How I Won a Film Scoring Contest
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
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Let's dive in to my winning submission from the Indie Film Music Contest earlier this year! In it, I'll explain how I structured the score to best fit the story of the film.
If you're short on time and want to get to the nitty gritty:
03:35 - Walkthrough of the video without music and my thoughts
13:04 - Walkthrough of the video with my music
21:22 - In depth look at orchestration of main hit points
The Indie Film Music Contest is always running more competitions! To see if one is happening now, visit: www.indiefilmm...
To watch through my full submission without me rambling on every 5 seconds: • Poulette’s Chair - New...
Huge thanks to Zac Prosser for the edit and helping a RUclips newb like me actually make something!
Stunning acoustic panel print done by Rico Tazi with www.acoustimac... and illustrated by Kip Henderson.
![Film Scoring Masterclass with Zethu Mashika [Full Masterclass Film]](/img/1.gif)
Watch through to the verrrrry end for a surprise!
Made me jump lol
Haha that's awesome
😂😂😂😂😂
Hi Jesse. Just a quick update two years after watching this youtube video by you. This is the one video that inspired me to try my hand at film scoring. And over the past two years I have scored about 15 short films and documentairies. If it wasn't for your video this would never have happened. So a really big thank you for allowing me a glimpse into your scoring process. I absolutely love scoring films and - from what I hear from others - my writing and orchestration skills have vastly improved over the past 2 years. So thanks again for starting me on this incredible journey of writing music.
Honesly SO incredibly cool to hear this. I'm so thrilled for you and honored to be a part of that journey! Thank you for sharing!
Could you tell me how you got started with work?
@@Millennium_audios Sure. I started scoring (short) movies only ywo years ago - as a hobby, so I did not charge. Also because I'm still learning. More recently I came in contact (via facebook) with a Dutch filmmaker (I am Dutch too) who has a company in California. He wants me to score a 90-minute film - and he has a budget for it. So this will be my first paid job.
The only advice I can give is: widen your network and do not worry if you have to work for free at the start of your career. Consider this as part of the learning process. If you're good enough some more (paid) opportunities will come along. Good luck!
@@iamfrankbiesta Interesting thank you for the advice! How did you find movies to score for free?
You had me at the John Williams joke in the beginning, watched until the last second. Incredible work, bravo...well deserved first place!
Haha glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for watching.
Love this - definitely has Indie/ Ghibli vibes .❤
Thank you!! Really appreciate that.
Even though the story's not necessarily sad, you definitely had me tearing up at some parts. That was incredible. The heroic horns gave me HTTYD vibes, while the strings and piano totally had that Ghibli feel! Thank you for breaking down your scoring process too. Learned quite a bit!
My pleasure! Thanks so much for watching. I’m glad you found it helpful, and I appreciate the kind words!
This was the most inspiring and the most helpful tutorial I've seen for a long time. What a beautiful piece of music you wrote there!
Thank 's for this video!
Hey I’m so glad! Thanks for watching ❤️
so many great lessons from this video, especially making the high points purposefully smaller to allow the next ones to be bigger. Thank you
My pleasure! Thanks for watching. I’m glad you found it useful!
Just wanted to say. This is my 3rd time watching this, this year!
It's so incredibly informative. There's so little tutorials online about spotting for emotional storying writing.
Thank you so much. I know this isn't my last time watching this either.
My pleasure! Thank you so much for watching. I’m really glad you find it so helpful.
@@jessehaugen Absolutely, mate. Thanks again. It truly is gold!!! I learn something new with each watch.
Really awesome Jesse! "I also put sleigh-bells here because I'm basic and their's snow" BUT IT WORKS SO WELL haha!
Haha thank you!
Its basic, but effective haha
i've been watching hans zimmer masterclass but its different, so emotional and very amazing session, thanks man!
Thank you so much!
RUclips videos of this kind usually have waaay too much talking and not enough music, however crude or fragmentary. This one is a real exception. It's very informative to get a blow-by-blow of your thinking.
That’s incredibly kind of you to say. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Well, Jesse...it was amazing. I would see more in depth details about layering, and building up harmonicly the peaks, each instrumental section one by one. You showed it, but it was too short for me. Amazing structure, and musicly light. Hope we'll hear about You and your scores more.
I really appreciate that! Great feedback. I'm never sure how much depth people want, but I'd be happy to go in a little further on stuff! I'll keep that in mind for future videos. Thanks again!
