Editing Film score (section)

==Process of creation==

===Spotting===
The composer usually enters the creative process towards the end of filming at around the same time as the film is being [[Film editing|edited]], although on some occasions the composer is on hand during the entire film shoot, especially when actors are required to perform with or be aware of original [[diegetic]] music. The composer is shown an unpolished "rough cut" of the film before the editing is completed and talks to the director or producer about what sort of music is required for the film in terms of style and tone. The director and composer will watch the entire film, taking note of which scenes require original music. During this process, composers will take precise timing notes so that they know how long each cue needs to last, where it begins, where it ends, and of particular moments during a scene with which the music may need to coincide in a specific way. This process is known as "spotting".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plJ5gEhhnrcC|title=On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring|first1=Fred|last1=Karlin|first2=Rayburn|last2=Wright|date=January 1, 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780415941365|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Occasionally, a filmmaker will actually edit their film to fit the flow of music, rather than have the composer edit their score to the final cut. Director [[Godfrey Reggio]] edited his films ''[[Koyaanisqatsi]]'' and ''[[Powaqqatsi]]'' based on composer [[Philip Glass]]'s music.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.naqoy.com/naqoy/creators.asp|title=About the Naqoyqatsi team|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226103424/http://www.naqoy.com/naqoy/creators.asp|archive-date=2008-12-26|url-status=dead}}</ref> Similarly, the relationship between director [[Sergio Leone]] and composer [[Ennio Morricone]] was such that the finale of ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]'' and the films ''[[Once Upon a Time in the West]]'' and ''[[Once Upon a Time in America]]'' were edited to Morricone's score as the composer had prepared it months before the film's production ended.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=3475|title=The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Expanded Edition Soundtrack (1967)}}</ref>

In another example, the finale of [[Steven Spielberg]]'s ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]'' was edited to match the music of his long-time collaborator [[John Williams]]: as recounted in a companion documentary on the DVD, Spielberg gave Williams complete freedom with the music and asked him to record the cue without pictures; Spielberg then re-edited the scene later to match the music.

In some circumstances, a composer will be asked to write music based on their impressions of the [[script (recorded media)|script]] or [[storyboards]] without seeing the film itself and has more freedom to create music without the need to adhere to specific cue lengths or mirror the emotional arc of a particular scene. This approach is usually taken by a director who does not wish to have the music comment specifically on a particular scene or nuance of a film and which can instead be inserted into the film at any point the director wishes during the post-production process. Composer [[Hans Zimmer]] was asked to write music in this way in 2010 for director [[Christopher Nolan]]'s film ''[[Inception]]'';<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/128323-we-built-our-own-world-hans-zimmer-and-the-music-of-inception/|title=We Built Our Own World: Hans Zimmer and the Music of 'Inception'}}</ref> composer [[Gustavo Santaolalla]] did the same thing when he wrote his Oscar-winning score for ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenitmustbetrue.com/gsantaolalla/gsantaolalla1.html|title=Gustavo Santaolalla|website=thenitmustbetrue.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050412161512/http://www.thenitmustbetrue.com/gsantaolalla/gsantaolalla1.html|archive-date=April 12, 2005}}</ref>

===Syncing===
When writing music for film, one goal is to sync dramatic events happening on screen with musical events in the score. There are many different methods for syncing music to picture. These include using sequencing software to calculate timings, using mathematic formulas and free timing with reference timings. Composers work using [[SMPTE timecode]] for syncing purposes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://artsites.ucsc.edu/EMS/music/equipment/video/smpte/smpte.html|title=SMPTE}}</ref>

When syncing music to picture, generally a leeway of 3–4 frames late or early allows the composer to be extremely accurate. Using a technique called Free Timing, a conductor will use either ('''a''') a stopwatch or studio size stop clock, or ('''b''') watch the film on a screen or video monitor while conducting the musicians to predetermined timings. These are represented visually by vertical lines (streamers) and bursts of light called punches. These are put on the film by the Music Editor at points specified by the composer. In both instances, the timings on the clock or lines scribed on the film have corresponding timings which are also at specific points (beats) in the composer/conductor score.

