# Writing for a feature



## distrt (Sep 4, 2017)

Hi peeps,

I've only recently gotten back into composing and for some reason offered my services to a mate who was doing a feature film.

I've put up a few things on another forum but don't really get the critical (i.e. tear it to shreds) feedback I need.

Anyway, here are a few scenes if anyone wants to take a look. Let me know what you think, and please don't be kind!

Thanks!


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## pmountford (Sep 4, 2017)

Every composer responds to visual cues differently (which is what makes us unique) and obviously you've only given us a few cues to go by so it's not totally clear for us to know the story/context. But what I would say now that you've written the opening (plane landing), take away the visuals and what does the music conjure up? Does it reflect the drama/environment/storyline that's needed? Is it making the listener comprehend the direction of the film (which is VERY important particularly at the film opening)? Is the music in sympathy with the film? Just be conscious with how you are directing the listener/viewer. And that's for you and the director to decide. However I would suggest (and you take this as you want) that often less is more - because we have all of these fantastic samples it's very tempting to use them!

Just my 2 pence worth so take with a pinch of salt. (Although seeing the plane reminds me of a cue I wrote for a British crime feature). Good luck.


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## Jdiggity1 (Sep 4, 2017)

Firstly, decide on your palette of sounds / instrumentation and try not to deviate from it too much, otherwise the score will end up sounding like a mish-mash of tracks from a stock library.

In the first video, i was honestly expecting some sort of superhero to emerge from the airport, or at the least, a heroic welcome home full of catharsis. Then all of a sudden we're watching some sort of mystery/comedy documentary about Tassie. Feels like two completely irrelevant pieces of library music were slapped back-to-back.

Are you sure there needs to be music in the car ride? What do you feel is missing from that scene that you can provide with the music? That's what you've got to ask yourself constantly. At the moment, the music does not reflect what I'm seeing in the performances or the dialog, but you could very well be setting up some context that I'm not aware of. Which is totally valid. But one thing is for certain... you can't trust a Tasmanian.

The argument cue is nice. Again, a completely different palette of sounds (though I would expect this to be a better tone to carry throughout the film). I could lip-read "bitch" and some seemingly aggressive conversation, yet the music was telling me it was a tender moment. If it wasn't meant to be a tender moment, then perhaps something needs adjusting.
Maybe if the cue started as the protagonist exits the car, it would leave us free to feel the tension during the argument, but then the tenderness as they come together to make amends. (??)

3rd video. Yeah, it's ok i guess. Keeps things light.


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## d.healey (Sep 4, 2017)

Drop the OTT orchestration from the first clip. Limit your palette to what's used in the second clip. Do what the director wants.


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## distrt (Sep 6, 2017)

Thanks guys for your feedback. Just had to have a day or so away from the whole thing.

You're all right and I agree with everything that's been said.



Jdiggity1 said:


> Firstly, decide on your palette of sounds / instrumentation and try not to deviate from it too much, otherwise the score will end up sounding like a mish-mash of tracks from a stock library.



Jdiggity1 - your first point about limiting the palette of sounds almost just seems too obvious. And I kind of knew this as I put these clips up but because this whole thing has been so rushed, I just didn't make the right preparations. I actually don't think I even thought about this when I started doing this, which shows how much I've learnt by taking on such a ridiculously enormous project.

The whole airport sequence is basically embarrassing. After looking at it again, it's ridiculous, out of place, over the top, etc etc. As a standalone piece, it's not even particularly well done. It definitely could be mistaken for two library tracks cut together. I don't even like the way that scene is cut. The plane landing goes far too long, and the character walking out of the airport seems to also take too long. That's something I can't do anything about, but it kind of makes the music even worse because it's really such a simple scene where nothing actually happens and I've turned it into a sequence from The Bachelor.

I'm not sure there needs to be music in the car ride. I'm only following a very basic cue sheet the director gave me. I don't really understand the point of the scene at all, although the director said it was "just wacky and weird", so that's the direction I went with. There's no context at all that I'm setting up for later on. If you got the impression that "you can't trust a Tasmanian" then that's interesting, because it's showing me what that music is doing. Although like I said, even *I* don't know what that scene means. And that's pretty bad for a composer, all things considered.

I like the argument cue, although it's really only just a sketch. It doesn't do very much at all, and I wrote on another forum that I had trouble with this one, because the dialogue doesn't flow like you'd expect an argument to flow. Like you said, you could see the dialogue "Listen here, you little bitch!", but only 5 seconds before the same character said "I'm sorry about what happened to your father". I guess my main question would be: what the hell do I do with something like this? I can't get a handle on the overall tone of the scene because the character is so wayward and confused. One second she's sympathetic, the next she erupts in anger that comes from nowhere, then the next she's sympathetic again. Out of the car, she becomes exasperated then pleading. I can't seem to get inside the character's head which is why the whole cue just sounds so static.

My main point is that the director doesn't appear to want to go very "deep" into these discussions, and often will put the "I don't know, you're the one doing it, just come up with something"-type remark onto me when I ask questions. Annoyingly, he also said he didn't want to hear those mallets ever again in the film, although I felt they fit better in most places than a piano. I asked for a spotting session with him, but he didn't want to do it. He just wrote out what he wanted and gave it to me.

Anyway, these aren't excuses, they're obviously just something I have to deal with and no doubt would deal with if I continued to do this into the future. It's just me kind of "venting" about how I got to this point.

