While I “work” as a composer non-professionally, I totally agree with you. There is nothing like ACTUALLY DOING IT”. My advice to all similarly inclined minds out there: go out and DO IT!
This is ridiculously helpful. I’ve always wondered how to “practice” film composition, and if the advice you commonly hear (such as rescoring and stock footage) is indeed helpful. Experience has definitely been the best teacher for me more than anything else! Such a relatable video. And thanks for not just stating what doesn’t work, but also providing helpful tips as to what we can do instead ❤🙏🏽
Thank you for the advice! I'm trying to step away from being a producer and focus more on composing and film scoring as I've enjoyed it more and I've been looking for videos on how to get started and longterm tips.
No problem! Your background in producing will serve you well going into film scoring :) Let me know if there's anything you'd like for me talk about in future videos and I'll make note of it!
When I'm not film scoring, all I talk about is finding film scoring work 😂 If you'd like to start learning on the job instead of doing endless re-scores, I think you'll really enjoy my course the Gig Hunting Kit. Hope to see you there! Enroll Now: cheskanavarro.shop/b/N8SK6
I recently finished my first professional gig scoring a short film and was genuinely surprised to find I was scoring without any footage. For absolutely no reason at all, I thought I would get at least a rough edit of the scenes I'd be scoring.. But I did not. I scored it blind, going on just the script and the story (which is, of course, the most important thing) as well as the director's notes and ideas about what they want people to feel when they hear the music. Thankfully, my practice is often creating scores for the fantasy/romantasy books I read so I wasn't super put off but, I was a little unnerved by it. Like, what if my music really doesn't fit with the scene?! And I will not know until I see the finished film!! Anyway... My big lesson during my first time professionally scoring a short film is that, you might get footage. But it's really, really common not to. 🙃
Yeah... every filmmaker works differently 😅 Yet another reason why practicing won't prepare you for everything. Sounds like your practice of creating scores from books came in handy though! It's definitely not ideal to score a film blind, but that's where we as composers can educate our filmmakers on how we like to collaborate. Congrats on your first professional gig nonetheless Claire!!!
I am definitely struggling with the same thing right now when it comes to contacting people after 'polishing' my craft so this really helps to know I'm not the only one going around with this mindset! Thanks for sharing your experiences, it helps us more than you know! :))
What is your vision on AI music? Do we middle-level producers really will be replaced by AI soon? Im trying to understand how to adapt, but nothing comes to mind...
Hmm, I think in context of film scoring (not producing) that directors will prefer to work with trusted collaborators who are already creatively compatible with them rather than AI which might require a lot of input to get what they want. The best thing that mid-tier composers can do (I think) is to embrace their relationships with others in the industry and what makes them different.
@@cheska_yo Love this! And think this is really important! Sorry about continuing a discussion that is now 2 months old! (I missed this video and don't know how) But, I just wanted to add something that I had heard recently and thought was quite interesting. Dr. Jon Wardle (the director of the National Film and Television School ((NFTS)) spoke on a radio programme a couple of weeks ago and was asked about AI and if the school could even exist in the future if AI is just going to do all the work and wipe out all the jobs etc., and he replied with: "You won't lose your job to AI. But you will lose your job to somebody who knows how to use AI [...] you've got to be able to use those tools as part of your workflow" And as much as I'm not a fan of AI, I think this is a really interesting way of looking at it and I think simply recognising what advancements are coming in, learning how to use them at even just a basic level, is a good start...? Maybe? And you still get to choose if you want to use the tools or not. TBH, if I could get AI to sort my music files out for me then I'm all for it! My hard drives are an absolute mess!!! 😂
