Sara Varela
Editor-in-chief
As part of their film series, Bailey Hall screened Score: A Film Music Documentary, which features interviews with over 60 composers, musicians, directors, from all over the world.
Film students and the public alike filled Bailey Hall’s stage for a private showing followed by a Q&A with the film’s director Matt Schrader, a three-time Emmy Award-winning news producer.
Score is Schrader’s first film and is currently being considered for a nomination for an Academy Award. The decision will be announced later this year.
“Music has the ability to enhance what the filmmaker is saying,” said Schrader.
He admits that his own love for movies was what drove him to produce this documentary. His own curiosity to learn more about music in film drove him and his team, for two years, all over the world to find the right people to talk about the magical combination between film and music.
Through dozens of interviews with legends from the filmmaking industry including James Cameron, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer, Rachel Portman, Garry Marshall, and many more, the film explores music and how it has influenced movies and storytelling.
Audiences and professionals alike agree that the perfect pairing of music and image is what inspires a powerful emotional answer from viewers.
Both Schrader and his interviewees explain that the score is what gives us goosebumps, a common psychological response. It’s what we are hearing rather than seeing that makes us happy, sad, angry or conjures up any complex emotion when watching a film. It’s the most crucial element in filmmaking.
And most of the times, a crappy score will destroy a perfect movie.
Score does not only explore music in film but also takes us behind the scenes to the most iconic soundtracks. From Jaws! to Star Wars, the not-so-commonly known tricks of the industry are revealed.