Introduction
Writing music for film is a good option for the free composition, but it is really important to have an idea of the style you are aiming for and some techniques to copy, just as in WCT composition. On this page the examples are largely taken from John Williams and a range of Romantic / Early C20 influences, but if you want to write in a different style then you need to go and find some good examples. At the end of this page are some links to other great examples of film music. If you find an extract and you want to steal some ideas, try and work out what is going on in the orchestration/harmony/thematic development and if you can’t ask for help!
Some tips for getting started:
- Don’t begin with a massive score (e.g. the default film/Romantic orchestra on Dorico) as it is too daunting. Start off with a string orchestra and add other instruments as you need them.
- Start by composing some sharply contrasting ideas that embody the characters / emotions / situations you are going to portray, you can think about structure and transitions once you have main themes in place. It is easy to work with good material, so take your time at this stage of the project.
- Your structure might be a narrative scene, the music for the main title at the beginning of the film, a trailer or a concert suite based on your imaginary film and its music!
Basics
You can use many of the resources scattered over ALM. These ones might be particularly helpful:
- Basic WCT harmony – a lot of film music is based on this
- WCT Fingerprints – plenty of good effects that can be used
- Advanced chromatic harmony – some cool tricks here
- Modulation
- Texture and sonority examples (also look at the string techniques and orchestral examples)
- Some techniques and examples from Twentieth Century Composers
- Storm episode – some examples of writing dramatic music portraying storms
Learning from John Williams
John Williams is a prolific and iconic film composer whose scores are incredibly effective. He has a very wide range in terms of style and language but you will find some techniques cropping up repeatedly. These are some notable ones with links to examples and explanations.
| Technique | Summary | Examples |
| Modal mixture | Borrowing chords from the parallel minor (e.g. using chord iv from C minor in a C major passage). | Star Wars Main Title & Leia Theme |
| Pedal points | Moving chords over a tonic pedal. The difference from WCT pedal points is that any chord is fair game, chromatic or diatonic, in any combination (try ii, bIII, IV, #IV etc). Often he uses parallel chords. | Jurassic Park Excerpt |
| Quartal harmony | Chords stacked up in fourths | Star Wars Opening |
| Polychords | A chord made up of a combination of two (unrelated) chords creating eerie / dramatic dissonances. | Star Wars Main Title Transition |
| Third Progressions | Harmonic progression by thirds. This is a massive extension of the Classical trick of going from I to bVI. Go from any chord to any other chromatic or diatonic chord a major or a minor third above or below. | Star Wars Main Title & Leia Theme |
| Modal inflections (particularly Lydian) | Using modes to create inflected harmony. The Lydian mode creating a major chord II is particularly common. | Jurassic Park Excerpt |
Some other things that Williams often does that you can try:
- reharmonising a melody to change its emotional content
- Using leitmotifs to represent a character or dramatic theme (like in Wagner operas)
- using a rhythmic ostinato (like in the Imperial March, which Williams borrowed from Holst’s Mars)
- Unusual intervals, particularly landing on b2 and b5 of a scale in the melody
- Moving between minor chords a semitone apart
Orchestral examples
Williams is famous for his well-chosen borrowings from Holst (Planet Suite), Stravinsky (Firebird and Rite of Spring), Tchaikovsky (Nutcracker, Violin Concerto in D, Marche Slave), Rimsky Korsakov (Scheherazade) and many others. You could do worse than study just those pieces but here are some specific orchestral ideas that you might take inspiration from more generally. These are taken from a much bigger collection of scores and resources on SharePoint (these are just PDFs and MP3s organised into folders, most of which have a contents list document).
| ID / Link | Composition | Description of piece |
|---|---|---|
| M5 | Dvorak – New World Symphony, movement 2 | Cor Anglais melody accompanied by string chords. Melody is slow and soulful with a gentle but rich string accompaniment. |
| M6 | Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 5, movement 1 | A variety of melody and accompaniment textures. Starts slow and restrained but gets lighter and more lively as it develops. |
| M8 | Rimsky Korsakov, Tsar’s Bride | Fast and lively melody with successive repetitions building from a light texture to a fortissimo tutti. |
| M11 | Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake | Intense and passionate oboe backed by tremolo strings leads to a huge tutti as the horns take over the melody. |
| M12 | Glazunov, The Seasons | A lively and very busy tutti accompaniment with melody in the strings doubled by flutes and clarinets. |
| M17 | Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition, Cattle | A tune over a gruff ostinato contrasting with a parallel triads string idea that is very effective. |
| D02 | Wagner, Flying Dutchman | Heroic opening with horn fanfare, dramatic chords etc. |
| 34, 35, 36 | Ravel, Rhapsodie Espangole | 34: whole-tone descent into the depths 35: lush orchestration of dominant 9th idea 36: rhythmic ostinato and string and harp chord |
| 37 | Sibelius, Symphony 4, opening | A brooding, epic opening based on the Lydian scale. |
Further film examples
Some other composers from whom you might take inspiration …
Hans Zimmer – e.g. Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean and many more (best of Zimmer on YouTube)
Enrico Morricone – e.g. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, The Mission (best of Morricone on YouTube)
Alan Silvestri – e.g. Forrest Gump, Back to the Future (playlist on YouTube).g.
James Horner – e.g. Titanic, Apollo 13 (best of Horner on YouTube)
John Powell – e.g. Gigli, How to Train Your Dragon (best of Powell on YouTube)
Maurice Jarre – e.g. Dr Zhivago, Passage to India (playlist on YouTube)
Jerry Goldsmith – e.g. Total Recall, The Omen (best of Goldsmith on YouTube)
Debbie Wiseman – e.g. Wolf Hall, Flood (playlist on YouTube)
Elmer Bernstein – e.g. The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven (playlist on YouTube)
Max Steiner – e.g. Gone with the Wind, The Searchers (playlist on YouTube)
Nigel Hess – e.g. Ladies in Lavender, Cyrano de Bergerac (playlist on YouTube)
John Barry – e.g. Dances with Wolves, Zulu (best of Barry on TouTube)