Score: A Film Music Documentary

Released Jun 16, 2017

1 hr. 34 min.

Documentary

Music

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List

91%

34 Reviews

Tomatometer

83%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Tracking the progress of modern-day film score development, this documentary illustrates how the first few notes on a piano keyboard end up in the most dramatic moments of a film's emotional climax. Turning the spotlight on the creative struggles that make up a major motion picture score, this documentary showcases the way the world's top soundsmiths solve musical challenges - from the creative to the technical.

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Critics Consensus

SCORE: A Film Music Documentary offers a long-overdue look at an integral component of cinema whose abbreviated overview of the subject should only leave viewers ready for more.

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Kyle M

When thinking back in replaying your favorite scene of a movie and/or just awestruck over how it came together, what livens that moment is indicated through replaying the music that played throughout, a part of the continuous motif that definitively imprinted the picture in memory. Renowned score composer Randy Newman talked how musical scores express the occurring scene, a newfound belief providing meaning behind the synergistically scenic chemistry. This very subject and impacted relationship have been briefly expressed and glanced across different forms such as between provided (noteworthy) featurettes and interviews, until the idea itself gets compiled into an already fascinating documentary that dives deep into those connections. With filmmaking being a complicated process consisting of positional stories that insightfully builds the acclaimed pictures, sometimes unexpectedly more than the others primarily ranked, any sort of documentary becoming a storytelling platform across differential roles amongst the production crew can be expectedly fascinating. "Score: A Film Music Documentary" is indifferent to that lineup, providing a look at the cinematic art of the subject of focus and the artists who create them. While it really reaffirms the given belief, it splendidly expands from realizing the connectively traditional historical roots to the creative process, basically feeling the scene and understanding what the filmmaker is communicating. (Sometimes it's the other way around). Upon their final products, they reflect over lingering, impactful resonances as the influential amplification to their musical creation, occasionally under meaningful applications. Thoroughly structured with the basic points checked off as it discusses through revolutionary degrees that furthered the form, especially differentiating the crafts realistically without the musical effects in contrast to more effective push (though providing few more examples over famous scenes would strengthen it). Although there's a bit of criticism going on omitting certain significant figures only because they have their own expressive, contributive branches aside from the basis history. Particularly Max Steiner, an acclaimed pioneer who discovered such form just as the talkies sensationalized cinema, afterwards deservingly received his own documentary "Max Steiner: Maestro of Movie Music" with eye-opening influences that were briefly covered in Matt Schrader's documentary here. This indicates that the acclaimed, and memorably cherished, contributions to the form are their own worthy subjects that shouldn't be rushed within the historical progression. "Score: A Film Music Documentary", released in 2016, is ideally fascinating in effective appreciation for the scoring artists in enriching the narrative storytelling projected onto screens. Only a bit flawed by reasonability, but perfectly engrossed with many unstated insights being best left for own discovery in either direction. It currently ranks as average next to similar documentaries each covering cinematic aspects positioned to enhance our interactions with the movies even if you're not much of a cinephile but still enjoy the form. (A)

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/24

Full Review

David H

The film was interesting and, thankfully, it was not too long (about 90 minutes). But I wish they would have focused more on the music of quirky composers like Danny Elfman. There was a section where a Brazilian composer showed how he created a score out of banging miscellaneous items with his hands while humming a melody. That was inspiring. The section on Hans Zimmer was less so. His music was described as relentless. I guess one man's "relentless" is another man's "monotonous". One speaker suggested that he invented the tactic of using a string section rhythmically. I can only assume that person is not very familiar with Western string-quartet literature, which has been utilizing strings in any number of fashions and formats for hundreds of years. A film on film scores is a great idea, and I particularly enjoyed the score for the film itself. But I found I really only connected with about 50% of the music.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/16/23

Full Review

Avery C

Sheer perfection. Been waiting for a movie like this for a long time.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/03/23

Full Review

Anthony P

Pure perfection. Long overdue look at the importance of music in film. Excellent.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/31/23

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Audience Member

If you like film music, then give it a watch. It covers scores from many time periods, includes composers we know and love, and gives an insightful view into the profession itself.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

If you love movies, you probably have a few favorite scores. Maybe even a few favorite composers and artists that make these soundtracks. This film is going in depth on why the music is so important in film and also how it's done. It's fairly interesting but never really inspiring and it's not a film that will blow your mind. It's safe. We meet a bunch of famous composers - the names and numbers are impresive. They tell the stories, style and inspiration. Some of them tell us a lot of how they work too. From the Lumière brothers and the fact that silent films never was silent, to the freshest action films - we get the entire story. The most imporatant films are named, the most famous and impressive score work are analyzed. I liked it, and I dig many soundtracks and listen to some once in a while. The importantness of music in movies are unquestionable and this film is all about this serious business. 7 out of 10 toilet stall listeners.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

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Matt Schrader

Director

Danny Elfman

Self

Hans Zimmer

Self

James Cameron

Self

Quincy Jones

Self

Rachel Portman

Self

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Score: A Film Music Documentary: Trailer 1

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Documentary maker Matt Schrader bills this as "the definitive look at the craft of film composing," though he takes a narrow route through the subject, focusing on the symphonic composers who hammer out music cues for big-studio projects.

Mar 26, 2020

Full Review

Dan Einav

Financial Times

That said, Score serves well as an introduction to the meticulous process by which soundtracks are created, and includes numerous case studies that reveal just how music contrives to shape our movie-going experiences.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 9, 2018

Full Review

Michael Phillips

Chicago Tribune

A genial 93-minute dash through the history, process and contemporary practice of film composition.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 28, 2017

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Michael Clark

Epoch Times

SAFMD is a rare bird indeed. It can be enjoyed by the casual viewer as well as those who previously thought they knew everything about what shapes films. Once you see it, youll never hear movies the same way again.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 28, 2022

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Kip Mooney

College Movie Review

An entertaining, occasionally insightful film.

Rated: B

Aug 24, 2021

Full Review

David Kettle

The Arts Desk

In true Reithian fashion, there's plenty here to inform, educate and entertain

Rated: 3/5

Apr 9, 2018

Full Review

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Synopsis

Tracking the progress of modern-day film score development, this documentary illustrates how the first few notes on a piano keyboard end up in the most dramatic moments of a film's emotional climax. Turning the spotlight on the creative struggles that make up a major motion picture score, this documentary showcases the way the world's top soundsmiths solve musical challenges - from the creative to the technical.

Director: Matt Schrader
Executive Producer: Matt Schrader, Jonathan Willbanks
Screenwriter: Matt Schrader
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures
Production Co: Gravitas Ventures
Genre: Documentary, Music
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 16, 2017, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 1, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $97.3K

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