Making Music - pain or pleasure?

[Dave Watterson]

Why is it so hard to get our heads around the notion of making our own music
for movies ... or persuading someone to join the film team who can make suitable
music?

I realise it is an art-form on its own, but so is photography, writing, performance,
set design etc etc - every aspect of movie making that we do on our own,
with our club or with friends is the full-time profession of one or more
people in the world of professional film making. That does not stop us having
a good try at all those arts.

It is, of course, easy to borrow the emotions associated with a hit song.
But it is a pain to get clearance and it limits what you can do with the
resulting movie.

If we "owned" the music - i.e. we wrote it or someone on the team wrote it
for us - there would be far fewer problems about showing the work on tv or
to general audiences.

I mention that because with another hat I am involved in the film society
movement (film appreciation groups) and now that most of them use DVD and
tape rather than film to show feature movies, it is technically much easier
for them to show our work. But the rights have to be considered ...

Dave McMusic Man Watterson

[mcarter]

Premiere 6.0 has a music generator in it that fits the music to the length
of the video/film transfer selected. It uses "loops" that automatically repeat
themselves. It is dead easy to use. If you want to you could even sing along!

[Michael Slowe]

"mcarter" <mcarter@16mmoviemaking.com> wrote:

Premiere 6.0 has a music generator in it that fits the music to the length
of the video/film transfer selected. It uses "loops" that automatically
repeat
themselves. It is dead easy to use. If you want to you could even sing along!

That, if I may say so, is awful. Getting music to run for all the right
periods is not the problem - it's getting just the right sound for a given
movement or mood. Even having your own composer (see Dave's sensible suggestions)
is not really the answer because you often don't know what you want until
you hear it. I listen to hours of material seeking just the right piece,
it may only last for 20 seconds, but when you find it it is like striking
gold. The copyright problem has to be addressed however and I think that
I have cracked it by subscribing to a wonderful group of publishers and composers
and have access to countless hours of specially written material. The clearance
is worldwide but you have to contract for each production and you should
make it clear that our films are not made for profit or sale. There is a
cost of course but then film making with film was getting really expensive
with lab costs rising so we have saved those expenses.

Michael Slowe.

[Ned C]

I have used audio network plc (at www.audionetworkplc.com ) they have a fixed
charge of GBP160 for each non-broadcast production using as much of their
music as required, they have an excellent library, some time since I used
then so don't know their current charges/

I work with a composer but remember that composers have a "style" that is
just naturally part of their make up and will not suit every occassion. How
we work is that the finished film is given to him and then he composes using
Cakewalk Sonar, plays back for me and we discuss the result and he makes
changes we agree on. An interesting experience, the only problem is that
he is a latin and and an incurable romantic, tough with the bad news passages!

Ned C



"Michael Slowe" <michael.slowe@btinternet.com> wrote:

"mcarter" <mcarter@16mmoviemaking.com> wrote:

Premiere 6.0 has a music generator in it that fits the music to the length
of the video/film transfer selected. It uses "loops" that automatically
repeat
themselves. It is dead easy to use. If you want to you could even sing
along!

That, if I may say so, is awful. Getting music to run for all the right
periods is not the problem - it's getting just the right sound for a given
movement or mood. Even having your own composer (see Dave's sensible suggestions)
is not really the answer because you often don't know what you want until
you hear it. I listen to hours of material seeking just the right piece,
it may only last for 20 seconds, but when you find it it is like striking
gold. The copyright problem has to be addressed however and I think that
I have cracked it by subscribing to a wonderful group of publishers and
composers
and have access to countless hours of specially written material. The clearance
is worldwide but you have to contract for each production and you should
make it clear that our films are not made for profit or sale. There is a
cost of course but then film making with film was getting really expensive
with lab costs rising so we have saved those expenses.

Michael Slowe.

[Peter Thomlinson]

I agree absolutely with Michael. If you use the wrong music then it defeats
the purpose. Using music as background wallpaper is not a good idea, although
we have all been guilty of doing just that at times, usually for the reasons
of convenience. Finding the right music and putting it on the perfect spot
on the timeline is an art, and that is one of the reasons why Michaels films
are so special.

Peter Thomlinson (animato@pocoanimato.co.uk)

"Michael Slowe" <michael.slowe@btinternet.com> wrote:

"mcarter" <mcarter@16mmoviemaking.com> wrote:

Premiere 6.0 has a music generator in it that fits the music to the length
of the video/film transfer selected. It uses "loops" that automatically
repeat
themselves. It is dead easy to use. If you want to you could even sing
along!

That, if I may say so, is awful. Getting music to run for all the right
periods is not the problem - it's getting just the right sound for a given
movement or mood. Even having your own composer (see Dave's sensible suggestions)
is not really the answer because you often don't know what you want until
you hear it. I listen to hours of material seeking just the right piece,
it may only last for 20 seconds, but when you find it it is like striking
gold. The copyright problem has to be addressed however and I think that
I have cracked it by subscribing to a wonderful group of publishers and
composers
and have access to countless hours of specially written material. The clearance
is worldwide but you have to contract for each production and you should
make it clear that our films are not made for profit or sale. There is a
cost of course but then film making with film was getting really expensive
with lab costs rising so we have saved those expenses.

Michael Slowe.