Have you ever wondered where the music in a film comes from? No film is the same, some of the music may be composed specifically for the film and will only be those compositions. Others may have an original score along with songs from artists not related to the film at all. Still, others may not have an original score at all. Regardless of the type of film and musical selection- who makes these choices? For the sake of simplicity in this blog, it mostly all comes down to the Music Supervisor. Music Supervisors are usually hired by filmmakers to select music to be placed into their film or TV series. In fact, Music Supervisors can be used for film, TV, video games, advertising, or any other visual media. Part of the job is creative -- knowing what type of music is appropriate for a specific scene or moment and having enough music knowledge to make suggestions that would fit those scenes or moments. The other part of the job involves acquiring the rights to use the songs while also working on a specific budget for a project to ultimately please the director and/or producers of the project. The Music Supervisors are not so much in charge of composing a score, they are more involved in the selection of specific songs to be placed in visual media. Most of the music I know and love has been discovered through movies and TV shows which eventually sparked my interest in this topic. This information is useful to music lovers looking for ways to discover new music or those interested in this field as well. This information may also be useful to musicians who are interested in having their own songs placed in movies and TV. All the music I have discovered has been through a variety of different mediums. Not all films or Shows handle their musical selection the same way. I may not know everything about this business but I will share what I have found through my discoveries and personal research. When I was a freshmen in High School I started watching the ABC TV series, Lost (2004). I won’t go into the specifics of the plot as I doubt anyone is not familiar with the series, but I will say that established songs were not often used in the episodes. This made sense as the characters are stranded on an island without such luxuries. However, it is for that reason that when I heard Damien Rice’s “Delicate” during one episode, it really caught my attention. Having that song play throughout the entire scene was a change of pace for a normal episode, and the style of the music resonated enough with me to do some digging and find out what song was being played. Ever since then I have become a huge fan of Damien Rice and I am thankful to that episode for exposing me to him. Not only is music placement in movies/TV good money for artists, but it’s also great exposure. If your song is captivating enough, fans will go out of their way to find you. If a show has a lot of episodes it might be a bit tricky to find the song but it’s still possible. I think I found the song by looking at the Lost Wikipedia page. A different type of musical discovery for me came from the indie film, Once (2007). This film was unique in that John Carney, the writer and director, decided to hire real musicians who could half act, rather than actors who could half sing. In doing so, he hired Glen Hansard of The Frames along with Glen’s friend and musical partner at the time, Marketa Irglova. Together, the duo’s songs written together were used in the film while contributing a song or two written specifically for the film. The song “Falling Slowly” featured in the film went on to receive an Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song. In this case, John Carney, the writer and director of this indie feature was in charge of the musical selection. He knew what we wanted and needed for the film so he handled it himself especially since he knew Glen Hansard when they were in The Frames together. An authentic and raw film like this clearly benefited from having real music and musicians directly involved in the process. The film did have a Music executive and consultant probably to handle the logistics, but working with the artists hands on, I can’t imagine he had to jump through hoops to acquire the rights to the songs. Indie movies sometimes have an advantage in that they don’t necessarily need a music supervisor to make these choices. Besides ‘falling slowly’ in love with the soundtrack (pun intended), this film introduced me to the musical genius that is Glen Hansard along with Marketa Irglova and their project together known as “The Swell Season.” Other soundtracks follow a different approach. The romantic comedy, Dan In Real Life (2007) for example, had all the music written by Sondre Lerche, an established singer-songwriter. Sondre wrote the instrumentals and themes for the film while also contributing some of his previously written material to the film. Dana Sano is listed as the Music Supervisor and was probably the one who chose Sondre to contribute the musical score. I wish I knew the motivation behind that choice but these things are not advertised. Although the film stars big name actors like Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, and Dane Cook, the film was still on a somewhat smaller scale. My guess is that besides Sondre’s obvious talent, choosing an indie artist would definitely help keep the film on a low budget. Music Placement is an interesting thing and its true that every project incorporates music in their own way- even though its usually with the help from a Music Supervisor. These are just a few examples of some of my favorite music and how I came to be interested in this topic. I thought I might as well introduce the topic before flooding the web with blog entries on it. Hopefully you find this as interesting as me and you will stay tuned. 'Cinema Tuned' even, to learn more with me.
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AuthorMusic & Film enthusiast. Definitely not an expert but I'm sharing what I do know. ArchivesCategories |