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Complete Guide to Film Scoring: The Art and Business of Writing Music for
Movies and TV, and: Music for New Media: Composing for Videogames, Web
Sites, Presentations and other Inte...

Article · January 2007

DOI: 10.1353/msm.0.0021

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MSMI 1:2 Autumn 07 109

Richard Davis, Complete Guide to Film Scoring: The Art and Business
of Writing Music for Movies and TV, (Boston: Berklee Press, 1999),
378pp.

Paul Hoffert, Music for New Media: Composing for Videogames, Web
Sites, Presentations and other Interactive Media, (Boston: Berklee
Press, 2007), 216pp. + CD-Rom

review by Karen Collins

Berklee Press is known for publishing trade books in the area of music
instruction, based on the teaching curriculum of the Berklee College of
Music, a well-known private college in Boston. As such, the press
publishes instructional books aimed at undergraduate or college-level
courses in music performance, composition, arranging, production,
business and technology. Industry trade books fall into an awkward space
in the world of academe: while they can often be useful for the produc-
tion aspects of courses, they are nearly always sorely missing in any theo-
retical grounding. As such, they may find a place as useful
supplementary texts, or offer a practical overview for academics writing
theoretically about these areas. For instance, an academic who would like
to write a paper about games music would be wise to obtain an under-
standing of some of the practical, technological and industrial constraints
that must be dealt with by composers. In terms of production, these
books can be useful texts for students who wish to enter into a produc-
tion-based area post graduation. Whereas in the past composers had to
learn compositional methods through trial and error or internship
programs, today many can obtain an understanding of the business and
practice through texts such as these. Under review here are two books
intended as introductions to music for moving image courses: Richard
Davis’ Complete Guide to Film Scoring, focused on film music, and Paul
Hoffert’s Music for New Media, which focuses on video games.
Davis is a composer and Associate Professor at Berklee College. His
book is divided into six basic component parts. The first section
(consisting of six chapters) deals with a historical overview of the devel-
opment of film music from ‘silent films’ through to today. With only four
or five pages per chapter, though, the author inevitably skims over some
key events in the development of film sound, rather loosely presenting
the history. There is, for instance, no real discussion of sound design and
110 1:2 Autumn 07 MSMI
Davis, Film Scoring; Hoffert, Music for New Media ♦ Karen Collins

its recent integration with music, and the coverage of technological inno-
vations is superficial. While providing the novice with a general overview,
then, the academic rigour needed for a university course (citations,
complete details, important dates, for instance) is here lacking. Although
his book is not comprehensive, Davis does manage to include many of the
key innovators in twentieth-century film scoring, and very briefly to illus-
trate some of the important changes that have occurred in terms of tech-
nology and production over the last century.
The second section of the book deals with film production methods
and practice. Here, the reader is given an overview of pre-production,
production and post-production processes, scheduling, spotting and an
introduction to the roles involved in production. These chapters are
generalized and geared more towards high-end production, which is
likely to be impractical for newcomers that might use this text, as the low-
budget model of film production and digitization of film varies consider-
ably from what is presented here. Nevertheless, it introduces students to
some of the basic terminology they can be expected to know at any level
of production. The third section discusses methods for scoring music for
different genres and modes of distribution, including television,
animation, and so on. The chapter on syncing music to picture is unfor-
tunately outdated, as most methods he describes are now done
completely digitally – certainly for low-budget pictures. For instance,
there is no discussion of common film/audio synchronization software
like Final Cut Pro or Pro Tools here (nor is there any mention of low-end
software or production methods).
The fourth section covers the business aspects of the industry, and
introduces the reader to royalties and rights. This is an important area of
film scoring that is often just touched on by other trade books, but is
covered in some detail here. Students entering the field will find a useful
overview that is written in easy-to-understand language that may save
them time, money and frustration later.
The final part of the book is perhaps the most useful for academics, as
it contains a series of interviews with film composers such as Danny
Elfman, Elliot Goldenthal, and Mark Snow. Here we are given a glimpse
into the real workings of the industry and its composers, in terms of
process, production and creativity. It is particularly interesting to
compare how various composers got into the industry, their back-
grounds, what methods they use, and so on. Interviewees also give tips
to the newcomer: Elmer Bernstein for instance advises, ‘Learn every-
thing you possibly can about all kinds of music – ethnic, pop, classical …
everything’ (261). There are some frustratingly awkward questions posed
by the author, such as ‘Do you know what to do about timings and all that
MSMI 1:2 Autumn 07 111
Davis, Film Scoring; Hoffert, Music for New Media ♦ Karen Collins

