Why am I a Composer?: Emotional Connection with your Audience.

AFX Industrial (film scores)

It's the only thing I can do.

Hello everybody and Happy Halloween 2015! As you can see from the nominee laurel above, my recent score was nominated in the 'Best Original Film Score' category for a forty minute film called 'Bar Study'! This humbling recognition indicates that my scoring company are (hopefully) doing what they set out to do, and that is to move people.

It also indicates that my own focus in this particular discipline is coming across in the scores I write, helping people to connect emotionally with those scores.

Without these accolades it's very hard to judge whether or not you're hitting the mark. Thank you Los Angeles Independent Film Festival.

The mechanics of scoring.

I often get asked 'how did you come up with these ideas?' or 'what inspires you?' I break it down into a few simple stages, but the first and most important thing is to have a good level of communication with the director. Communication is great although I don't necessarily need musical direction here, too much direction (as to what the minutia of the score should be) can easily stifle creativity, resulting in a self conscious score.

The much underrated and overlooked 'spotting session' is my favourite tool for getting a handle on what the director wants to hear. But the spotting session is little more than a decision on which frame the music cue should enter and which frame it should leave. Of course the director and I will decide if the score needs to be happy, sad or ominous etc. But the musical subtleties that straddle the line between emotions are always best left up to me to decide.

It's also very hard to put certain emotions into words (which is really why we use music in films). Trying to quantify it all verbally would leave us with useless terminology such as 'half happy' or possibly 'half happy a quarter sad an eighth scary and an eighth happy'!

You should really leave ALL of the musical decisions up to the composer. If you don't feel you can trust the composer you have chosen with musical decisions, then don't put your film at RISK, fire them and move on.

Amateur music is VERY easy to spot and very damaging to your film, especially if you want to be taken seriously as a film maker.

10 tell tale signs of a badly scored film:

1. No discernible thematic material.

2. No leitmotif/s.

3. Instruments used out of their range.

4. Failure to use irregular time signs.

5. No harmony.

6. Bad, even ugly part writing.

7. No modulating sequences.

8. No understanding of chord relations.

9. No modulation at all.

10. Terrible recording / mix.

A little bit about AFX Industrial (film scores)

My Company AFX Industrial (film scores) may not be the cheapest solution to getting your film scored, but you do get access to our cutting edge studio equipment - and all of our deep industry knowledge and experience. (Please check the credit list: http://www.dchewitt.com/credits.html).

From TV spots for 'Chappie' (Neil Blomkamp's recent movie) to the MTV music awards to Premiers of major movies (The Dark Knight Rises). And most recently 'The Driving Dead' starring Michael Rooker from the hit TV show 'The Walking Dead' (directed by Gale Anne Hurd, Terminator/ Aliens). AFX's scores are everywhere.

Increasingly we are being contacted by serious film makers like you who have gone down the amateur composer route way too many times - did you know, festivals and broadcasters often reject a film based on the soundtrack alone? AFX were recently approached by a Hollywood publisher to help dig them out of a legal hole because their composer had lied about his ownership of the music he'd supplied for an entire (already broadcast) TV series! Ouch!

Our reputation for being above board and understanding complicated, copyright and public domain issues precedes us! Of course, we take care of all of those legal loopholes for you too!

If you have any doubts or questions about your score (legal or musical) then don't hesitate to contact AFX Industrial (film scores) mail@dchewitt.com and we'll see how we can help you!

Best wishes,

David.

AFX Industrial (film scores)

http://dchewitt.com