# Marvin Hamslich Film Scoring Contest For Emerging Composers



## Leo Badinella (Dec 13, 2014)

So, there have been a few times in the past when I have read threads by fellow composers posting their submissions to festivals and contests, and I remember thinking "Boy, I wish I had found out sooner so I could have also taken part in the competition".

So I thought I'd give you guys a heads up when I found out about this one.

http://cine.org/hamlischcontest/

o-[][]-o


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## Lassi Tani (Dec 13, 2014)

Thanks a lot! I wouldn't have noticed this without your post.


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## amordechai (Dec 13, 2014)

Thank you!


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## Leo Badinella (Dec 13, 2014)

Hey guys, Don't mention it! I'm just contributing to the VI community.


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## Neifion (Dec 13, 2014)

Thanks Leo! And btw, I enjoyed your Conquistador soundtrack!


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## DynamicK (Dec 14, 2014)

FYI ..this is not a free contest...$25.00 fee


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## Leo Badinella (Dec 14, 2014)

Neifion @ Sat Dec 13 said:


> Thanks Leo! And btw, I enjoyed your Conquistador soundtrack!



Thank you!


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## Lassi Tani (Feb 23, 2015)

Just curious, how many of you are taking part in the competition? Only a few days until deadline. At least I will have some sleepless nights and lots of coffee :D.


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## Markus S (Feb 24, 2015)

I find these contests funny. You pay 25 $ to enter. I wonder how many composers are ready to do this. From there on they will distribute prices that are given to them for free by sponsors.

Personally I would rather pay the 25 $ directly to the sponsors product I am interested in, it sure makes a better investment.

Never pay to play.


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## Lassi Tani (Feb 24, 2015)

I find it quite a good deal for participating and to get a professional feedback on your piece.


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## Markus S (Feb 24, 2015)

sekkosiki @ Tue Feb 24 said:


> I find it quite a good deal for participating and to get a professional feedback on your piece.



You'd be surprised at the great feedback professionals are giving on here.

"Professional" feedback is a relative term, though, it can vary a lot from one client or project to another. If the deal is, you pay 25 $ and we review your piece in detail and give you constructive feedback on it, then at least there is a counter part, take it or leave it.

They say they will communicate "notification and judging information", no other specification. Reads to me the (potential) counter part are indeed the prices.


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## Christof (Feb 24, 2015)

Eligible composers must have received less than $10,000 (US) in combined creative/production/package fees, excluding academic scholarships, in the two years preceding the competition....

I guess this disqualifies many forum members here.
But it is great for students!!


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## Valérie_D (Feb 24, 2015)

I entered the contest 3 weeks ago and withdraw the next day and got a refund. 

I had to get out of "student mode" and "It will give you visibility" mode.

I emailed Mychael Danna, who is on the jury and he agreed that while you can get great comments about your wotk, he told me : A competition is great if you have the time but it's way better to just have confidence in yourself, pick up the phone and build your "real world" relationships yourself.


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## Lassi Tani (Feb 24, 2015)

Markus S @ 24/2/2015 said:


> sekkosiki @ Tue Feb 24 said:
> 
> 
> > I find it quite a good deal for participating and to get a professional feedback on your piece.
> ...



Markus, I wasn't saying the feedback here is not professional . It is very professional, though many times there's no feedback here, which is understandable, since people voluntarily give feedback, and everyone is busy. Oh well, feedback or not, I think the competition is great for a student like me. Paying a some money also makes me really compose and not drop off, as it would be tempting to do otherwise. It's not about prices either, it's about a chance to grow and learn as a composer student.


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## Markus S (Feb 25, 2015)

sekkosiki @ Tue Feb 24 said:


> Markus S @ 24/2/2015 said:
> 
> 
> > sekkosiki @ Tue Feb 24 said:
> ...



Well, why not try to get in touch with a film student and work on his film? This is much more real life experience than a contest.

Send me a track of yours (or post it on the forum in the composition review section and notify me) and I will give you feedback for free.


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## Lassi Tani (Feb 25, 2015)

> Well, why not try to get in touch with a film student and work on his film? This is much more real life experience than a contest.



That's a very good idea, didn't think of that. I agree, real life experience wins contests.



> Send me a track of yours (or post it on the forum in the composition review section and notify me) and I will give you feedback for free.



I will send my next track, thanks!


