There are more, and more of us, as guitarists, writing for picture these days. Whether it's for a home movie that you've brought into your computer, a DVD sound track, (especially for those cute little photo album DVD's) or for a film or video for someone else, it seems that we're getting more involved these days, which is a good thing.

What does that mean to us as the digital recording artist? Well, for one, it means learn how to write against the clock. You may only get a matter of days or weeks to get a score done. At times it can be like writing and recording a record in two weeks! So that's one factor. We'll keep it to some more computer oriented tasks.

For instance, get involved early-on, and get to know the principle players. The director, the producer, and the sound house captain. These will be at times your best ally or your worst enemy. A scene addition, deletion, or a re-shoot, can change your world. Keep in mind, that I'm talking about writing a score, and not turning in tracks as POP songs to be laid into a film. Developing a theme and such. For the music end of that town, I would suggest many different methods of study. Scoring for picture is an art of it's own.

But let's say that you've been given the opportunity to score a film. You need to work with the following types of information.

Discussion.
Talk to the people involved. Get a feel for the project. Find out what their vision is, and how they think that you fit in. Read the script. Find the character(s), and what music suits them, or the tension (or lack thereof) in the scene.

What is the deadline?
Deadline is important. You want to know when the music is due for mixing. NOT when do they have to deliver the film.

What format can they deliver the film to you in?
Usually these days, a Quicktime, or Windows Media low resolution version of the film is fine. See if they can cut the scenes for you into smaller Quicktime files. This will put less stress on your computer. Even a low resolution version of an 117 min film is huge. Low resolution is fine because, you're not as worried about the detail of the scene as much as the vibe of it.

Who has final approval?
This is the main cat to listen to. Often the Director and Producer are together on this. Check with them often as things change on the fly often.

What about time code considerations?
Do you need a separate time code track to work with your gear? Or will window burn be enough? (If you're using Quicktime, the file will sync to your music software program)

What format do you need to deliver the music to them in?
Do they need a Pro Tools session file, do they care? Can you bring in a Logic, or Cubase, or Sonar project?
Can it be just .aiff or.wav files?

Are you responsible for the music only or the mix as well?
This can determine how much mixing work you'll be responsible for.

In a real world, you may be the writer, the mixer, and the special effects/foley person on smaller projects. Probably not, but I've found it easier to get those different ambience EQ's ready to help sell your mix.

For instance, you might be writing a piece of music that's supposed to be for mall ambience. If you put a very low bandwidth EQ on your mix to make it sound like it could be in a mall, this can help the director/producer aurally "visualize" the piece fitting into their film. Same goes for music in a car, or if it's supposed to be coming from a radio, etc. be prepared for these EQ changes. Typically this means that you finish the music, then open a new song, import the music, THEN apply the respective EQ. Get the good music first, then make it fit the scene.

This can apply even if you're not the mixing engineer for the film. Much of the process of writing for picture is just getting the music approved in the first place. So making the music fit as much as it can EQ wise, as well as dynamically, can help sell your music to the director/producer the first time they hear it. Handing someone a CD of cool music doesn't help them "See It" in the film. Although this is often done.

On the tech side, does your software allow you to see Quicktime files? This is a very cool feature that most of the digital audio software packages include. This allows you to import the video right into your audio session to score to picture. If you have a separate monitor, (or two) you can have one as a dedicated picture reference monitor. Otherwise the movie can float on the main screen. Most programs include the possibility to see frames and detect scene changes/edits.

If this is in place, then things just got exponentially easier for you. If you have a ¾" video machine, that always works. If not, then they may have to send you a tape with time code on one channel, and production audio (dialog, ambient sound, and sound effects) on the other. This way for instance, if they deliver on VHS, you can run the left & right audio outs from the VCR to your computer and track in both the time code and the production as separate tracks. If your computer can't translate that, you can buy a little SMPTE to MTC converter box to turn the time code from the tape into Midi Time Code that your computer can lock to. I still know people that are putting music to picture for TV that are using VHS tapes with a SMPTE to MTC converter box to run their rig.

Scoring for picture is as much fun as I've had doing any other form of music. If you're getting into it, have a blast, no matter how many changes happen!!!

Have Fun,
Phil Gates

makintrax@philgates.com
http://www.philgates.com