====Written click track====
A written [[click track]] is a method of writing bars of music in consistent time values (e.g. 4 beats in :{{frac|02|2|3}} seconds) to establish a constant tempo in lieu of a metronome value (e.g. 88 bpm). A composer would use a written click if he or she planned to conduct live performers. When using other methods such as a metronome, the conductor has a perfectly spaced audible click playing. This can yield stiff and lifeless performances in slower more expressive cues. A standard bpm value can be converted to a written click where X represents the number of beats per bar and W represents time in seconds by using the following equation:

<math display="block">\frac{60}{bpm}(x)=W</math>

Written clicks are expressed using {{frac|1|3}} second increments, so the next step is to round the decimal to either 0,{{frac|1|3}}, or {{frac|2|3}} of a second. The following is an example for 88 bpm:

<math display="block">\frac{60}{88}(4)=2.72</math>

''2.72 rounds to 2.66, so the written click is 4 beats in :{{frac|02|2|3}} seconds.''

Once the composer has identified the location in the film with which to sync musically, he or she must determine the musical beat this event occurs on. To find this, conductors use the following equation, where bpm is beats per minute, ''sp'' is the sync point in real-time (i.e. 33.7 seconds), and B is the beat number in {{frac|1|3}} increments (i.e. {{frac|49|2|3}}).

<math display="block">\frac{bpm(sp)}{60}+1=B</math>

===Writing===
Once the spotting session has been completed and the precise timings of each cue determined, the composer will then work on writing the score. The methods of writing the score vary from composer to composer; some composers prefer to work with a traditional pencil and paper, writing notes by hand on a [[staff (music)|staff]] and performing works-in-progress for the director on a piano, while other composers write on computers using sophisticated [[Scorewriter|music composition software]] such as [[Digital Performer]], [[Logic Pro]], [[Finale (software)|Finale]], [[Cubase]], or [[Pro Tools]].<ref>Kompanek, Sonny. ''From Score To Screen: Sequencers, Scores And Second Thoughts: The New Film Scoring Process''. Schirmer Trade Books, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-8256-7308-5}}</ref> Working with software allows composers to create MIDI-based demos of cues, called [[MIDI mockup]]s, for review by the filmmaker prior to the final orchestral recording.

The length of time a composer has to write the score varies from project to project; depending on the post-production schedule, a composer may have as little as two weeks or as much as three months to write the score. In normal circumstances, the actual writing process usually lasts around six weeks from beginning to end.

The actual material of the score depends on several different variables that factor into how a composer may write - for instance, the emotion the composer is trying to convey, the nature of the character on screen, the scenery and geography of the set, along with multiple more different variables. A composition could consist of different instrumentations, varying genres, and different influential styles. 

Each composer has his or her own inspirations and pragmatic impressions that create unique and compelling sounds that can help to make a scene memorable. One example of this is in the "Lord of The Rings" score where Howard Shore uses a specific melodic idea to refer to The Shire by employing a tin flute to evoke a Celtic feeling. Shore does this throughout the three films of the trilogy to underscore a character's feeling of nostalgic reminiscence (Lawson, Macdonald, 2018).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Tan |first=Li |date=November 2018 |title=Almost sure convergence rate of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="mml3" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si1.gif"><mml:mi>θ</mml:mi></mml:math>-EM scheme for neutral SDDEs |journal=Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics |volume=342 |pages=25–36 |doi=10.1016/j.cam.2018.04.007 |issn=0377-0427|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Other scores include not only original orchestrations but also popular music that represents the era and or the character being portrayed. Many films do this, such as  ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' or  ''Back to the Future''. Alan Silvestri at times orchestrates compositions that are accompanied by tracks such as "The Power of Love" and "Back in Time", both by Huey Lewis and The News. This creates a sense of lightness that deviates from the fanfare-like main theme.(Lawson, Macdonald,2018).<ref name=":0" />

