Lights! Action! Music!

Five minutes into this film, I had high hopes--the clips of interviews with film directors and composers suggested they were going to delve into the ways in which music shapes our viewing experience. They mused evocatively about music's relation to story and emotion.But basically, then, they just kept doing that for the rest of the hour, intercut with scenes and music from various films considered to have great scores (weirdly, to my mind, the music was not necessarily matched with the scenes--the main theme would play throughout the segment, with random clips from the film interspersed with the interviews--even though at least one interviewee talked about how important the timing and matching of music to particular scene was). There is some discussion of the process, which is interesting (didn't know that often the composer and orchestrator are different people), but all of the interesting points made by interviewees could have been made so much better with illustrations. For example:- Composers talk about searching for and discarding themes until they hit upon the right idea. Why not show clips from a movie with a 'wrong' and then a 'right' idea? Or have one of the composers play an example of how they developed an idea, and why?- Composers discuss the importance of timing--why not show clips with music starting (e.g.) just before, at the moment of, or after a kiss to demonstrate the difference?I could go on. But there are no such illuminating examples. And there is hardly any analysis of a particular film score (as in the wonderful documentary on Bernard Herrmann, which illuminates how he creates a sense of tension through the use of unresolved 7th chords; or Leonard Bernstein's fascinating analysis of Beethoven's 5th where he compares alternative 'solutions' to the one Beethoven used). Lastly, the film relies wholly on filmmakers and composers, no critics or music/film scholars, and artists are to my mind not always the most qualified to analyze or discuss their own work.I don't regret watching this film; it's an interesting glimpse into the world of composing and a nice exposure to many film scores, older and newer. But instead of just cracking the door and talking to us through the screen, they could have invited us inside.

I teach music appreciation in high school and ordered this to go along with the chapter on film music. I plan to use it as a possible resource.

As a huge film music enthusiast, I was ecstatic to view this short documentary (barely an hour), which is basically a collective discussion about the art of film music. Voices include directors and producers, notably Francis Ford Coppola and Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding), and a myriad of film composers. What impressed me really was the variety of film composers' viewpoints sought: Carter Burwell (who recently scored the Twilight film), Rachel Portman (first woman to win an Oscar for best score), Terence Blanchard (who talks about his long collaboration with Spike Lee), and John Barry (James Bond) are particularly featured, and they all discuss their insights in the role of film music.There are several extended interviews with the composers in the bonus features, and this is really a wonderful opportunity to hear and learn about how music fits into a film straight from the composer; however, I wish there had included a segment on songs in movies, and perhaps a songwriter's point of view too.

This is a great documentary for anyone interested in film music. It's well edited and includes a number of different perspectives in a relatively short amount of time (under an hour). Additionally, the bonus features are great which include extensive interviews with the composers, directors etc. (2 hours). This interesting documentary is highly recommended for any film or music composition fan. And the price is right - good deal.