@@jessehaugen yes , many untrained people also wanna know how to layer instruments & make it big like u did.
If possible plz do in depth video of scoring.
Good to know! Definitely will do!
@@jessehaugen Well? We're waiting! :)
@@Liquidhun I know, I know. Hey, but I HAVE uploaded a bunch of other stuff so far! Next video should cover a lot of this. It's about how I scored a video game trailer and I'll break down the layers in the orchestration and stuff!
Dude this is great. Love hearing about your process.
Thanks, Kip! It's fun to share it with everyone.
I couldn't imagine this soundtrack any better. I'm in a competition myself now and im not experienced in scoring at all. I just make regular electronic four to the floor stuff and some experiments. I hope i don't have to compete with someone on your level. You need more views! :P
I appreciate that! I remember (and honestly still do at times) feeling that way, but I'll tell you the same thing someone told me: NO ONE writes music exactly like YOU. So, you know, just do your thing and you'll be great!
@@jessehaugen indeed.
Genuinely excellent work on this. Such an inspirational example of using music elements to complement and tell a story. Honestly I think better than like 90% of main stream film scores I hear today.
I appreciate the incredibly kind words! Thank you so much
Very helpful. Especially seeing that you add complexity and movement with additions and subtraction of timbres - you aren't throwing complex meter or runs at it. Perfectly executed yet fairly straightforward. Appreciated.
That's great to hear! I'm really glad it was helpful. Thank you for the kind words, and thanks for watching!
This helps me SOOOO MUUCHHH understanding what Hans Zimmer ment with STORY as the 1 Thing you need for composing (in the masterclass trailer). Thank you for this Video and the meaning of personality through music 😊 ur amazing Im defenetly gonna follow u
I'm so glad!! Thanks for watching.
@@jessehaugen ur so underrated 😮 I think you deserve far more followers or lets say more people should deserve to see these Videos they are just mindblowing....The more I watch it the more I actually feel the music it gives me goosebumps every time 😅😊 ur sooooo talented and good and... idk what to say ~.~ I hope you know what I mean....I realy watch a lot of tutorial thingys but I got a compleatly new view on it and I never had that before (sry I dont want to annoy you but Im realy thankfull😅)
Such kind words! I really appreciate you saying that. All I want to do is help offer the insight I wish I had when I was starting out, so this is awesome to hear.
@@jessehaugen Uhm...I hope I dont bother by asking but... rn Im on a stage where I make music only by free Plugins like LABS, LAYERS, BBC Discover, ProjectSAM, Pendulate (for the Synth), The free Kontakt stuff and stuff like that in Cakewalk (a free DAW)....I thought about upgraiding to better stuff when Im good with all the eddeting reverb, vibrato, modulation that kinda stuff, mix-mastering and composing itself. Ive heard in the direction epic Orchestral Jaeger is a good all rounder with some of the Instruments even being outstanding. Metropolis Ark seems to have more specific stuff realy heavy epic stuff and I saw you mentioning Jaeger but Not Metropolis Ark in what you use.
Maybe you got some advices on what to upgraid first Plugins/DAW wise?
I also already have a e-piano without modwheel for sustain etc. tho. just a pedal.
Would be unbelivably amazing of you if you got any advices because Im realy struggeling. Im also taking free courses in musicschool when they offer something in the direction of filmmusic, but I would consider it more of being a hobby then a in planning job with wich I mb could start earn something some day. I also joined a gamedevelopmemt Team (with a lot of people who just want to learn) trying to get better at composing. 😊 Like I said if u got any advices I would be sooooo thankfull😇 you already helped me so much with this Video understanding the prosess better and I think ur very good at explaing Things...or at least I understand it better then in some other Videos by other people.... ❤Thanks for everything❤
@@jessehaugen sry Im always blabbering so much 😅🙈
Wow this is so great. Made me smile the whole way through and just enforced my feeling of wanting to become a composer. Thank you so much. Great work!!!
This is incredibly kind, thank you!
Wow Jesse, this is so incredible. I really enjoyed you explaining the entire process. I have never thought about the music and the movement, you describing your thoughts and how you wanted to direct this enchanting film is brilliant. I love creativity, yours is fabulous. Thank you so much for this video. Hope to see more. Oh, and of course huge congratulations for a well deserved win. Proud of you.
Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Its easier to be creative when there's such an inspiring film to be scored!
