I scored a film using office supplies

My dearest tortured composer,

Today I write to you about one thing that almost every composer dreams about.

It may not keep them awake at night, but mention these two words to any composer and watch their eyes light up. I'm talking about…

Scoring a Film!

And I am in the fortunate position to be scoring a 45-minute film at the moment.

Now I am far from the most successful film composer in the world. In fact, I am still climbing that particular mountain.

However, I do have a workflow that uses a piece of technology I find to be wildly useful for composers.

One that I have seen zero composers utilize. One that has radically transformed not just my music, but my life as a whole.

I'm talking, of course, about the humble 4 by 6 note card.

Yes, you read that correctly. Not software. Not an app. A physical notecard you can hold in your hand.

A simple, yet useful tool that can transform your composing. A piece of technology that can be had for pennies, and yet one that could fix many of your problems. Specifically, if you struggle with arrangement, this could be the exact method you need.

Here's what I did:

After meeting with the director, we picked out the main scenes that would drive the musical score. I took out a series of 4 by 6 note cards and used each one to represent each scene.

On each card, I jotted down ideas for mood, story, theme, instrumentation.

Then I laid these note cards out in a timeline.

And upon doing so, I was able to get a much clearer vision of the energy, the motion, and more importantly, the arc of the film.

As well as what points needed to be more of a background. I also was able to see where the different themes needed to be, and how those themes could be developed.

Now I had used this same method recently for an 8-minute symphonic score.

I used 14 note cards to represent each section of the piece. On each of these note cards, I wrote down the orchestration, the key, any key changes, the mood, the style, and the intended purpose of each section.

When I laid them all out in a timeline, I could see the entire arc of the piece spread across my desk.

And that's when I noticed the problem: the climax came far too early. The highest energy moment—the point where the music hits its peak as well as the highest note within the melody—arrived in section 6 out of 14.

(Disclaimer: I used the em-dash, this was not written with AI)

The piece was basically over halfway through.

So I was able to rearrange some of these note cards, eliminate others that were just fluff, and restructure the whole thing so the energy built properly to the actual climax.

Without those cards laid out physically in front of me, I never would have spotted that. I would have written the whole thing, realized something felt wrong, but had no idea what or how to fix it.

Many composers struggle with arrangement. But when you can see the whole piece laid out like this, you can spot problems immediately.

You see, at some point in the composition process, you have to define and determine a map of where you're going to go.

I got this idea from Samuel Andreyev. He says imagine you are walking around a city. And you have no idea where you are trying to go.

Imagine wandering through Venice without a map. Every bridge looks promising, every canal seems to lead somewhere important. But without knowing your destination, you're just making beautiful circles.

This is fine for a Sunday stroll, but deadly for a composition.

When you’re composing, you want to have an idea of where you are trying to go.

If you don’t know where you want to go, it can feel impossible to make decisions.

A lot of composers think they have a “creative block.” Like they can’t write anything. When in reality, they just don’t have a good decision making process.

When you use this 4 x 6 notecard method for arrangement, you're able to clearly see the arc of the piece. Where it needs and wants to go.

This allows you to make decisions much more easily.

There's something about writing things out by hand that engraves it in your brain in a different way.

And the simple act of being able to physically move your ideas around?

It's like having superpowers.

But first, try this: Grab some notecards tonight. Map out that piece that's been haunting you. See what patterns emerge when you can hold your entire composition in your hands.

But even with this method of scoring. This notecard method. I still made one grave mistake.

A mistake that cost me time, energy, and almost cost me the project.

This is quite literally the most common mistake I see composers make.

There was a period in my life where I worked for a composition and production teacher.

During this time I would sometimes listen to 100 or more pieces of music per day.

Music from amateurs, beginners, intermediates.

This was an ear ripping process. On some days, it felt like torture.

And I noticed ONE mistake was present in 99% of the pieces I listened to.

It didn't matter if they were classically trained or self-taught.

It didn't matter if they had expensive equipment or were working with basic software.

It didn't matter if they'd been composing for 2 years or 20 years.

Almost all of them made this same mistake.

And it nearly derailed my film score.

In my next email, I'll tell you exactly what this mistake is, how to spot it in your own work, and how to fix it before it destroys your next piece.

I'll show you how I discovered it through a torturous process that had me questioning my sanity.

I’ll show you how a syphilitic composer fixed it.

And explain why it may be the one thing poisoning not only your music, but also your job, your relationships, your entire existence.

And I'll tell you why the heroin-addicted grandfather from Little Miss Sunshine understood it perfectly.

And the one brutal lesson from that film that could either save your music…

Or Bury It In A Rotten, Smelly, Maggot-Ridden Tomb Forever!

And after that, I'll explain why a Lederhosen-wearing, German, Christian conservative pastor would agree with the narrative function of this porn-watching, heroin-addicted grandfather…

Even while being morally disgusted by everything the character represents.

And why both perspectives would tell you that your music is probably doomed without this knowledge.

Keep an eye out for it.

And always remember, my dear tortured composer…

The world waits for your music…

-Luke

P.S. - The ultimate plan with this newsletter is to have a community. Considering a Facebook group or Discord. Maybe a private forum. Do you have any thoughts on what would be best? Or what you would want to see out of a forum for composers?

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