stuff?’ (263), but for the most part this is the most useful part of the book
in giving the reader an understanding of film. It is also notable that the
author sought out a few female composers for inclusion (Shirley Walker
and Lolita Ritmanis), reminding readers that although this remains a
male-dominated field, there are role models for female students to
follow. Davis broaches the gender question with Ritmanis, with a surpris-
ingly positive response, although Ritmanis admits to receiving some
backlash against her gender in the industry.
In all, the Complete Guide to Film Scoring provides an admirable
overview of the film scoring process, comparable to Jeff Rona’s excellent
Reel World: Scoring for Pictures. As an undergraduate text, it would work
well as a supplementary text to a course on music and the moving image,
but, in trying to provide a complete overview, glosses over or omits some
important areas that should ideally be taken up further. Its most blatant
omission is the lack of discussion of digital production methods and
software, making this less useful for a production-oriented class, and not
theoretical enough for a more academic-style class.
Hoffert is well known amongst the Canadian music scene, as founding
director of the Canadian Independent Record Producers Association and
the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. He is professor of Fine
Arts at York University in Toronto and Faculty Fellow at Harvard Law
School. Like Davis’ book, Hoffert’s Music for New Media is a similarly
production-oriented text. He begins by defining and describing interac-
tive media, with a focus on how linear media differs from interactive
content, explaining that the ‘fundamental issue of how you use music to
tell the story [in interactive composition] is completely different [from
linear media]’ (15). Here, Hoffert provides some useful distinctions
regarding how interactivity affects music composition, with a focus on
temporal parameters. He informs us that, just as ‘verses, chorus and
movements are the building blocks for songs and symphonic works’,
‘loops and sequences’ are the building blocks of interactive media (19),
on which Hoffert focuses in Chapter Two. Here the reader is provided
with an introduction to MIDI, to recent sequencing software and
software synthesizers, as well as to the process of creating a looA valuable
section on writing loop transitions is Hoffert’s most distinguishing trait
from other books on composing for games and other interactive media.
He defines seven key musical elements for transitions: volume, tempo,
rhythm, key, harmony, texture and style, and proceeds to describe each
in detail, discussing how to broach such transitions.
In Chapter Three, Hoffert discusses the concepts of musical logos,
earcons, themes and leitmotifs, in creating an identity or brand.
Interesting insights into audio logos are provided, such as Werzowa’s
112 1:2 Autumn 07 MSMI
Davis, Film Scoring; Hoffert, Music for New Media ♦ Karen Collins

production of the ‘Intel Inside’ four-note tune, which required no less

than forty layers of synth tracks to orchestrate. These ideas are expanded
on in Chapter Four, ‘Functional Music’, which discusses the ways in
which music is used to convey a message in conjunction with the moving
image. Hoffert organizes composition into several segments: drama,
action, humour, characterization, creating a sense of place, reinforcing
narrative, and so on, illustrating the main functions of music in media
and providing examples and discussion of composing for each different
genre and media form. Chapter Five explores music for Powerpoint-like
slide presentations, from the basics of adding sound to Powerpoint, to
treating slides like chapters in a story and using a dramatic arc to illus-
trate key ideas in presentations. While such music may not be appro-
priate for academic presentations, for the corporate world or other
public demonstrations music may provide a welcome change from
typically silent slideshows.
Chapter Six goes into quite a lot of detail about incorporating music
into websites, with markup and code provided for HTML and Flash-
based sites and a discussion of the special considerations one must take
into account when composing for the web. He analyses websites and
compares music for informational versus shopping and promotional
websites. Although most people prefer a silent website, for advanced sites
or music sites sound can be beneficial if done correctly – and Hoffert
clearly delineates when and where to use composition on the web.
Hoffert provides two chapters on scoring for video games, and it is
unfortunate that this section of the book is so short, as it is clearly an area
of increasing interest. We are first given a breakdown of the main
structure of the video game, which provides us with an overview of key
cue points. We can adapt the methods Hoffert has already shown
regarding dramatic arc to this section. We are then presented with a
summary of platforms and genres, and Hoffert briefly discusses the
different requirements of each. Next the author describes mobile media
audio – and here, again, the brevity of the work leaves the reader with
far too many questions left unanswered. This is a very difficult area to
compose music for, as compression technologies vary considerably and
mobile phone technologies are widely varying, but the basic overview is
adequate as an introduction.
Finally, Hoffert delves into the question of ‘aesthetics’: do we use more
or less? Do we use acoustic or synthetic instruments? How do we get the
style right? These are, of course, a matter of personal taste, and Hoffert
really just uses this section to get the reader to consider these issues,
rather than express his own opinion. We are then given a very brief
overview of the ‘working environment’: how to put together a demo disk,
 MSMI 1:2 Autumn 07 113
Davis, Film Scoring; Hoffert, Music for New Media ♦ Karen Collins

how to obtain work, and so on. There is no real detail here with regards
to the various needs of different companies when it comes to demo disks.
It is my experience, for instance, that larger games companies want to see
one style done well so that when they need a composer in that style, they
can call on you, while smaller companies prefer to see a range of styles so
that the same composers can be used for a variety of games. The few
pages presented here, therefore, are really just a brief guideline and
serve only as an overview.
Throughout and at the end of each of the chapters, the reader is
provided with examples on CD-ROM and exercises to work through,
providing a very useful course direction and introduction for the novice
to a variety of interactive media assignments. What is particularly absent
in this book is a discussion of sound effects or sound design, which is
often the domain of the composer at smaller multimedia companies and
therefore should ideally be covered in a text such as this. One of the most
difficult problems with composition for new media is the integration of
music and sound in a temporally unpredictable environment, and it is
therefore a shame that Hoffert does not discuss approaches or mixing in
even a cursory manner here. Although it is far too wide in scope for a
course on any of the more specific areas discussed (web or game audio,
for instance), this would serve as an excellent text for introductory
courses in music production and applied composition.

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