Wow I ENJOYED SEEING HOW MUSIC IS PUT TOGETHER FOR ANY FILM, AND LOVED SEEING HOW YOU DID IT TO THIS PRECIOUS FILM CLIP....JESSE, YOU ARE VERY TALENTED AND THIS WAS GREAT THAT YOU WON THE CONTEST . SO NOW EVEN SHARING THIS TALENT AND WISDOM IS SO GENEROUS OF YOU..I AM PROUD TO BE YOUR AUNT CAROLYN IN TEXAS, AND NOW I HAVE BRAGGING RIGHTS TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT YOUR FINE WORK IN SCORING MOVIES... KEEP IN TOUCH WITH US ALL..CS AND SS
So good to hear from you! We miss you guys! Thanks for the encouragement and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
Loved your submission! I’ve listened to it several times over and taken notes on how to make my work better. Keep getting after it!
I really appreciate that! Thanks, man!
Super talented Jesse. Happy to have discovered this. Thanks for sharing. Wish I had seen this sooner!
Thank you, I appreciate that! Its fun to share.
Hi Jesse, thank you so much for this video! You articulated the ideas very clearly. Plus some of those "obvious" things should be heard over and over again, because essentially they will always be important😊 Prize well deserved!
My pleasure! Thank you for watching!
Nice acoustic panel in the back
Bro that credit coming your way now!!
Thank You Very Much Sir!
🙂🙏
My pleasure! Thanks for watching!
I love to come back to this video from time to time ... ah the music and how you explain your choices on how to tell the story is so amazing...realy great
I really appreciate that! Thank you!
trust me it was one of the best walk through I've seen in the past few months and I've learned sooo much out of it. From a novice composer point of view, it was one of the best and most helpful thing I've watched. From a viewers point of view, the scores gave me Goosebumps.
I’m so glad! Thank you so much for the kind words.
You are incredibly talented, I had goosebumps when you did the motif in a Christmas themed way when snow fell, absolutely beautiful
Thank you so much!
This may be one of the best motivating and also informative video on scoring around. Really nice job and really well deserved win! :D
That's so kind!! Thank you so much.
This tear jerked me!! Beautiful writing! And I really enjoyed hearinf you talk through your thoughts.
Thank you so much! I appreciate the kind words.
Good advice from someone who has won a scoring contest! All the best in your music scoring goals, Jesse!
Thank you! I appreciate that. All the best to you as well.
Yes, you nailed it brilliantly. Congratulations!
Thank you so much!
How am I only finding you on RUclips now 😮 great videos dude!
Thank you! I really appreciate that.
I really enjoyed this score. Great work🙌
Thank you so much!
Your score gave me goosebumps!! Loved the video
Thank you so much!
Wow, I wish I found this video a lot earlier! Gorgeous score by the way, I really enjoyed the way you went through it.
Thank you so much! Glad you did find it, and that you enjoyed it!
"Because I'm basic and there's snow." Delightful 😅
It just works! Haha
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and process. I too entered this competition and learned a lot just from doing it. All the best to you!
My pleasure! It really was an awesome contest to be a part of.
Man this was such a good breakdown I learned a lot ! Instant sub 🙏🏼
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed
This is so incredible! as a young composer it makes me so happy and excited to see this, hopefully someday i can make something just as good (: btw have you ever considered doing a video about developing your skills as a composer (things like formal education vs self taught or something) anyway keep up the good work!
Thank you! Really glad you enjoyed it.
That’s not a bad idea for a video; I’ll consider it!
Thank you so much for making this video and sharing your thoughts and process. I found this very inspiring!
I’m so glad! Thanks for watching!
awesome break down!
Thank you!
beautiful movie, music, and talk. Thanks for sharing, Jesse
Thanks for the kind words!
I entered this year! When looking into the contest I came across your winning submission and it is some great work! Love what you did with this. Also nice to see a fellow Cubase user.
Thank you so much! Best of luck for this year’s contest. And let’s go Cubase!
Wow, I learned so much from this video. Thanks a lot
That’s awesome! Thanks for watching!
Fascinating. Great to hear the thought process that went into the final choices. One question: where you have a plot point to accentuate with the score, presumably you are effectively writing from that point ‘backwards’, so score and plot meet in the moment. Are you then working backwards all the time (so that you can manage pattern and repetitions - the things that emphasise the structure? Or are you thinking of individual distinct illustrative ‘scenes’ and threading them along a flexible timeline? I’ve been trying to learn, by making short spoken word films and adding music, but I’m mostly cutting the images sometimes to fit the sound rather than, as you do hear, making the sound fit the visuals. In any case, great stuff. Many thanks for sharing!
