How I Wrote a Short Thriller Film Score in 3 HOURS
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Here's how I scored the soundtrack for a short film in just 3 hours.
Watch the short film "Leak" here: • Leak - London 48 Hour ...
"Leak" was part of the London 48 Hour Film Project 2020, and was nominated for 7 awards (including Best Soundtrack), winning 3 of those nominations.
I hope you find some of these tips useful on how I approached composing the music for this short film! Let me know in the comments if you found this useful.
this guy is hidden gem, i hope someday can see a movie in cinema composed by tom hawk, i believe you have a amazing taste and skill to become a great composer in the future.
Wow thank you so much for the kind words Andika! 🙏🏼
@@TomHawkComposer Hey what piano do you recommend?
Wonderful score, Tom!
simple, but serves the picture very well - thanks for sharing some insight into your process :D
Thank you Grant! Glad you found the video interesting :)
This is fantastic! I'm currently scoring my own short and this makes me feel better, its amazing how much you can do with just on a computer!
Glad to hear this was useful! All the best with your score :)
String Library at 12:08?
Also are we able to download the non-scored video to score it ourselves?
If I remember correctly it was a blend of CSS and Areia (CSS being at the forefront I think)
@@TomHawkComposer I think most people have moved to Berlin From OT?
@@Broth3rz Use whatever you like the most. There are so many good options out there nowadays. I use what I enjoy using, what can sound realistic and what is required for scoring jobs.
That’s brilliant!! Love this and fantastic work, sir
Thanks!! Glad you found it useful
You're totally right about learning a lot when working on a strict time schedule / deadline. If I compose a full song (with lyrics), arrange it, record it and mix it so that there's a professional and to any public audible result, that usually takes around 3 to 5 days of work if I add up all the hours.
Last week i said: fuck that, I'm a pro... I should be capable of delivering it within 24 hours from first scratch to pro recording result.
Which I did. And it was the time pressure that did the job, unleashed the craftsmanship in an excellent workflow, resulting in every single thing needed in that song being done within 24 hours after start. It's hard... but amazing to work that way 🙂
Yep, trying to create something from first idea to finished product in one day is super intense but a great learning exercise. You learn so much about your craft and your tools. It provides you with valuable insights of how to improve your workflow.
I have scored short films and I know how tough it is to score for a motion film within such tough deadline. It's your modesty that you say not much music is going on.. Because minimalism takes more precision and creativity. Hoping to learn a lot from you. Thanks.
Thank you for your comment, I really appreciate it and I'm glad you found this video useful. I hope you find my new videos helpful, more coming soon :)
The film and score are fantastic!
Thank you! Hope you found the video helpful :)
You are amazing man!!! Can't wait to see more music!!!
Thank you so much!! More music coming soon :)
Great stuff, Tom! 100% agree with you on the importance of an organized template--great insights, and lovely composition!
Thank you Zach! An organised template is so important for us composers. Glad you liked the video :)
This is absolutely amazing Bro! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! Glad you found it helpful
Hey 👋 can’t wait to watch it 🤘
Enjoy! Hope you find it useful 😊
@@TomHawkComposer yea I love your videos 💪 really impressive with the time you had I must say. I find it very hard to compose stuff in the beginning of the process 😅
@@jensjensen4038 thank you Jens! Glad you’re finding these videos useful 😊
I’m thinking of doing a short follow up video to this one about improving workflow speed. Would that be helpful?
@@TomHawkComposer yea I definitely think it will✌️🤘 anything helps 😂
Quality work bro! Gonna dust off my Korg and have some fun 😅
Heck yeah! Hope the music making is going well since you commented :)
WOW great score and the shirt is pretty cool too. Great project
Thank you!
Always good to see how professional work gets done. Thanks for sharing 👍
You’re welcome! More workflow videos coming soon 😊
Love this bro
Glad you found it useful!
Really good! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching Nico! :)
great stuff Tom, thanks for sharing
Thanks Filipe, I'm glad you found the video useful!
Great video as always! Thanks for sharing, really useful
Glad to hear you found it useful Martin, thanks for watching & commenting :)
Great video Tom! Love hearing your work! 🙌
Thanks Jamez! Hope you found the video useful :)
@@TomHawkComposer always! Id love some more videos on how you mix - reverb, EQs, compressors. I could use a lot of help with that!