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## Christof (Feb 25, 2015)

I must say that a contest may be a very good lesson to learn.
When I started composing some years ago I entered various contests and it was a very self educational experience.
Working on a movie scene with a deadline in a contest comes close to the real thing(gig), working against other participants comes close to the real thing (pitch), 
working for a possible win comes close to the real thing (positive reputation, payment, networking),
getting feedback from top notch composers may be priceless, at least it was for me.

I don't see any reason why one should not spend silly 25 bucks for entering a contest.

I would go for it any time again if I would have to start from scratch!


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## Valérie_D (Feb 25, 2015)

Christof @ Wed Feb 25 said:


> I must say that a contest may be a very good lesson to learn.
> When I started composing some years ago I entered various contests and it was a very self educational experience.
> Working on a movie scene with a deadline in a contest comes close to the real thing(gig), working against other participants comes close to the real thing (pitch),
> working for a possible win comes close to the real thing (positive reputation, payment, networking),
> ...



Everything you just said makes lots of sense too, depends of what you think will be the most rewarding for you as a composer I guess.


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## Markus S (Feb 25, 2015)

Christof @ Wed Feb 25 said:


> I must say that a contest may be a very good lesson to learn.
> When I started composing some years ago I entered various contests and it was a very self educational experience.
> Working on a movie scene with a deadline in a contest comes close to the real thing(gig), working against other participants comes close to the real thing (pitch),
> working for a possible win comes close to the real thing (positive reputation, payment, networking),
> ...



Nothing comes closer to the real thing than the real thing. 

I am wondering if all participants get feedback from top notch composers, as there are different rounds and no specification on the feedback they are giving. If there is a constructive and in depth feedback, yes, this is legit of course.

I am not directing this specifically at this event, but the "silly" few bucks can add up to a lot of bucks.

This opens the door to all sorts of businesses. Do you know about a market model where you pay a fee to submit your music to music super visors? 

Just a few silly bucks and you might get heard by people that otherwise would never discover you. Or not. There might just be someone passing along music that might or might not be heard (again not directing this at this event).


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## Christof (Feb 25, 2015)

Sure Valerie,

a contest may be a career boost (or not), but aiming towards the first prize should not be the main motivation of course.
But it is quite attractive!

I think the most rewarding thing for a composer (or any artist) is a positive feedback from the audience.

My dentist told me recently that she watched something on TV with my music.
She told me how much the music touched her heart.
You can imagine how enjoyable the following dental treatment was :wink:


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## Valérie_D (Feb 25, 2015)

Definitly, that's the best bit!


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## Christof (Feb 25, 2015)

Markus S @ Wed 25 Feb said:


> Nothing comes closer to the real thing than the real thing.
> 
> I am wondering if all participants get feedback from top notch composers, as there are different rounds and no specification on the feedback they are giving. If there is a constructive and in depth feedback, yes, this is legit of course.
> 
> ...


Sure Markus, nothing comes closer than the real thing(same with sampled instruments by the way).
Wat I want to say is that a contest can be a simulation of the real thing, you are forced to create something in a short amount of time and if you fail you lose.If you do well you may win.
Like the real thing.

For the prize money and the feedback I am talking generally, this may vary from contest to contest.
I experienced only good things so far, this includes disappointments and great joy.


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## Markus S (Feb 25, 2015)

It would be interesting to hear from someone who participated at this event to give us more insight.

If there is a good feedback for everyone, I think the money may be well invested. If it is "good ideas, but needs more development", it technically *is *feedback, but not very helpful to the participant.


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## Christof (Feb 25, 2015)

True.


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## gyprock (Feb 25, 2015)

I've just entered this competition so I'll let you know on the quality of feedback. Personally I treat competitions like this quite seriously as training because you end up being the director and the composer when it comes to spotting the film. I find the easiest part of the project is the composing because in reality, there are many solutions. What is much more difficult is deciding on where music should be placed and the emotive, dramatic angle that will work at any particular moment.

When you have a real gig with a real director, some of these decisions are made for you with the director dictating a vision and ideally giving you feedback. In a competition, you have to make all the decisions. This is actually harder than a real gig. It is lonely and you have to keep the enthusiasm going and not drop out. I can't tell you how many times I had to scrape myself away from the TV and glass of wine in order to finish this competition. But now that I've finished it, I feel that I did the best that I could do and I'm happy with the end result.

The other thing that a competition allows you to do is to experiment and learn a new library. In my case I just purchased Sonokinetic Capriccio so I decided to use it almost entirely. The only additional library I used was Cinematic Strings for some thematic melody writing. Overall I was happy with the result which I will post sometime in June after the competition winner is announced and the film can be publicly shown.

