Film music gurus...your help is needed!

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a_street

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Got a stupid question for you. I've never done music to accompany a film before, so any input would be appreciated.

A friend of mine went to film school in Seattle, and completed a short (5-7 minutes or so) color film as her final project. She's asked me if I could provide a soundtrack for the film for screen credit. The only copy of it that she's able to provide me with is a video copy from the final cut sans music (their original soundtrack people backed out at the last minute). I've got a few ideas, musically, as to what this is going to sound like, what type of music will go with what scenes, etc., but my burning question is this...

How do I do it? How do I sync up my musical gear with the video, given my lack of SMPTE equipment? A notebook and a stopwatch? :confused:
 
If you are just going to be in the credits just end it with a repettitive line and fade out at the end.
 
I'm actually doing the entire soundtrack, which makes it a little bit harder...
 
The sound track has to be slaved to the video, the kind of code depending on the film format, could be SMPTE, video blackburst etc.

What you would need to do is write the music for the film first. After that is complete, take it to a place where they can record it from your format to the video format they are using, or where you can re-track it direct into whatever system they are using.
No doubt the school will have all the facilities to do that, that's what they are there for! Ask your friend to take you to the school and sort it out.

What we would normally use is Pro Tools with AVoptionXL, which allows us to pull up a video screen within the Pro Tools editing screen, or project the video onto a larger screen as well, so we have both audio and video. But, that is for post work, you'll still have to write the music first!!
 
I guess that's what I'm getting at - how do I write the music to go with specific cues? All I've got is a VHS tape of the film, and my computer/studio...
 
Cool link Tom!!
A-street, believe it or not, that's all what most writers for film have got!
 
I've done a little of this before and I've come up with a method that seems to work.

Sit down in front of the TV with the instrument you like to compose on. Have the remote handy and play the video through. Play along with what you see. Keep watching the video until you have some ideas. MOST IMPORTANT - Have a tape recorder or a 4-track recording what you're doing. Don't worry about mistakes because you're just getting ideas. Come up with ideas for all the major visual cues and then figure out how to work up to them.

I recorded music for a 90 min movie using this method. My 4-track had a counter which I visually synched up to my VCR's counter (kind of crude but it worked). I recorded one track with one instrument while watching the video. Then I had something to play along with for the other tracks.
 
I would watch and borrow ideas from other films in the same genre' (Death wish 2 is an exellent one for action). I am currently working on a project in which I also get to play one of the villians.:cool:
 
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