Filmmaking / Directing : When DO you start thinking about music for your project? by Amy Balcomb

Is it an imperceivable moment early on when writing the screenplay? Is it when typing the script or fleshing out a character’s motives? When DOES a musical element appear in the consciousness of those creatively involved in a project whose role ISN’T the composer? Does it happen? For me, as a composer still learning ones craft and trying to build relationships with those whom I could potentially collaborate with, musical inspiration comes every day. And I don’t have to be working on a project to feel the spark of inspiration either. Walking the dog, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve needed to grab my phone and hum into it for a moment to try and capture what is playing in my head. I’ll probably speak the instrumentation, perhaps adding a second hummed line to represent a bass line or harmonic progression. If we’re very lucky, we’re brought into a project early and the script can start to reveal audible secrets just waiting to be told. Sometimes as whispers, a storyline or character starts a ball in motion, a process, that offers up something musical. Otherwise the visuals of a scene inspire. Initially it can be a feeling, an emotion. Other times it will be a pace and speed. But composing original music is always to me a gift from some place that I can never fathom.