My day gig is not as a composer so I treat competitions as real jobs. At 57 years of age, it's probably the closest I'm going to get to scoring music for film. But then again, if I get to 85 or 90 after scoring a couple of competitions a year, I'll have quite a portfolio to show at my funeral.


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## Christof (Feb 25, 2015)

Good luck and all the best gyprock!

Just out of curiosity: what would you do if they asked you for a printed score of your entry piece?
I don't own Capriccio, but would you have to transcribe the phrases or are they printed somewhere in the manual or even in the Kontakt GUI?
I am just asking because I always wondered what would happen in such a case.


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## gyprock (Feb 25, 2015)

Christof @ Wed Feb 25 said:


> Good luck and all the best gyprock!
> 
> Just out of curiosity: what would you do if they asked you for a printed score of your entry piece?
> I don't own Capriccio, but would you have to transcribe the phrases or are they printed somewhere in the manual or even in the Kontakt GUI?
> I am just asking because I always wondered what would happen in such a case.



Capriccio does give you the score to all phrases and you can also drag the midi of any phrase into your DAW. If the competiton required a score I would probabaly start with something in Sibelius and then mock it up. It all depends on how hybrid the score is. Nowadays so many score elements come from sources that can't be notated.


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## Christof (Feb 25, 2015)

Thats cool!


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## composeradrian (Feb 25, 2015)

I'll give my two cents since I have some things to share from my own experience:

I did the competition last year (2014) and had favorable results. I managed to squeak into the "top 30" semi-final round, but didn't make the cut into the Top 10.

Here's my entry (which we were able to post after the completion of the contest):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6msUm7Lb3k

Once the contest was over, I had to nudge the organization to get my feedback from the contest. It was provided as a summary over the entire judging process so I have no telling who mentioned what:

_Very good production quality, the panning at the beginning immediately differentiates this score, and the mysterious piano theme is very captivating, but it would have been interesting to see more detailed string part writing, as opposed to a lot of unison. The end could have tied together with the start more, but the chords were very cool. The end credits sound great, but seem a bit detached from the film and the rest of the score. But overall, good work, this is a score that works both with the film and without._

Keep in mind this was the second year of the contest so they were still working out the bugs from last year. This year, while they seem much more polished and organized, I simply had no interest because I do seek the collaboration aspect that gyprock mentioned. I don't mind making those decisions that director can help guide, but it takes the fun out of the process.

So that was my experience.


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## CDNmusic (Feb 25, 2015)

Thanks Adrian for sharing.

Does anybody know a resource that list all competitions similar to this?


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## chibear (Feb 25, 2015)

I entered the contest after checking to see if I was allowed to 'emrege' at my age or not. This is only the second contest for me, the first being the Zimmer thing. The $25 is a drop in the bucket for me and these type of contests seem to be few and far between.

I want to hear (and see) how my work compares to up & coming professionals working on the same project. As I am highly self-critical, the results will help determine whether or not I'll consider an attempted entry into a 4th career in the music business or just leave a pile of CDs and scores for people to go through after I die. The professional feedback is just frosting on the cake.

But lots of first for me.....deadline was easiest BTW
1st film
1st hybrid score
1st use of 'new' expression technique
!st test of revamped orchestra and early reflections.

My approach to all this is kind of how I was taught to swim: The life guard threw me in the deep end of the pool and since he didn't have to save me, I could swim.


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## chibear (May 16, 2015)

SO.........anybody here make it into the top 10 this year??


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## Jdiggity1 (May 16, 2015)

Not me. Everyone seems to be a bit quiet?
Are you happy with your feedback? Mine was interesting...
Lots of good things, but my score was not 'enterprising' enough apparently. Which was my concern for a contest like this.
Conventional (no matter how effective) just doesnt win competitions.
Looking forward to seeing the finalists' submissions! And a big congrats to everyone.


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## Lassi Tani (May 16, 2015)

Not me either. I had interesting feedback too. Other one said, "a bit cliched", another one said "no faults". It would be great to get a score for each judging category to see, where exactly I should improve. Oh well, the composing process was rewarding anyhow. Btw there was 250 participants, if I calculated right (10 finalists are 4% of the participants).


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## chibear (May 17, 2015)

When we are allowed to post our submissions in June, I wouldn't mind posting mine with comments (their's and mine lol) if others are up for it. Some comments I agree with, some not, and a few make me think I watched a different video than they did. Would certainly like to hear how each person approached the same project; great education there 8)


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## Jdiggity1 (May 18, 2015)

I'm happy to share mine too chibear. I'm sure others will get something out of it.


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