Score

Score: A Film Music Documentary (2016) was written and directed by Matt Schrader. The film featured dozens of people who have written, directed, and played music for movies. These included Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman, but there were many, many more.

Often, we don't even notice the music playing during a film. Or else we somehow believe that the music just arrived in the movie. There it is--we listen or not depending on how loud it is or how beautiful it is.

Of course, some film music has become popular in its own right. Figure skaters still perform to Tara's Theme, or the 007 theme, or the music from Dr. Zhivago, years after the films have somewhat faded from our mind.

Still, cinema is a visual medium, and we don't think much about the music when we're watching the movie. The music is "just there." Except that it isn't. Score documents the immense effort and cost involved in bringing music into the films.

I recommend this movie because I think that you'll learn quite a bit, as I did. Also, the film made me more conscious of the music we hear every time we go to the movies, or watch a film on the small screen. Also, it will work very well on the small screen.

I'm such a sucker for filmmaking docs, and this is a good one. Covering the entire history of composers scoring films, it's surprisingly comprehensive for how giant the topic is. Still, its scant 94 minute runtime did make me wish there was a "The Story of Film: An Odyssey" mini-series version of it. This will do for now.

A fairly comprehensive documentary about composers of music scores, their process in working with directors, their relationship with musicians and their reactions to the finished product. The film focuses somewhat on Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and Hans Zimmer (who speaks quite a bit in the film and is amusing) but many other composers are included. The changing nature of film scores over time is explored. A film historian and a psychologist also make appearances. One of my favorite parts looked at different instruments that have been used in soundtracks. I will probably be paying a lot more attention to the score in films I see in the future!

Maybe it is too much to cover the whole history of film music in one film. The golden age of cinema is overlooked and the silver age is touched on in this film. They started talking about Jerry Goldsmith then quickly cut over to John Williams. John Williams is a great composer, I think his best work is Superman (1979) that whole score is great. But we know Williams because he scored Lucas and Spielberg. All the other composers didn't have that exposure. What about Basil Poledouris Conan? Or James Horner's earlier work like Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan?

And going back to Goldsmith. The guy has the greatest library as a whole such creativity, experimentation. The film does show composers fiddling with instruments to get a certain sound. Guess who started that? Goldsmith. Who experimented with moog and electronics? Goldsmith. Guess who wrote the creepiest song ever for the anti christ? Goldsmith!

I guess I would say to anyone that is a slightest of a fan of this music, just start listening there is so much great stuff out there. And a lot of it is on Youtube, which I hope stays up there so people can learn and enjoy these people's work.

Score is a documentary that aims to highlight an important, yet often overlooked aspect of films: their soundtrack. The documentary takes the subject on mostly in chronological order, from early piano scores to the modern marrying of orchestral and electronic mediums. Along the way, the filmmakers interview film historians, directors, and the composers themselves.

It really is amazing to witness how much emotional impact a film's score can have, down to little details like the volume of a french horn. Though I don't think I will ever truly understand how one creates this music, this is undoubtedly a worthwhile film for any movie-lover. My only disappointment is that the filmmakers were unable to interview the great John Williams (though he was covered extensively).