# Temp music...



## Niah2 (Feb 17, 2018)

...is it really necessary?


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## JohnG (Feb 17, 2018)

I think it often is, in part because the art of conveying in words what music the director wants has disappeared, in many cases. And many composers don't really know how to have the conversation with them and steer it so it is useful.


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## tav.one (Feb 17, 2018)

Its very convenient for the director, editor as well as myself. Specially if we don't have a long history of working together. It helps me understanding what they want and also helps with spotting. My clients have been nice & wise to understand that final score won't and shouldn't sound like temp, so I have had all good things with temp. But I've done just a dozen films, I'm sure people with more experience will have more to say.


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## Mike Fox (Feb 17, 2018)

I believe I've heard Danny Elfman say that temp music can pose a challenge, because the director gets fixated and locked in on that specific sound, which makes it difficult to present a different perspective.


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## germancomponist (Feb 17, 2018)

Temp music is not only necessary, it is also a blessing.


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## Jacob Cadmus (Feb 17, 2018)

Depends on who you're working with. Few of them like to edit without music and leave the score mostly in the composer's hands, with lengthy conversations and a few reference links and notes to take into account. Many of them insert temp score after the edit just to get an idea for tone, but keep their expectations open enough to how the final score will sound. Then there are those who cut their films to temp music and tell you to copy every hit, stab, stinger, etc. from the temp, because otherwise the edit wouldn't make much sense.


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## jonathanprice (Feb 17, 2018)

If the director trusts your voice and your talent to use your voice in a dramatic way, and they haven't edited to a temp and fallen in love with it, then it's not necessary at all. My scores to CYBER WARS and INOPERABLE were exactly that situation. I also had about two months in both cases to develop the sound for each film. If the director already has an idea of what they want, and you're given three weeks to score 72 minutes of music, then the temp is the most efficient way to get that done.


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## Niah2 (Mar 3, 2018)

Thank you for your input guys.

Just wondering here does Spielberg uses temp music? I mean he works closely with J Williams but lets say there's a chase scene do you guys think Spielberg temps that scene? If he doesn't who does it work out?


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## jonathanprice (Mar 3, 2018)

Soundtrack Magazine asked JW in '93 if Spielberg used temp scores and his response was, "Yes, sure, everything, sometimes a lot of my music. Classical music too, but mostly film music, sometimes some ballet."


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## rottoy (Mar 3, 2018)

jonathanprice said:


> Soundtrack Magazine asked JW in '93 if Spielberg used temp scores and his response was, "Yes, sure, everything, sometimes a lot of my music. Classical music too, but mostly film music, sometimes some ballet."


Johnny Williams must be tired of old Steve constantly putting some klezmer tune in the editing suite. 
"God damn it, I can't Prokofiev this up!"


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## MatFluor (Mar 3, 2018)

It is necessary for the editor to get a good cutting rhythm. It is necessary to show other people. It is necessary to have some discussion basis between director and composer.

It's a blessing, because I know what the director likes, what he thinks is appropriate for that scene, I get a glimpse into his mind. It's also a blessing for a difficult scene to have a clear rhythm, especially when the editor is not as experienced.

It's a curse if the film crew has "temp love" and their ears are fixated to the temp score to a degree that "nothing else could work". It's a curse when you are "pencil for hire" and paid to copy the temp and make it legally valid.

For the shortfilm I'm currently working on, I asked the director if he temps the final cut or not. He said he didn't think about it, he wanted to give me maximum freedom - that's very nice. I told him that he can temp if he wants, especially if the editor would have a hard time otherwise. The reason why I said it, was because the director (as most directors are) are not adept at musical terms. It's far easier to hear what he thinks would fit, and discuss his choices, rather than doing "shots in the dark", which are ridden by misunderstandings, which makes revisions necessary. I'd rather have a temp which the director says "it's really just a placeholder, but I like how it feels", then no temp and having the director say "that doesn't work for me, can you make it more dramatic?".

In short, a well thought-out temp can make my spotting much, much easier - I know what the director intents, there a reason e.g. he chose a climatic moment from Alien as the temp score there - be it musically, or the scene in the original film has something about it. I hate temp when my job is to simply copy it - or the film crew is married to it because they watched the film countless times with the temp. But that's life.


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