Many scores often try to draw from worldly influence to create sound that cements itself into popular culture. An example of this would be the score from ''The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly''. In this score, composer Ennio Morricone uses a culmination of post-tonal music theory, Celtic song, gregorian chant, and mariachi trumpets to create the sound of the spaghetti western, one that is often associated with the wild west (Kalinak 2010).<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Kalinak |first=Kathryn |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780195370874.001.0001 |title=Film Music |date=2010-05-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/actrade/9780195370874.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-537087-4}}</ref>

===Orchestration===
Once the music has been written, it must then be [[Orchestration#Film orchestration|arranged or orchestrated]] in order for the ensemble to be able to perform it. The nature and level of orchestration varies from project to project and composer to composer, but in its basic form the orchestrator's job is to take the [[Single-line (music)|single-line music]] written by the composer and "flesh it out" into instrument-specific sheet music for each member of the orchestra to perform.

{{Unbalanced section|date=September 2021}}
Some composers like [[Ennio Morricone]] orchestrate their own scores themselves, without using an additional orchestrator. Some composers provide intricate details in how they want this to be accomplished and will provide the orchestrator with copious notes outlining which instruments are being asked to perform which notes, giving the orchestrator no personal creative input whatsoever beyond re-notating the music on different sheets of paper as appropriate. Other composers are less detailed, and will often ask orchestrators to "fill in the blanks", providing their own creative input into the makeup of the ensemble, ensuring that each instrument is capable of performing the music as written, and even allowing them to introduce performance techniques and flourishes to enhance the score. In many cases, time constraints determined by the film's post-production schedule dictate whether composers orchestrate their own scores, as it is often impossible for the composer to complete all the required tasks within the time frame allowed.

Over the years, several orchestrators have become linked to the work of one particular composer, often to the point where one will not work without the other.

Once the orchestration process has been completed, the sheet music is physically printed onto paper by one or more [[Copyist#Music copyists|music copyists]] and is ready for performance.

===Recording===
When the music has been composed and [[Orchestration|orchestrated]], the orchestra or ensemble then performs it, often with the composer conducting. Musicians for these ensembles are often uncredited in the film or on the album and are contracted individually (and if so, the orchestra contractor is credited in the film or the [[soundtrack album]]). However, some films have recently begun crediting the contracted musicians on the albums under the name [[Hollywood Studio Symphony]] after an agreement with the [[American Federation of Musicians]]. Other performing ensembles that are often employed include the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] (performing film music since 1935)<ref>[http://lso.co.uk/page/3151/LSO-and-Film-Music London Symphony Orchestra and Film Music] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930173905/http://lso.co.uk/page/3151/LSO-and-Film-Music |date=September 30, 2011 }} LSO. Retrieved June 30, 2011</ref> the [[City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra]] (an orchestra dedicated mostly to recording), the [[BBC Philharmonic]], and the [[Northwest Sinfonia]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}

The orchestra performs in front of a large screen depicting the film, The conductor and musicians habitually wear headphones that sound a series of clicks called a "click-track" that changes with [[meter (music)|meter]] and tempo, assisting to synchronize the music with the film.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://homerecording.about.com/od/recordingglossary/g/def_click_track.htm|title=5 RTAS Plug-Ins You Can Download for Free|access-date=July 21, 2008|archive-date=January 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110062444/http://homerecording.about.com/od/recordingglossary/g/def_click_track.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

More rarely, the director will talk to the composer before shooting has started, so as to give more time to the composer or because the director needs to shoot scenes (namely song or dance scenes) according to the final score. Sometimes the director will have edited the film using "temp (temporary) music": already published pieces with a character that the director believes to fit specific scenes.