Have you had amazing imagery for your highlight but still felt something’s not quite sitting right?
This may sound obvious, but when setting the mood for a scene, music is absolutely key to conveying the atmosphere/mood.
Duh? Right?
So why do we not always NAIL it? For two reasons, mainly. (1) We are dying to use a cool song we heard in StillMotion’s latest SDE – somewhere, anywhere, we just don’t care! (2) We have promised the client to use a song that they love, but it just doesn’t seem to fit. Blech!
Editor – meet me at camera #3, let’s talk. Here’s a few quick tips:
- Shoe-horning a song in just because you like it doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good fit. I’ll cover that more in my Philosophy below.
- If you get music from the couple, get a LOT of it and promise LITTLE TO NONE of it. It is a time waster trying to make something work in the edit when it naturally doesn’t. It may please the client, but if you put it on your blog, others might think you DO NOT KNOW what you are doing.
Philosophy 101
Now that you’re ok not using the latest hit by Ben Rector, open your mind to a few things:Â Ohmmmmmm:
Take note of how the wedding day played out, the overall mood and pace of the day can help you in determining your music choice. A rainy day with a relaxed and compassionate bridal party might yield a music choice that’s slower and on the airy side, as opposed to a bright sunny day with a boisterous funny and happy bridal party, which could yield something faster and upbeat.
Music also helps reflect the emotions of the characters/subjects onto the viewers, so that they might connect with the film emotionally. A happy and joyful bride, would be better suited for music that is equally upbeat and joyful, than a contemplative and quiet bride.
***Be sure that a subject’s emotions do not conflict with the music, or viewers may experience an emotional disconnect from the subjects and film.***
Lastly, well planned music choices will help capture the audiences attention and draw their interest into a film, and YOU WANT to draw an audience in, because IN THAT AUDIENCE might be your next gig.
Make a choice that is also something the bride and groom will appreciate. Base your music choices on the bride and groom’s music preferences (what are they playing at the reception) and branch out from there. Use Pandora. Easy Peasy!
Music can connect or disconnect viewers from your films. Be sure to make decisions based on the events and pace of the wedding day as well as the bride and grooms preferences. This will help create a stronger emotional connection between your viewers and your films.
They will think you quite the Maestro!
Dusty, Northernlight Filmworks
You failed to mention looking for royalty free music and the many sites that you can find excellent, LEGAL music. I find these songs to be better in most cases because the viewer has no pre-concieved ideas about the music.