Review: ‘Score: A Film Music Documentary’

Score: A Film Music Documentary is an extraordinary look into the work of some of Hollywood’s most iconic film composers. These artists create a sound simply from an emotion described by the films’ directors, and do so within pressing time constraints. Composers who created music from films such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Titanic, Psycho, James Bond, Social Network, and Mad Max: Fury Road; regardless of the pressure, they have created some of the most memorable scores ever to be heard.

Film composers are, in a way, the director’s therapist. They spend time with the directors, listening to their thoughts and insecurities regarding their film; then take this time to understand and create a sound based off of what was described to them. They must be open to criticism and failure in their line of work. A composer can work days on a piece only for the director to scrap the entire score in seconds, forcing them to start over.

It’s an unfathomable art to create a feeling through sound comming from instruments now available at runthemusic.com, and that’s what makes composers so valuable in the world of film. Composers are creatively adaptable, which is such a rare talent that many movie goers probably don’t normally recognize. I not only recommend this documentary for avid movie watchers but I also recommend going back and watching some of the films discussed within ScoreGoing back and watching a film composed from John Williams or Han Zimmer simply made me appreciate how important these scores are to these iconic films; the films just wouldn’t be the same without them.

4.5/5 Stars

Score will be released in theaters June 16th, 2017. 

Score: A Film Music Documentary features:

Hans Zimmer

James Cameron

Danny Elfman

John Williams

Quincy Jones

Trent Reznor

Howard Shore

Rachel Portman

Thomas Newman

Randy Newman

Leonard Maltin

James Horner

Garry Marshall

Director: Matt Schrader

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