How To Become A Film Composer..??

Hi Guys,

I m new Here...i want some suggetions and help from u guys...can anyone tell me How To Become A Film Composer..??

what requires for being film composer....what needs to be a film composer...

Plz Help Me...

Thanks.... :)

Not to be discouraging, but it is a very difficult field to break into. A good goal to succeed in music is to learn a good variety of music skills, performance on an instrument or voice, composing skills, teaching and conducting.

Training in a wide variety of skills will make it more possible to apply for opportunities that arise.

Just my opinion.

Btw pretty much all film composers live in la near the film industry.

I know that it's a tiny bit late, but here's my take on things:

1. You need to know music. Even if you think that ZimmerElfmanetc do NOT know music, or don't ready music, or whatever this is them and not you. Nobody wants to work with someone who does NOT know music.

I don't mean that you should grab a PhD in composition, but if you think you can get into any business by NOT knowing how you do your job... it won't happen, sorry.

2. We need luck. Yes luck. Some things in life just... happen.

3. But in order for luck to work you need to be ready for anything, be prepared and accept anything that comes in your way! No missed opportunities! I have missed an opportunity which I deeply regret, but that's life I guess...

4. You need to socialize. Not with other composers: These are the people who will take your job. So no. Meet film makers, meet boomers, meet cameramen, meet actors, meet the people who work in the industry you want in.

5. Learn to represent yourself the best way possible. You judge a book by its cover and so do people by a website, an avatar, or other. Work hard to present yourself in the best way possible!

6. But always keep in mind that it's an extremely difficult industry to get into (computer games industry, I find, is easier). Reason is that in order to make a movie, any movie you need tons of money! LOTS of money! An indie movie will very well cost 5,000,000$! simple as that. As opposed to a game that can happen with a 5 people team! Now, if you ask me what can a game of 5 people do, I'll tell you that recently http://gamepolitics.com/2011/11/28/sex-education-game-privates-wins-bafta]Privates[/url] won a BAFTA! And incidently I wrote the music for the game! :D YAY all 'round!

So there's a lot to think about and tons of work to do...

Nikolas got everything right, for sure. Another really good tip is to get comfortable with electronic music. My setup is simple and (with a bit of pirating) free; Edirol Orchestral and FL Studio. If you have a nice computer and a bit of money (or time if you're downloading it), EastWest is probably the best sound library around, a ton of film/game composers use it. With these tools and the knowledge of how to use them, you'll be able to create a quality of music that's at the level of Zimmer and Elfman. With music that sounds that good, it makes it a lot harder for a filmmaker to turn you down.

I found a film student at VFS through Craigslist and ended up writing a score for her on one of her short films. I still spend about an hour a day just sending out e-mails to people around the country. Most of them say no, but a few agree to at least give me a shot. Once that happens, it's all about cranking out the best music you can so that maybe you'll get a little recognition! However, I'm just a freshman in the middle of nowhere, so a real "gig" is impossible.

One thing I must add - if you want to be a film and game composer be ready to spend much time creating computer renditions of your scores - that takes up quiote a bit of time. It can take in fact more time than writing the music.

For me, that is the sole reason I have not gone into it - the fact of sitting in front of a computer tweaking sound files is not attractive to me (yet). I'd rather work with live players and tweak the sound. For that reason I prefer teaching and get opportunities to write theatre or concert music.

My point is you also have to do very traditional career exploration - composition is a large field and - thank god - you don't HAVE to keep your eyes always on the big leagues. As Nik said get to meet non-composers. Of course meet performers --- because they may have been called to record a part for a video game because the composer really wants that sound and finds the soundpatch just doesn't do it.

Anyway, there are people far more knowledgeable than I about this but just thought I add this as I have personally wrestled with this idea.