Career-related Topic.

I wrote briefly about this in my previous post, and now I can expand the subject in a more satisfying way. I mentioned that I'm quite interested in film music, being an amateur composer myself (I don't think my music is good anyway). To me, music in films it's not just about increasing the emotion that we see on screen, but also to create in some cases a stream of conciousness, a voice that doesn't merely repeats what the movie is saying but is also able to carry its own message.

I'll use an example to illustrate my point. The music for "The Hours", composed by Philip Glass (both my favourite film and composer), wasn't an addition to the film at all. It didn't "increase" any emotion portrayed in it, neither told you what to feel, but created a fourth main character whose psychology, though helped you to better understand the characters, also created a complex atmosphere that served as a multi-layered message. That's where I learned that film music wasn't just something you add to a movie as salt to a meal. What I'd like to learn now is all about the technical aspects of composing, how the notes can be combined with each other so that a phrase said in words can be said in musical language.

I've loved film music since I was very, very young. I remember I had the cassette of the music for "The Mission", written by the grand Ennio Morricone, and I listened to it repeatedly, without understanding exactly why. About ten years later, I found out that music had such a strong power on me, it could easily manipulate my emotions and up to this day, I still use music to handle my emotions.

Recommended websites:

http://www.filmtracks.com
http://www.scorereviews.com

Both of these sites are online reviews of film music.