@@JamezDahlMusic Good to know, I’ve been meaning to do a mixing video for quite a while. I’ll have a think what would be the best way to showcase some core techniques 👌🏼
@@TomHawkComposer I look forward to it!!
thank you lots for this video. please make full length videos for us. I haven't money to go to film school to become film director so I decide become a indie filmmaker. I'm learning from free YT videos, books and internet.
Hey, I am trying to write a script for a short film. I am currently trying to get my foot in the door for the film industry. I was curious what is the price range for an average composer to score a 10-15 minute short film? I am genuinely curious, because when I google it, I receive various answers. I want a more accurate price range if possible. If you do not respond to this, I understand. It has been 2 years since you released this video, and for some it is a sensitive topic. However, if you respond, just want to say thank you and your music score in the film was great!
Good job, what libraries did you used?
can i get your bg music of this video
Great.. My Question: Is it necessary to make scoring on every single scene?. Or should we keep some scenes free from any music?. How to decide on that?. Thanks for the great work 😊
Good question! That’s something you will usually discuss with the director, and do what’s called a “spotting session” where you decide on where music will be and what it will need to do.
In this case however, there wasn’t any sort of spotting session or much musical direction due to how little time there was to work on the music due to this being a 48 hour film challenge.
I hope that’s helpful :)
@@TomHawkComposer That's so helpful. Thanks so much
@@Rosomyat you’re welcome!
I worked on two 48H short films, as Tom said a great experience! One of the films I scored needed lots of goofy underscoring and the music had a play in timing since it we got the "comedy" genre. My second score however was an intro, an outro with vocals, and some sound effects. After discussion with the directors we came to the conclusion by far most of it did not need music at all.
The Music is beautiful.. wow especially the ending, it builds up to exactly where it should be. If you could share what kontakt plugins you used that would be great.
Awesome job!❤️
What editing software did you use?
Thank you! For video editing I use Final Cut Pro X
Hey man! great work! is there any way you can list the instruments you are using in this project? that would be very very helpfull!. thanks a lot!
You spoke about brass libraries, I’m really in need of a decent sounding brass library that I can use with logic. What would you recommend on a budget?
Very cool!
Thanks :)
How do you deal with the BPM to make sure every notes fit the film?
I usually find what BPM works overall for the score/a particular scene, and use that. If it doesn't hit certain hit points then I'll introduce different time signatures (5/4, 6/4, 7/4) for a few bars in places to hit a specific cut (only if it's needed).
Vary rarely do I use tempo ramps unless it's really necessary/there's a specific reason behind it.
Think about working with live musicians: it’s always better having a few bars of 5/4 or 6/4 to hit a cut and go back to 4/4 or whatever time signature, rather than doing crazy tempo ramps to hit a cut.
It's also worth nothing that you don't want to hit absolutely every single cut in the film with your music. Otherwise it starts to feel a bit off, almost like a music video, which isn't always what you want for underscoring scenes in a film/TV. There will be some cases where you do need to hit nearly all the cuts, but generally speaking it's best to not hit every single cut in a scene :)
@@TomHawkComposer
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@walterchang1046 You're welcome :)
I’m not complaining, just observing - why are all these composers I’m watching are from outside the USA? They are BRILLIANT!!!
Haha, thank you!!
@@TomHawkComposer You’re welcome! P.S. I’m working on an original score for my fanfilm, B4: Guardians (a Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons fanfilm)! I don’t really have a musical background, but I know I can do it…hopefully, at least! I just wanted to thank you for being an inspiration to me, because I have the dream of composing an original score…and I do believe that I can do it!
I’m very new to Logic and wondering where you get these instruments that aren’t included with the software ? Thank you
Hey! These are from third-party developers that make sample libraries for Kontakt. There are so many orchestral/cinematic music sample library developers out there nowadays, lots of choice!
need to know the software used!
Where did you get those sounds? Any samples or vst? Please let us know in detail
How do you have your project in time with your timeline? ( for example you can compose in time in the grid, that it's in time with the cut of the video)
Tom I'm a student from Pakistan I have thesis project I have difficulty in score I have 5 minute of horror short film can you help me
thanks for this video can you share the kontakt libraries you used please
Awesome! :D
Thanks for watching Zahari! 😁
The short film was amazing
Are you using logic pro original library? Is there a video of you going through your sound libraries?
