Scoring for silent films

Here I need to ask a few questions regarding film scoring for silent films. I figure this would be a wonderful start to actually incorporating my music into an actual scene:

1.) Does the music have to change depending on the mood or expression of the actors? 

2.) What instruments were commonly used during to silent film era?

3.) Is there a limit to how huge, grand, and epic the music can be? Granted the film has a classic 1950's vibe?

Most of you heard my stuff on here and should be able to tell I have more of a modern orchestral style, but hopping back to the 50's will provide a big challenge for me.

Any advice?

1 Yes the music is very dependent on emotions because it is solely used to express emotions.

2 Piano, Reed, Brass and Woodwind

3 From solo piano to orchestra 

@Luis Hernández Might be a good question for you.

For me though:

1. Yes... conflicting emotions reduct from an audience reaction.

2. Lots of piano, woodwinds, and strings when they needed a good drone.

3. I'd say Zimr is pretty right about that. However, orchestra wasn't really used in the sense we think of it today... more like orchestral instrumentation played by just a few players. 

Hi, yes, interesting questions.

It all depends on what results you expect. If you want to be meticulous with expression you'll have to synchronize music and image closely. But I think other approach is possible: you can write a music that in general terms fits the mood of what is being seen in the movie.

In the beginning, as Hans and Monarcheon say, it was the piano or the organ. Have in mind that there was a person playing live while the movie was running, improvising. (By the way, here in Spain it is fashionable again. In big cities there are some theaters that offer silent movies with musicians playing live piano or a vry small set of instruments... It's great).

But nowadays you can do whatever you want. You can score an anachronistic style and get nice results (for example electronic music for an old silent movie). I have also seen a version of Nosferatu with a large orchestra (music written for the film, I mean)...

Anyway, if you want to try the experience my suggestion is to begin with some short movie and with the instrument you are comfort with. I also think that modern silent movies (of course there are) require different orchestration.

Alright a lot of good advice here and I thank you all. That first question was huge for me because I was unsure if the scores were consistent or if they played along with what is happening on screen. For instance:

1st image: Guy fights another guy (fast pace music)

2nd image: Guy loses fight and dies (music transitions into a slower pace)

Which actually brings me to my next question if the general melody stays the same after the guy fights and dies or does it maybe stay the same but use a differnet octave...for instance:

1st image: Melody plays along with the fast pace

2nd inage: Melody changes in rhythmn but uses the same notes as the fast pace section...

If any of this makes sense...

You seem to be a fan of video game music. Imagine it's simply scoring for an extended cutscene in a game. Talking may be absent but that doesn't change the fact the actions are still there. Using motivic melodies is always a good option in my opinion, or changing the accompaniment to obscure the original intent of the melody. It could very well work, as if the character lost and the melody was his "life force", shall we say. Listen to the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony. The line of descending seconds (sometimes starting from a suspension) is constant throughout the entire movement and the contrast between energies the motive can pack is extremely strong.

Luis made some good points, especially about being able to improvise while watching the film. The composition can and should be "loosely coupled" to the film, meaning it should follow the film but also have a life of its own. It has to make sense and be coherent musically. But the composer will have to make adjustments here and there so that visual events which you would consider high points and important, be reflected as "hit points" in the score. That's the modern term for it. Here's an example of a silent film with a 21st century score. I hope it helps.

I would suggest making markers in your software(whatever you use) designating the broader themes, and then refine hits relative to tempo. This example makes great use of liberal and dramatic tempo changes.

http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/too-much-johnson-reimagined

I'm a little confused about a silent film in the 50's?????? though ...

3 hours ago, Ken320 said:

Luis made some good points, especially about being able to improvise while watching the film. The composition can and should be "loosely coupled" to the film, meaning it should follow the film but also have a life of its own. It has to make sense and be coherent musically. But the composer will have to make adjustments here and there so that visual events which you would consider high points and important, be reflected as "hit points" in the score. That's the modern term for it. Here's an example of a silent film with a 21st century score. I hope it helps.

I would suggest making markers in your software(whatever you use) designating the broader themes, and then refine hits relative to tempo. This example makes great use of liberal and dramatic tempo changes.

http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/too-much-johnson-reimagined

I'm a little confused about a silent film in the 50's?????? though ...

 

Thanks everyone for replying. By reading what you guys posted and watching/listening to silent films on YouTube I think I am prepared to begin this journey...only problem is I don't have a program that allows you to sync movies with music...I don't have Finale but I'll try and work out the hit points as best as I can.

@Ken

Hahaha, yeah that was the only way I could describe the classic vibe to what I was hinting at hahaha.

Unless you want an exact sychronization you don't need Finale. You should write the music while watching the movie, you can do using different programs.

After that you put them together. iMovie works for Mac (the one I used, it's enough). In the PC I'm not sure, moviemaker?).

Movie Maker is definitely an option though now it's just a matter of how to download free videos from YouTube hahaha.

The movies I've worked on were in public domain and I downloaded them from websites about silent movies, not from you tube.

Have in mind that a silent film can be public domain, but if it is a new copy digitalized or with a new score or whatever, it's supposed you cannot use it.

So, I only work with public domain stuff.

For practice I scored the film "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock, which has no original score. The scenes I posted on youtube had to be removed because Universal owns the copyright. However, they did not complain about the opening credit sequence which is only a minute and a half. 

You can obtain such films if you are interested by using torrents, but I'll leave it to you to research that and its inherent risks. Determining what is public domain is also risky because the chances are they are more than likely owned by someone. I posted a performance of myself playing Satie, which I thought would be OK. The original publisher is Salabert, the music was written in the 20's but they keep releasing more publications, 1969, 2005, etc. They can change a pedaling here and there and boom, it's a new copyright. So, even performances are prone to scrutiny. Copyright law is very complex.

The ones I worked on were downloaded from here: https://archive.org/details/silent_films

I uploaded them on youtube with my music, including Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and other short films... I've had no trouble with it...

I that site, it says specifically "public domain usage"....

Cool thanks everyone.