Choosing Music To Score A Movie or TV

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Choosing Music to Score a Movie

The music score is an integral element in a feature film or TV program and must be chosen with care because it has a significant impact on how the end product is received by its audience. A movie's music score can set the mood, frame a scene, evoke emotion or give voice to a scene in lieu of dialog for added affect. It is important that a documentary's soundtrack be relevant, engaging and effective for every scene in which music is present and if you are not experienced at choosing a score, it can be as overwhelming and daunting as every other major piece of production and post-production for your project. Don't worry, using music from our collection here at www.royalty-free.tv can make the whole process a lot simpler.

Budget, Copyright and Licensing

There are multiple issues to consider when choosing your score. You can not just choose a song and work it in. If only if it were that easy! Some of these considerations include:

• Budget. If you are like most independent film makers, your budget is next to nothing. Because of this, you will need to get creative when it comes to choosing songs for your score. You may know a great musician with a demo who will work for peanuts or an artist in your area who just wants to be heard. Depending on where you live, there may be many choices in these groups. This is were royalty free music such as our collection can be perfect, a ready made source of great music with an affordable budget.

• Copyrights and Royalties. Popular music is great for a timeliness and recognition perspective but those big hits will cost you big bucks. Expect to pay handsomely for any songs you can hum along to because you know them already. You will also need to get permission for these songs in writing. There is no way around this and you will have considerable paperwork to complete. For original pieces from lesser-known artists, work out a worldwide buyout so you be completely covered for all theatrical, DVD and online transmission of the movie. Using royalty free music form a site such as ours saves all of this hassle, since the music is all pre-cleared and ready to go!

• Licensing. If you do not want to use royalty free music from the many sources avaialble, it's good advice to hire a professional to help you with your music licensing. It will save you more in the end than it costs up front and will keep you from making excessively costly mistakes when you wrongly assume you can cut corners or skip the paperwork for your “little” movie. Assume nothing, even the depth of your knowledge and work with someone who really gets it if you can. If not, be sure you ONLY choose music where you are working directly with the artist on all agreements to help streamline the process.

• Editing. If you can, learn how to edit your music. You can find editing software pretty cost effectively and you can do an adequate enough job so that your score will still sound good in the final cut. You can also hire a student for a modest fee to help you bridge some of the gaps in your knowledge.

It's a Labor Of Love

Creating your movie soundtrack is a labor of love for most independent film makers as it is an incredibly time-consuming process with many issues you will need to confront quickly and understand to successfully make your own score. In the end, patience and a sense of humor will be your best friends as you spend many a long night downing lattes as you simultaneously start to hear your original score in your dreams.

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