Score: A Film Music Documentary

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 14 (2020)

This film gives an inside look into the occupation of film score composing. Has several interviews from legends such as Hans Zimmer, etc. Must see for OST collectors.

At first I thought "finally a doc on score for movies!", but then, at the end, it didn't match my expectation. Only two good things on it: it showed that John Williams indeed is a God when comes to music for films, and a nice homage Iron Jim did for James Horner, during the ending credits. Just that.

Excellent documentary that answers the question, “why is film music move us emotionally?” And “how film music changed historically?” There are interviews from many well known and popular composers, film producers and film historians. A definite documentary to watch. The only area I wish they would have added upon is there were very few women film composers interviewed and spotlighted. It left me wondering, is there a reason why there are so few women film composers? Was that a choice of the documentary producers and directors?

As an overview of the intricasies and importanc eof the scorig of films, this was a great documentary. However, there was too much worship of John Williams when composeres like Silvestri and especially Goldsmith received only minimal mention. Godlsmith was the king of memorable and hugely oroginal scores, with melodies that truly stuck in our heads. Williams is great, sure, but the coverage of his work was about 60% of the story, rather than perhaps 20%. Yes, his work is ubiquitous and larger-than-life, but this is because of timing and his Spielberg exclusivity. Other than this lopsided look at who's who, overall a well done documentary. Entertaining and certainly a motivation for fans as well as those who might be comtemplating a job as a studio musician: by default, the best in the business.

I mostly loved this doc. It’s puzzling that James Horner wasn’t even mentioned until a tribute during the credits (rude) - justice for An American Tail!! Also no mention of MY MAN John Carpenter, which is hugely offensive to me, nor were there any mentions of other greats like Alan Silvestri (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) or Brad Fiedel (Terminator). Plus, I think Bernard Herrmann & Ennio Morricone each deserved a few more mins of screen time. But the focus here was spending time with current composers in the day-to-day of the job - unfortunately, those jobs are on movies like Minions and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation so who really cares.. 🙄 Those issues aside, it’s still a great introduction to this part of music-making and even gives a decent entry point in learning about home recording and self-producing. The biggest a-ha moment for me was someone saying, “We’re now in the Hans Zimmer era” and it suddenly clicking how true that is. I realized he’s sort of the Led Zeppelin of orchestral film scoring - great in his own right, but also responsible for inspiring so much crap that’s followed since. All the generic, ultra dark, strings-as-percussion scores out there are really his babies in a way... I guess I also have to admit this doc made me acknowledge that John Williams probably does deserve the #1 spot in this world, even though he’s not one of my faves. The impact is undeniable. But give me a Bernard Herrmann or Jerry Goldsmith score any day! I hope you get to see this, it’s fun!

I really enjoyed this documentary. It brought back so many memories of listening to soundtracks when I was a kid. John Williams is of course a legend. I was REALLY surprised they didn't mention James Horner, especially his Titanic soundtrack. He also did Glory, Field of Dreams, Apollo 13, and Braveheart. I'm stunned there wasn't a segment dedicated to him. But all in all, this is a solid documentary and I learned quite a bit.

They missed Korngold, Tiomkin, Waxman, and only a minor comment on Max Steiner. There are so many others they missed spending too much time on present day composers. I love the concept and there should be more but also on those truly great composers that lead the way.

This documentary made me proud to be a musician... AND, John Williams was touched by God.

It is the unstated truth that a great sound score can last much longer in the memory and mean maybe more than the movie does in the long run. This is a really unpretentious story behind some of the great modern composers and how they think with notes and not words or pictures.