Hey Pat! Thanks so much.
Yeah, so, because I'm always given the visuals first, I apply the music to those, rather than the other way around. So I am often working "backwards" in a sense, because I'm thinking about moments to accentuate or land on. I'm not really writing backwards though, so much as just giving myself consistent targets throughout. That's maybe a better way of thinking about it. I'm writing my music with designed target points throughout. How I get there happens in forward motion, but where I'm going is definitely a working backwards thing. .....if that makes sense? haha
Great score, well done. And great video.
Thank you for the score walkthrough/breakdown, behind the scenes tutorial. As a beginner it's a great learning experience to get an insight into what you did and to see how others compose.
I really appreciate that! I'm glad you found it helpful/insightful!
This score is fantastic and your explanation was so helpful 👏
Thank you! I really appreciate that and am glad it was helpful!
I feel like I should have paid for that lesson in writing for film. Very generous of you to share so much, Jesse. Thank you.
My pleasure! I'm glad you received so much from it.
nice! I appreciate the in-depth walkthough! much appreciated!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Great!
Thank you!
Aah this is great!! I'm in my 2nd year of studying film music and I found your explanation as you show the music super helpful!! I'm trying to score my first short film (for an assignment, nothing professional) and for a moment I felt like I was starting from 0 (w/ a blank Logic screen), but just watching someone's process made me wake up. Thank you!
This is honestly so incredibly cool to hear. I started a RUclips channel because watching other composers' channels inspired me to break past that blank logic screen too! SO glad this did that for you. Write on! (pun intended)
Jesse, this score is a masterpiece! What you do is very special and the whole thought process on dynamics is brilliant.
Wow! That's incredibly kind. Thank you so much!
Like musical chairs ❤️❤️❤️🙌
This is just so... wonderful!
Thank you!
Omg dude... thats so brilliant ! :o
Thank you! Appreciate that.
Congrats Jesse!
Thank you!
This gave me goosebumps! Fantastic video!! As a composition major myself and one who is very interested in this type of composing, this was an incredible resource!
That's so awesome. I absolutely love to hear that. Happy composing!
The music definitely made me tear up. Well deserved!
Thank you so much! I’m honored that you were touched by it.
Such an amazing score
Thank you so much!
hi! just want to thank you for this wonderful, educational, and detailed insight into your process as it not only helped me with my entry, I learnt so much about how to tell a story musically
Amazing! Thank you so much
currently in the process of trying to go back and get my master's in film score and this was a relaxing video in between the slew of how to's to get myself back into it. still figuring out where to get video to score to that's free but so far RUclips has been a welcome friend.
That's incredible! Shoot me an email or join my discord and I can get you this film to experiment with! jessehaugen@notemuse.com for email or discord.gg/Q8mhGaxEvE for discord!
Wow! This is amazing! Thank you for sharing and taking us through your process. It's so insightful- how you picked parts of the film to accent, how to add personality to the characters of the film, how you add movement through your music, how you make the layers of your music to make it thicker. You're super.
That is so kind! Thank you! Really glad you enjoyed it and found it insightful!
This is awesome man, this video is really helpfully to learn to get out of the box and focus more on the story telling with the music, Great video man XD
Thanks so much man! I’m really glad you enjoyed it.
i'm not a musician but today i still learn how to be a movie composer, it can be wonderful if you can make a score for a movie and bring your wife and youre son or daughter to a cinema and watch it and feel it together, and hoping another people can fee it too
man that's really good! you inspired me to register to this competition 👍
Oh man, that's awesome! Hope you have/had a blast doing it.
Such a great walkthrough - super insightful!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
Man if a silent movie like this came to me I would be super stressed about how do I compose music for a movie like this. But after watching your video I feel I might be able to compose decent music to atleast get the clients onboard for t GB e project thanks to internet for popping this video in my screen !!
Eyyy there we go! Glad this helped man 👌
oh my God, this video is Gold!
So glad you found it and enjoyed it!
Jesse nice work. I'd have used english horn in the beginning to evoke more emotional element. It works as a great solo instrument in scenes like that. The super hero stuff was nicely done. There was one scene I thought adding the Basses deep and on an mp level would have added so much depth and emotion to the score in the bedroom scene.
