Film Scoring 101

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FILM SCORING 101: CUE NUMBERING

POSTED BY: RYAN ON:

POSTED BY: RYAN ON:POSTED BY: RYAN ON: MARCH 26, POSTED BY: RYAN ON: MARCH 26, 2012MARCH 26, 2012MARCH 26, 20122012

FILM

FILM SCORING SCORING (HTTP://RYANLEACH.(HTTP://RYANLEACH.COM/CATEGORY/FILMCOM/CATEGORY/FILMSCORING/)SCORING/)

Welcome to the first post in a

Welcome to the first post in a sporadic series on Film Scoring Basics, in sporadic series on Film Scoring Basics, in which I will help which I will help get filmmakersget filmmakers and upcoming composers new to the scoring process up to

and upcoming composers new to the scoring process up to speed on general introductory topics.speed on general introductory topics. Today I’m goi

Today I’m going to discussng to discuss how we come up with cue numbhow we come up with cue numbers.ers. A typical cue number will look something

A typical cue number will look something like 3m14, and there are three parts to ilike 3m14, and there are three parts to i t.t. Reel number – music – Cue number.

Reel number – music – Cue number.

1. Reel number

Back in the good old days people

Back in the good old days people used something called “film” (Google it), and because a used something called “film” (Google it), and because a single filmsingle film reel couldn’t hold an entire 2 hour

reel couldn’t hold an entire 2 hour movie, it had to be broken down into movie, it had to be broken down into multiple reels. Nowadays Imultiple reels. Nowadays I usually get the film as one long quicktime file, and so theoretically every cue would start with 1. But I’ve usually get the film as one long quicktime file, and so theoretically every cue would start with 1. But I’ve found that by breaking the film into hypothetical reels, i

found that by breaking the film into hypothetical reels, i t helps you group cues together.t helps you group cues together. Consider this list of cues:

Consider this list of cues: 1m1, 1m2, 1m3, 1m4, 1m5, 1m6, 1m7, 1m1, 1m2, 1m3, 1m4, 1m5, 1m6, 1m7, 1m8, 1m9, 1m10, 1m111m8, 1m9, 1m10, 1m11 And this list: 1m1, 1m2, 1m3,

And this list: 1m1, 1m2, 1m3, 2m1, 2m2, 2m3, 3m1, 3m2, 3m3, 2m1, 2m2, 2m3, 3m1, 3m2, 3m3, 4m1, 4m24m1, 4m2

It may not look like a bug deal, but on a film with 40+ cues every little thing you can do to help make It may not look like a bug deal, but on a film with 40+ cues every little thing you can do to help make MENU

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PLAYPLAYPLAY COVERCOVERCOVERCOVER

Release ReleaseReleaseRelease

LABEL LABELLABELLABEL

Track Title Track TitleTrack TitleTrack Title

TRACK AUTHORS

TRACK AUTHORSTTRRAACCKKAAUUTTHHOORRSS PPAPAPAGAGGEGEEE BBUBBUUYUYYY DDEDELETEDELETEELLEETTEE

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Featured MusicFeatured MusicFeatured MusicFeatured Music

UNDEFINED UNDEFINED

Interns of F.I.E.LD. Main Theme Interns of F.I.E.LD. Main ThemeInterns of F.I.E.LD. Main ThemeInterns of F.I.E.LD. Main Theme

INTERNS OF

INTERNS OF F.I.E.L.D.F.I.E.L.D.

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UNDEFINED UNDEFINED

Brilliant M

Brilliant MistakesBrilliant MBrilliant Mistakesistakesistakes

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UNDEFINED UNDEFINED

Family Ga

Family GatheringFamily GaFamily Gatheringtheringthering

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UNDEFINED UNDEFINED

Class Act Class ActClass ActClass Act

CLASS ACT CLASS ACT

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UNDEFINED UNDEFINED

Fire City Fire CityFire CityFire City

FIRE CITY: END OF

FIRE CITY: END OF DAYSDAYS

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UNDEFINED UNDEFINED

Morning Calm Morning CalmMorning CalmMorning Calm

MORNING CALM MORNING CALM

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I typically break the film into 20 minute “reels”, although the number is arbitrary. It could be 10

minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, it really doesn’t matter. But what it means for me is that any cue that starts from 1:00:00:00 to 1:19:59:23 i s considered Reel 1, any cue that starts from 1:20:00:00 to

1:39:59:24 is Reel 2, and so on.

2. m

The “m” in 1m1 simply stands for music. It’s a way of separating the reel number form the cue number.

3. Cue Number

Also pretty straightforward, this is the cue in order according to its reel. 1m1 comes before 1m2 which comes before 1m3. Not too tricky.

Sometimes while in the midst of scoring you might realize that you need a cue that you initially hadn’t wanted. Perhaps at the spotting session you and the director agreed that the scene was better without music, but now that they’ve heard your kick-ass score they realize they need more of it!

Whatever the reason, if you are in the middle of scoring it can be a really bad idea to renumber every cue in the film. If you’ve already had three versions of 2m6 floating around and all of a sudden you change it to 2m7, you are just asking for trouble. The better solution i s to either use .5, or a lowercase letter.

So if you realize you need a cue between 1m1 and 1m2, you either label it 1m1.5 or 1m1b. Personally I prefer 1m1b because it’s a little cleaner looking, but either will work.

Titles

People love to get clever with titles, using inside jokes for the film or just silly pieces of dialogue. I think that stuff is great for the soundtrack, but I find it much more practical to make the title as clear as possible.

When you are looking at a list of 30 cues and you want to open the folder for the airplane jump, do you think it is easier to find “The Airplane Jump” or “Having a Bad Day”?

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And that’s pretty much all there is to it, not very complicated but important to have a handle on.

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