In the world of music writing, there are many types of authors and many types of genres. One of the most difficult genres to be a music writer in is film scoring. Being independant in the music industry is alone and in itself a hard place to survive. But being limited to writing music for film, makes for a difficult income and a small clientel. Furthermore, the most likely place to find a film scorer would be where most films are being made: i.e. Los Angeles and New York. With the improvement in communication technology, connection between film makers and scorers has become much easier. People are able to be located where they want, and can market themselves from there own location. Using the internet as a mediator, people can become connected and fast exchanges of material are possible. One film scorer who has found personal success in this field is John Hackman. In this paper, I will discuss John's progression toward his current position, what his job consists of, and if this job is something for myself.
To start, lets explore the world of Film music. The first film scorers were those of silent films. This position began in the early 1900's. One of the first film scorers with a big time film producer was Timothy Brock. He composed music for a number of films with director Robert Wiene such as, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and later went on to be succesful with another German director, G.W. Pabst with the film Pandora's Box. Music for silent films was essential. Imagine how boring a motion picture would be with absolutely no sound. And how often is music essential even when there is dialogue? The only audable mood maker in a silent film is the score. Too engage the audience with the picture, a scorer has to accurately accompany with what is viewed on screen.
As film progressed, audio could be recorded directly with the film. At this point, the score was not the focal point of the ear anymore.