Editing Film score (section)

===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>