Who Is The Best Composer For My Film?

things for directors, producers, and music supervisors to look for when picking a composer

Mirror, mirror on the wall? Who is the best composer of them all (for my project)?

I’ve been going to some film events recently in the city, meeting new people in the industry, and, especially on lower budget projects, I’ve noticed: the composer is too often an afterthought.

Now, I don’t take offense to this at all and realize it’s usually budget limitations which cause this, but I do think newer filmmakers can easily be focused on production and let slide giving post-production roles like composers as much consideration, budgeting, and time. One could even argue big budget films have this problem too, hiring a big name composer after production, though we are seeing composers coming on projects earlier and earlier these days (which is great!)

As a director or producer, the music you choose in your film can have a profound change in the overall project and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. You want your music to enhance your project with the same thought, care, and energy that sparked your initial seed of an idea for the project and to continue that sentiment throughout the hiring process. Today, here’s some considerations about choosing a composer that should be considered during the pre-production stage, so that you’re not blindsided or rushed when it comes time for post and you find you actually need music to make a great piece of work.

But before I get into that, I wanted to say a new film I scored will be screening at the New York Shorts International Film Festival this coming Wednesday, October 16th. It’s called No Funny Business and was directed by Bobby Decker. If anyone is interested in attending, I’d love to see you there. I’m super excited about the score, as it was a welcome challenge branching out of genres for me to something pretty jazzy and funky, inspired by films like Three Days of the Condor.

Ok, back to the regular scheduled programming.

What should you look for when choosing a composer? Here’s 6 traits to look for:

1. They Make Good Music

2. They’re A Student of Film

3. They’re Creatively Aligned (with you and your project)

4. They’re Professional, Organized, & Communicative

5. They’re A Good Hang

6. They’re In The Budget

They Make Good Music

Ok, this is obvious: the composer you pick should make music that is good. But— music taste is also subjective... You want a composer with a good track record of composing/making music you love, but also one that has music that you could envision in a project of your own too.

Now, just because a musician hasn’t already made exactly the genre of music you are envisioning for your particular project, doesn’t mean they won’t be able to make exceptional music in that vein. Don’t believe me?

Take a musician like Mikal Cronin, who normally writes indie folk a la The Shins. Would you have guessed this is also the same musician making surreal electronic and jazzy saxophone chaos for comedian Connor O’Malley? Maybe not on first guess, but it just goes to show you can’t always judge a musician by the type of music they have already made… It does help for making a composer choice if you already do like the type of music they have made previously, even if doesn’t match up genre-wise to your film. But it isn’t necessary that they have already made “the thing you want.”

Now you might be thinking: Then how will I know if this is the right composer if I don’t even know they can make the type of music I want? Read on!

They’re A Student of Film

I think it’s very important and helpful for a composer to actually be a movie fan, which some composers aren’t. Some are just jazz nerds that couldn’t care less about movies.

Others are also fans of movies, but maybe it’s pretty casual, and they are film composing as just another way to make money… which could maybe work for you. However, I think your ideal composer is a “student of film.”

By that I mean that they are keeping up on the industry, studying what makes film scores great (and what makes a film great), and honing the particular craft of film scoring. It’s completely different from writing songs, so it deserves a dedication that is different as well.

If your composer is a student of film, they’ll be able to understanding your film references and language, appreciate the filmmaking process, and overall create smoother work for you as a filmmaker.

They’re Creatively Aligned

Back to taste— maybe you find a composer whose music you love, who’s also a student of film; however, you need to figure out if you are creatively aligned. This would come to the stage when you likely need to meet up or hop on the phone to chat about your project and what you’re looking for.

This is getting into the nitty gritty of emotions, story, world-building, texture, sonics, aesthetics, all that fun stuff; pitching your film or project to the composer, and having them describe the score they envision based off of a rudimentary understanding of your project.

Are they seeing your project how you are seeing it? As you bounce back and forth each of your ideas, you’ll get a better sense of whether this composer could be a good match. Are the ideas flowing? Are you getting excited about the potential of the project? Or are you getting bogged down? Is the conversation around your project stilted from them? Are you not on the same wavelength? It’s a lot like dating.

At the same time, I think it also can be important to share your inspirations, generally. Do you have similar movie/music taste? Who are each of your biggest creative inspirations? This is important to learn about as well.

They’re Professional, Organized, & Communicative

From Office Space

Now that you’re on the same wavelength creatively, this bit is probably the hardest to gather. But it’s an equally important step nonetheless. Like the rest of your crew, you want the composer to be as professional, organized, and communicative as possible.

Sure, having good music is great, but if it’s not coming in on time, or if they aren’t properly paying attention to timecode, stuff like that— it’s going to make your job that much harder.

Getting a sense of professionalism can come from a variety of sources. You’ll learn a lot from that first coffee or phone call. Asking around and seeing what other filmmakers who they’ve worked with say, seeing the projects they’ve been on, checking out their website or social media, all of these things will give you a better picture of professionalism.

They’re A Good Hang

From Dazed and Confused

You also want to jive with the composer as a person too. Some people don’t like to work with their friends, others ONLY work with their friends. But at the end of the day, I always say being able to comfortably and enthusiastically hang out with some one, at least for coffee or beer, is something you want to consider in working with someone in general. This applies to composing too.

Like the rest of your crew, you’ll be spending a lot of time together, with a lot of complex (and depending on the story, intimate or emotional) conversations with each other. You need to be able to stand each other. You need to be able to get along, ideally well.

They’re In The Budget

From Spongebob Squarepants

Lastly, they need to be in the budget… ;)

Please don’t forget to budget for a composer (and music in general if you are looking to license previously composed material, because that can be even more costly).

Composer rates vary a lot. So what I usually do when coming to a project, is ask what the whole project costs first (or what post-production costs) and go from there.

Directors: don’t just grab some song from your friends band for free or something clearly stock, from a library somewhere. It’s worth it to not sell your project short!

You’d be surprised how a thousand bucks (or even a couple hundred) could elevate your film with exclusive and unique music written for it and for it only.

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If you’re looking for a composer for your next project, hopefully this helps you when considering some of the people you might come across. (In a future newsletter, I’ll talk about how to actually FIND composers themselves in order to consider).

Of course, I’m always available to get into that chatting phase I talked about in the creative alignment section. Perhaps Will DiNola might make a great composer for your project. Ya never know!