Hi Dave, no it’s not Logic Pro’s library, I’m using a lot of third party sample libraries. If I remember correctly, some of these were CSS, Areia (I think), Olafur Arnalds Chamber Evolutions, Forzo, some booms from Albion One, and a couple other libraries. One of the low synths was a Logic stock synthesiser. Hope that helps!
Its a different monster to writing a song. I was in a band and ive be writing for 30 years. Ive started getting into video making. I thought i could write the score. Ha. I was rubbish. I think i write too dependent on melody. So looking at the simplicity of this is great.
"Think more sound design than frikken chords & melody.
Dumb question : what was the DAW used here?
Hey! I’m using Logic Pro X here.
Could you please score my film for me. Its a 20 minute film
what app is that?
Logic Pro X
were you using NI M32 for scoring?
I did for parts of this short film, but I mainly use the NI A61.
I am looking to get a weighted keyboard soon to replace the NI A61, but still keep the NI M32 for things like strings ostinatos and percussion rhythms.
I see. S88 is great 😁
But I only have the M32 here though since I'm still starting. do you think it's enough to score, for example, that film you did for your client?
I would argue that most modern media "composers" aren't actually composers at all. They fall more under the category of sound designers, experimentalists, and, dare I say, noodlers. If DAWs didn't exist, 95% of these people would be out of the business. DAWs allow people to "Frankenstein" things together as they play with their "digital Legos." There are things that become second nature to real musicians over the years that are simply foreign to the digital Lego people. For example, there is no possible way for someone who has just sat at a DAW most of their life to tell me that they are a better orchestrator than I am when I've been playing in numerous bands, orchestras, chamber ensembles, etc. since the 80s. So much has reached our subconscious, so we intuitively know what works, which combinations of instruments sound horrible in unison, general ranges of the instruments, and what actually works in the physical world. Some moron on RUclips who is confused thinking that she's "Joan Williams" wrote one hour's worth of tremolo parts for the strings while playing with her digital Legos. At the scoring stage, they told her, "Look, we can't do this anymore." Ignorance like that could potentially result in serious injuries that could have lasting effects on musicians. There is no substitute for real-life experience. How can you claim to be a champion swimmer when you have never jumped into a pool? It's simply not possible. People are using DAWs as a crutch to find out what might work rather than simply hearing it in advance. Since I have perfect pitch, I can actively tell myself, "Imagine the Principal Oboist playing a legato passage in this range, in this specific character, etc." I can also hear particular soloists in my mind as well or imagine the CSO's brass from their golden era under Reiner. Yet people like me are blocked from the business because many of you DAW people are like bulldozers. You don't know what you don't know, so you assume that you are armed with actual skills and then go and somehow get your foot in the door shamelessly working your connections. Unfortunately most directors and producers know nothing about music, so if you are a good talker or someone with strong industry connections since Uncle Bob supplies light bulbs to a major lighting director, it's only a matter of time before you will get in the door and start working, even if it's a bunch of really small projects at first.
The other major thing that's missing is the actual performance aspect. Dear God, if it's a big budget production where the digital Legos are transformed into parts, guess what? The live players end up sounding like digital Legos! It's a complete waste of money. Might as well install MIDI ports into the players' heads! And I have to laugh when a media composer counters by saying, "Well we have CC data, dude." Well that's just adding fuel to the fire because if you have never played an instrument at a very high level, then what the hell do you know about proper phrasing? The phrasing needs to be INTEGRATED! You can't just use a variety of CC data as a substitute. I've seen the CC data of some "big" LA composers and laughed my butt off because they just drew in whatever just to add some variety (excuse me, but....AHAHAHAHAHA). No, it doesn't work like that. A lot of the phrasing is already implied based on the melodic lines and harmonic movement. You can't arbitrarily go to your MIDI editor and draw in swells (well you can but it will just sound bad). All that tells real musicians is this: "I don't know what the hell I'm doing." Yet many of you working media "composers" act larger than life. If you are at some industry event and John Williams comes over and asks what you do, you should say, "I'm a professional barista," because the gap is so wide that it's beyond ridiculous. This goes for you as well, Hans.