On average, approximately how long does it take to write a movie score?

John Williams is writing so many scores for movies that it amazes me. I was wondering approximately how long it takes to write these scores, on average.

 

Well, in the Skywalker Symphony Star Wars Trilogy CD booklet, Lucas talks about the scoring of ANH, and says that when he turned up to recording sessions, if there were bits he didn't like, Williams would go back and rescore entire sections (I don't know what the definition of a section is) overnight or over 2 days.

So judging from that I'd say maybe a week to write the material, after a number of viewings of the film (including discussions with Lucas about exactly what he wants here and what he wants there).

Then (and this is guesswork as I have no idea as to how the soundtrack business works) another to test it out with an orchestra, before finally recording it with, of course, Lucas's presence.

I doubt I've been very helpful but I think a week or two is in the right order of magnitude.

 

i'm sure it depends on who is writting it. john williams is the man, so it doesnt take him long to write a score.

 

2 weeks??????

It was either Gladiator or Hannibal that Hans Zimmer had 5 weeks for, and he said this was VERY rushed.

Doom Raiders took me 4 months for 61mins of music - but that obviously wasn't full time, and I'm not a professional

I would say 2-3 months is a realistic time

 

There probably isn't an average - every composer just works at their own pace. I remember reading once that Elliot Goldenthal wrote the score for Interview with the Vampire in two weeks, which was considered rush. But he still got nominated for an Oscar for it. Maybe they do their best work under pressure?

 

what can i say halibut? it was a guess! an uninformed one to be sure. ah well. jw is better than all the rest so he might have taken far less than the likes of zimmer (altho i thought his gladiator score was amazing!)

 

Okay, I'm not a professional YET, but here's how much time composers usually get to score a film:

Jerry Goldsmith tries to get 2 minutes of score done a day, every day. Most films have 40-65 minutes of score, so he usually takes 4-6 weeks to write a feature length score.

When scoring a Star Wars film, John Williams had 4 months to score AOTC, 6 months (I could be wrong on this one, but I believe it was 6 months) to score TPM, and I'm not sure how long it took him to score the original trilogy.

Rescores are always rushed. Danny Elfman barely had 4 weeks to score Mission: Impossible, and here's the most unbelievable thing in the world: Jerry Goldsmith rescored China Town in 2 weeks! Eeg gads!

30 minutes - 4 weeks
45 minutes - 4-5 weeks
60 minutes - 4-6 weeks
70 minutes - 5-7 weeks
80 minutes - 8-12 weeks
100+ minutes of score (like Fellowship of the Ring) takes 4-7 months.

 

Shake me like a British nanny

 

LOL

 

Ah well I was close enough. Only a few weeks off.

 

hehehe. I still laugh whenever I read that "shake me like a British nanny". Where did you EVER come up with that? I love it! Whoo.

 

I'm surprised you don't know!. It's a Stewie quote from Family Guy

TO THE UNINITIATED: JV's sig is also quotes from Family Guy

 

Actually, now that you mention it, I think I DO remember it!

I love that show.

"You know mother, life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get! Your life however is more like a box of ACTIVE GRENADES! Now, I give you one last chance for deliverance. Return my mind control device...or be destroyed!...Victory is mine! Damn you all!"

"Yay and God said to Abraham, 'You shall kill your son Iassic,' and Abraham said, 'I can't hear you. You'll have to speak into the microphone,' and God said, 'Oh, I'm sorry. Is this better? Check check. Check. Jerry, pull the high end out - I'm still getting a lot of his back here'."

 

I heard somewhere that JW scored ESB in two weeks.



AOTC - dec,jan,feb

Minority Report - started right after AOTC.. mar/apr/may

Harry Potter 2 - began June 6... jun/jul/aug

Catch me if you can - sept/oct/nov


About 3 months to score and record.

 

Not to mention A.I. and Harry Potter from the previous year.


That's 6 straight projects!

 

I seriously doubt John Williams wrote the score for ESB in 2 weeks. MAYBE 2 months, but not 2 weeks. I've read more than once that he said a STAR WARS film takes 4 months because of the amount of music and the dense orchestrations.

I also read due to extreme time constraints Maurice Jarre wrote the entire score for Lawrence of Arabia in about five weeks. He literally slept in his London office 7 days a week, getting occasional naps between work sessisons. I assume he went home for showers and meals. Considering the movie was almost 4 hours long and had a big, complex score, the amount of work the man had to do was unbelievable.

 

How does JW compose? Does he have a broadsheet and writes notes on it while viewing the film. How do these composers do it?

 

May I give a toast to John Williams outstanding on writing music??