I think the first thing I need to do is pull together the right sound palette for this film and start with fresh eyes and ears. My main impetus for doing this was to end up with something I was proud of, and that would work from start to finish. Luckily at this point I'm not too far in that "starting again" as it were isn't out of the question.

Sorry for this long post but it's helped me a bit to get my thoughts out as well, and I really do appreciate the brutal honesty. I expected that kind of response, and I think like I said I knew most of this wasn't working which is why I decided to post this stuff in the first place, as hopefully someone would come along to just give it to me straight.


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## Jdiggity1 (Sep 6, 2017)

Just to clarify, my remark about not trusting Tasmanians was irrelevant to your cue. That was just the New South Welshman in me having the obligatory dig at Tasmania. A Western Australian or Kiwi would have copped the same comments.

This project is certainly not an ideal film to write for, nor the best director to work for, but I reckon most of have "been there done that". It's really tough when working on something that is so clearly amateur, you can't tell if it's you that's shit, or the film/edit.

I don't know how you've approached this film, but for something like this, I would watch the whole thing. Marinate in it for a few days/week whatever, then start to play out some ideas not to picture. See if you can capture the tone of the film in one piece of standalone music. I would expect that for this film it would probably be mostly pads, with the odd "signature" sound. There's something about aussie indie films where they pretty much just need some drones and pads, or nothing at all. This can help soften a dodgy actor's performance and keep things ambiguous.
I am guilty of "over-scoring" my first few projects, where I'd basically be mimicking what was already happening in the film. Providing some sort of accompaniment, but it wasn't really adding anything.
Ultimately, whatever music you put under the picture, it will 'do something'. You need to be able to justify what it is your music is doing.

With the argument scene, I like what you've got going on, but i think you might be falling for the very common trap of serving your musical tastes before serving the picture. Some lovely chords that work great as a standalone piece of music, but might skew the scene a little more than it should.
There is no shame in holding down a note/chord for longer than what feels right if it gets you to your next hitpoint. The viewer won't notice. We're not supposed to anyway. Let the dialog and the picture tell you when to change chord and where to change it to, not what you think sounds more musical.
For example, the "Listen you little Bitch" is underscored with a chord change to high strings, very emotive. I'd be more inclined to drop the high stuff and just have a bass note/low chord underneath. The actor's performance is what we'll respond to most there, don't try to fight it. Staying out of the dialog's frequency range is also a good idea, otherwise the director/sound mixer will just turn it down way too low.


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## distrt (Sep 6, 2017)

I guess the dig at Tasmanians proves the point, I couldn't tell the difference between a joke and a comment on the scene  lol

I'll take all that on board and just rewatch the film again. I think the texture of the argument cue is most likely how the rest of the film will take shape, but I certainly won't be boxing myself into that. You're right about serving my musical tastes, that's a piece that I kind of like just by itself, boring as it is. But it doesn't actually do anything for this scene as I've said before.

Appreciate your help once again. I'll keep you posted with how I go. See if I can get outta this rut and do this properly. Ultimately I want this to be something worthwhile doing for my own learning and portfolio.


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## Johann F. (Sep 6, 2017)

Jdiggity1 said:


> In the first video, i was honestly expecting some sort of superhero to emerge from the airport, or at the least, a heroic welcome home full of catharsis.



Gotta say that was on epic landing! From small town farm girl to international airline pilot... this is the story about a girl who dreamed she could fly. Aaaaand scene.


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## distrt (Sep 7, 2017)

Johann F. said:


> Gotta say that was on epic landing! From small town farm girl to international airline pilot... this is the story about a girl who dreamed she could fly. Aaaaand scene.



Ahhhh if I didn't laugh I'd cry


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## Jeremy Spencer (Sep 7, 2017)

The music is excellent, no doubt about that. As others have mentioned, the opening sequence is epic (although good), but definitely over the top. I also felt the music could be more simplified in the other two scenes, with subtle emphasis on the conversations and way less instrumentation. I am guilty of this myself, but a composer needs to restrain from being too dominant in certain scenes. Has the director given any sort of input?


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## distrt (Sep 16, 2017)

Wolfie2112 said:


> The music is excellent, no doubt about that. As others have mentioned, the opening sequence is epic (although good), but definitely over the top. I also felt the music could be more simplified in the other two scenes, with subtle emphasis on the conversations and way less instrumentation. I am guilty of this myself, but a composer needs to restrain from being too dominant in certain scenes. Has the director given any sort of input?



Ironically, the director pretty much loves everything  so go figure lol

I guess at this stage I'm considering this more of a "practise project" which it has been — I've definitely learnt a sh*tload by just getting in and doing something. We'll see how it goes I guess... I'm still working on it but at this stage I've decided it's easier to just please the director rather than go back and redo everything. The next project will be a lot different, let me tell you...


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## Jeremy Spencer (Sep 16, 2017)

Well, if that's what the director likes (and wants), then that's the important thing.


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## JTJohnson (Sep 17, 2017)

I will reinterate what others have said. Opening scene; What you have written is solid and i like it but it seems way out of context to what is happening in the film. Yes it is OTT but only OTT for this perticular film.

The argument scene is the way you should go, use that palette and strip it all back throughout the film. Only seeing a few scenes i feel the score should be raw as opposer to epic hollywood.


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