Caveats of Convenience—Pt. 2

Part 2 of Deane’s provoking series on “lazy writing”.

Making Money from Your Music: Part 2

Over 1/3 of the music industry in America is based on music licensing. If thats even anywhere close to being true, it gives you an idea of how big an industry music licensing really is. Here’s a quick primer on how to get in the game.

The Creative Process Model

“Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self” – Erich Fromm I’ll be honest – I’ve only been composing a relatively short while in comparison to a lot of other composers on here, so I don’t think that my creative process is in anyway matured – its probably all over the place and changes every time I create a score, or even music in general. I believe that I don’t have enough experience in composing yet, to think about my own creative process and see what it looks like, so while I was thinking about what to write about…

A Message from Our Founder (VIDEO)

It’s a new month around here and we have a  ton of things to get to. But before we launch November at SCOREcastOnline.com into full swing, we thought to give you a preview of what to expect from the website and the podcast over the next few weeks. In this special video announcement, SCOREcast founder Deane Ogden talks about the theme for November, the unionization discussions, and how you can get involved in the SCO community on several levels. Check out the video below!

The Top 10 Most Influential Scores of the Past Decade (1999-2009)

It has been said that the last ten years have been some of the worst for film music. And while it might be true that since 1999, film music has failed to produce an indelible theme (some in our industry have argued the case that the last truly “memorable” theme in film music belongs to James Horner’s Titanic, released in 1997), film music, like all music, is highly subjective and does not lend itself well to such indictments. That being said, there have been over 12,200 studio films released in the USA alone since 1999, and almost all of them had a score. We here at SCOREcast want to know what YOU think about film…

Brian Satterwhite: Manipulate Me, Please!

Over the past several years, a new word has entered the film music lexicon threatening the functional traditions the craft of scoring was built upon. This indiscriminate battle cry was practically nonexistent during the first hundred years of film music. Today, it’s a word carrying a vulgar weight amongst filmmakers and audiences alike. This is the new evil feared amongst the collective patrons of the film industry, the scarlet letter nobody wants to see branded, and the dreaded angel-of-death for all film scores of worth. At the mere hint of it, filmmakers raise their crossed-fingered hands as if warding off the demon seed of Satan himself. It has left me flummoxed, perplexed, and downright nonplussed….

The Death of the Theme: A Rant

Five years ago today, one of the greatest melodists to ever pick up the baton left us. Jerry Goldsmith was not only a master interpreter of film, but also one of the greatest creators of film music to ever grace the medium. Goldsmith’s music, whether by accident or pure purpose, was a major influence on many of us in our decisions to take on this career and try to reach even a fraction of the height that he was able to during his time at the podium. I am of the opinion that when Jerry Goldsmith passed, so did something else… the Jerry Goldsmith via last.fm matic writing. It will surely be argued that John…

Gateway Scores: Edward Scissorhands

Throughout my life there have been a handful of “stepping stone” scores that have turned me into the composing film music-loving-junkie that I am today. Yes, I had the ubiquitous STAR WARS (1977) experience almost identical to Lee’s and a host of others of my generation. My parents’ album, which I listened to as a young boy, is still hanging on the wall of my studio which I occasionally will get down and listen to. Other scores like PATTON (1970), VERTIGO (1958), EMPIRE OF THE SUN (1987), and JURASSIC PARK (1993), just to name a few were all responsible for sprouting their own branches on my tree of film music adoration. However influential those listening…

Gateway Scores: Alien

I don’t know if this is a true story. Richard Burton was playing the lead in a comedy on Broadway. Before making his entrance he told the stage manager, “Tonight, I’m gonna make ‘em cry”. He went on and, as promised, he brought the audience to tears when they should have been laughing. With the greatest respect to the ghost of Richard Burton, film music can also evoke tears, tension, fright and every other conceivable emotion. Speaking of ghosts, I’ve sat many times on an empty Fox scoring stage wondering how Joseph Mankiewicz reacted the first time he heard Bernard Hermann’s main title of “The Ghost And Mrs. Muir”. Did Mankiewicz break down in tears?…

Gateway Scores: The Lion King

So, I am a musical junkie — I love all kinds of music. I tell you this because music for me is a personal and emotional journey. Whether I’m listening to a Top 40 hit or a film score, the music has to touch me… It has to tug on my emotions. Film music has always intrigued me in that a car chase scene or a love scene can spark my interest. Not just that it’s there in the scene, but that something inside of me — my “emotimeter” — turns on. Like most of the contributors and composers on SCOREcast, we all have had the “Wow” experience… The moment that you said, “I want…

Gateway Scores: Men in Black

When Jai asked us to write a Blog this week on the score that got us into the business, or at least opened our eyes to the industry, I was reminded of something I was once told in an interview I had done with a composer called Andrew Sigler. I keep coming back to this time and time again, as I think Andrew really hit the nail on the head: “…I always wonder if [people] confuse their influences with their favorite composers, which are not always the same thing. I’ll put it this way, influences run more deeply and subconsciously than ‘my fave five’ composers. For instance, I love Stravinsky. And I love to say…

Gateway Scores: What Got You “Hooked”?

As a special SCOREcast theme for this last week of June, you’ll see several posts on the Main Page covering a topic that we all love to talk about: our love of film music. We asked our SCOREcast Contributors to tell us what film score got them hooked into the idea that scoring films might be the career for them. From many certain classics to some that you might have ever heard of before, it is possible that you’ll be as surprised as we were with the responses. Have fun reading their stories… and be sure to log in and comment on your own Gateway Score!