring out later.


Yep - this is how I approach it (scene by scene). I want to be certain that the 'melting' of one idea to the next (within a scene) is seamless. Timecode in file name (first) keeps everything nicely 'alphabetized'. Having said this I have also done 120 min features in ONE project (many benefits but also a bit risky 'all eggs in one basket')


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## Syneast (Mar 9, 2021)

Thanks everyone! I will try scoring cue by cue this time.


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## NekujaK (Mar 9, 2021)

In my experience, the results of the spotting session often determine how best to approach managing the cues. Spotting typically identifies cues on a scene-by-scene basis, so in 95% of the cases, working on each scene in a separate project makes perfect sense.

But sometimes an overall mood is identified that either bridges or evolves across multiple scenes/cues, so while each scene may have its own musical identity, a persistent emotional thread binds them together. In that situation, it often makes sense to manage the related cues in a single project, pretty much as if it were one big cue.


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## aemile (Aug 21, 2021)

Syneast said:


> I've scored long-ish films before, but I'm about to score my first feature film. How do you guys approach it? Scene by scene in separate projects, or do you cram the whole thing into one project?
> 
> I did a 40 min film in one big project once. It has it's pros for sure, but going back and changing the tempo of one part will affect everything thereafter. Then I have to spend some time matching things back up with the picture. It's doable, but maybe there's a more clever way of doing it?


How did the project turn out?? Did the advice on here help? Read the thread and now I am very much invested in the outcome haha


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## Syneast (Sep 15, 2021)

aemile said:


> How did the project turn out?? Did the advice on here help? Read the thread and now I am very much invested in the outcome haha


Still in the process of scoring it. 😊 I'm working with a separate project per cue and it's working beautifully so far. The cons with this way of working are definitely not dealbreakers, so I will keep working this way for now!


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## Montisquirrel (Sep 15, 2021)

I definetly understand all the arguments about cue by cue, but most times I still do everything in one project. Helps me alot to keep the "vibe" of the project and it helps me to try things very quick like "How would that bassline from that cue would sound here, etc..."

Like I said, I understand the arguments, just want to post here for the people who do everything in one project and now they feel wrong (you are not). Never had any complain by the filmmakers.


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## GNP (Sep 15, 2021)

Syneast said:


> I've scored long-ish films before, but I'm about to score my first feature film. How do you guys approach it? Scene by scene in separate projects, or do you cram the whole thing into one project?
> 
> I did a 40 min film in one big project once. It has it's pros for sure, but going back and changing the tempo of one part will affect everything thereafter. Then I have to spend some time matching things back up with the picture. It's doable, but maybe there's a more clever way of doing it?


Exactly. The only thing that kills having everything in one project file, is the damn tempo change. This is a problem I'm still dealing with today.


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