But this is all nit picky. It's nicely done.
Thank you! And those are great suggestions.
I'm not a music producer or anything.. i do computer software.. but this video was incredible and it's very clear you have a gift for translating these animations into musical motifs and build upon them harmonically, rhythmically, thematically, and everythingly. Subbed for sure
That’s incredibly kind of you to say! Thank you so much
love this break down great stuff
Thank you! Appreciate you watching
Great, great, great!!!
I really like the way you feel the video and put it in the muzical score!
Thank you!
Thanks so much!
You are a genious. You have a new follower. An 80s electronic music maker with ambitions of future film scoring in mind.
You're too kind! Thank you!
Awesome Job!
You deserve many more views!
Thank you! I really appreciate that. I need to be better about actually posting videos!
The gentle drift and build up of the theme walks toe to toe with the animation. It is wonderfully paced and fits the storyline perfectly. Hope you get to record it using a live orch as well - will be great to compare the difference in sound and can be another continuation to the tutorial!
Thank you! I've had the same thought, actually. Recording it live would be a really cool continuation of this. Maybe one day!
Fantastic Video and fantastic score!
Thank you so much!
Thank you for your insight.
My pleasure! Thank you for watching!
This is incredible man! A pleasure to learn about your thought process on this!
Thank you! I appreciate that. It's my pleasure to share!
Lovely
Thank you!
This is why you make the big bucks!
I only WISH I made the big bucks haha
AMAZING WORK!
Thank you so much!
I do really like your music, and I know you said this at the start of the video, but a lot of your music is very obviously influenced by John Williams. This one at the start slightly reminds me of Hans Zimmer's Tennessee. Really good stuff and great breakdown :)
This was great, and very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to create this enlightening video to share your creative thinking process.
Thank you so much! Incredibly kind of you to say. It's my pleasure!
This is wonderful! Thank you for sharing this with us! A well deserved win! Wish I was that talented!
Thank you for the kind words! Just a lot of hours spent doing the thing. You've got it too, I'm sure!
Thank you very much!!!
My pleasure! Thanks for watching!
Thank you Jesse, this was amazing! Really interesting to hear all your thoughts and see how you translated them into musical ideas. Subbed
Thanks, Martin! I really appreciate that and am glad you enjoyed it.
Really appreciate your transparency. Great video and very helpful. Thank you
My pleasure! Thanks so much for watching!
Amazing work! Its impressive the feel of how the music merges to the images! You really deserved the 1st place! May I ask about the libraries you used for this work? Your way of explaining things is very clear, I think we can learn a lot just by listening to your coments during the video. Thank you!
Thank you very much! I've answered that question a couple times somewhere in the comments here. If you scroll through, you should be able to find a mostly complete list!
I found it right after send you the first message! hahaha @@jessehaugen
Narnia motif "Beginning of the adventure" by Harry Gregson-Williams at 17:41 ,amazing work btw!
This was such a good video and your score is incredible. Really nice work there Jesse. I just signed up for the current Indie Film comp, so wish me luck! I'll certainly be taking on the advice you gave :)
I really appreciate that, thank you! It's awesome that you're doing this one. Best of luck, and I hope the advice is helpful!
Hi Jesse. Thank you for sharing your creative process. Love it. Learning from you a lot!
Best wishes for your amazing career!
Thank you! Incredibly kind of you to say. Happy to share!
I just applied to the same contest! This is great advice and an amazing video :)
Amazing! I wish you the best of luck! Thanks for watching the video. I’m glad you found it helpful!
Wow! Thanks Jesse! This is very valuable info!
My pleasure! Glad you found it valuable.
This piece is an art to me. It speaks story. So good Jesse.
Thank you very much!
Thank you for sharing your advice, tips, and perspectives. It is appreciated!
My pleasure! Thank you so much for watching!
This animation gives me Pokémon feels good job! verrdy good my friend. You should do a video like this but with the obi wan fan film!
I know right?! Its so good. And good idea!
Bro I just wanna say I love your set up it's so dope!
Oh thanks! I'm really happy with it.
Amazing Video! I honestly subscribed after the first seconds when you mentioned John Williams and he appeared 😂 And by the end I knew it was the right decision 😉
Great work, keep it up!
That's awesome haha
So glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the sub!
Amazing video, your music is wonderful! I am still learning and this video is very inspirational. Thank you!
Thank you so much! That's so great to hear.