Job Description of a Film Music Editor
The responsibilities of a film music editor vary according to the size and scope of a film and its musical content, but generally, film music editors are the ones responsible for deciding how music tracks are presented in a film. They make sure the music is in tempo with the scenes and that the music is an enhancement and not a distraction.
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Education
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Although a degree isn't required for a career as a film music editor, many successful film music editors have bachelor's or master's degrees in music, music theory, film scoring or composition from an accredited university. By attending a college music program, you can not only earn the skills required to perform the job, but there are also opportunities to meet and network with industry professionals, as well as get to know other students entering the same career field.
Score Development
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One of the primary duties of a music editor is to develop a temporary score for a movie. The temporary score, which is generally completed when the film has been partially shot, consists of music that's used as placeholders for the final music. The placeholder music is sometimes lifted from other film soundtracks and is used as a template to help the music editor establish the proper tempo, pace and feel for the movie and its accompanying soundtrack.
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Spotting Session
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A spotting session is a meeting at which the music editor gathers with other film staff, including the director, producer and composer, to note, or "spot," all musical cues that will be used in the film. It's also during this meeting that the film's music composer is given a written template that's used to generate the score. In addition, the music supervisor receives instructions regarding copyright clearance and budgetary information for the film.
Cue Breakdowns
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Music editors produce a cue breakdown, which is a rewrite of the script from a musical point of view. This is done to help the film's composer calculate the tempo of the musical score. The score is the instrumental music in the film, and is different from songs in the film. A score is written specifically for a film, whereas individual songs may not have been.
Track Mixing
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Film music editors are also responsible for working with a music mixer to create different mixes of all the film's music tracks, so that different versions are available for the scene in which they're to be used. To mix a track, the music editor and music mixer insert the tracks into film, and if there's a problem with the overlay of one or more segments, such as music drowning out dialogue, they use an alternate music mix.
Cue Sheets
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Among the last tasks for music editors when working on films is to make a cue sheet, which is list of the music played in a film. For rights purposes--and so that royalties can be paid to the music's performers every time the film is shown--the list is sent to the Performing Rights Society and ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers).
Pay
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As of mid-2010, a union-represented film music editor can make about $40 an hour, or about $2,000 in a six-day, 48-hour week, according to the Motion Picture Editors Guild. On a non-union film, music editors can expect to earn $40-45 an hour, depending on the film's size, scale and budget. When starting out in the business, however, some non-union music editors should expect to earn less than that--particularly when working on smaller or independent films--until they establish themselves in the industry.
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References
- Photo Credit music notes image by egal from Fotolia.com
