''Score: A Film Music Documentary'' is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Matt Schrader about

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

s, featuring

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living G ...

, Danny Elfman, John Williams,

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

Rachel Portman Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman,
FilmReference.com Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...

, and others. The film was released theatrically by Gravitas Ventures on June 16, 2017, and on Blu-ray and download September 5, 2017. The film inspired ''Score: The Podcast'', a weekly show on Apple Podcasts hosted by the producers and featuring prominent Hollywood composers as guests, which launched April 3, 2018.

Cast

Schrader and the filmmakers interviewed more than 60 composers, directors, orchestrators, agents, executives and experts for the documentary. Schrader says he started with the idea of having only three composers featured, but realized the diversity of musical opinions present in the film composing world.

Film composers

* Danny Elfman * John Williams *

Steve Jablonsky Steve Jablonsky (born October 9, 1970) is an American composer for film, television and video games, best known for his musical scores in the ''Transformers'' film series. Some of his frequent collaboration partners include film directors Michae ...

Brian Tyler Brian Theodore Tyler (born May 8, 1972) is an American composer, conductor, arranger, and record producer, best known for his film, television, and video game scores. In his 24-year career, Tyler has scored '' Transformers: Prime'', ''Eagle ...

Bear McCreary Bear McCreary (born February 17, 1979) is an American musician and composer of film, television, and video game scores based in Los Angeles, California. His work includes the scores of the television series ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004), ''Age ...

John Debney John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores. His work encompasses a variety of mediums and genres including comedy, horror, thriller, and action-adventure. He is a l ...

Joe Kraemer Joseph Wayne Kraemer (born September 10, 1964) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played professionally from 1985 to 1994 and in Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1989 and 1990. Early life He attended both Portland State Univ ...

* Marco Beltrami * Howard Shore *

Alexandre Desplat Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has won many awards, including two Academy Awards, for his musical scores to the films '' The Grand Budapest Hotel'' and '' The Shape of Water'' ...

Harry Gregson-Williams Harry Gregson-Williams (born 13 December 1961) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and record producer. He has composed music for video games, television and films including the ''Metal Gear'' series, '' Spy Game'', ''Phone Booth'' ...

Thomas Newman Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including '' The Player'' (1992); '' The Sh ...

Patrick Doyle Patrick Doyle (born 6 April 1953) is a Scottish film composer with Irish heritage. A longtime collaborator of actor-director Kenneth Branagh, Doyle is known for his work composing for films such as ''Henry V'', '' Sense and Sensibility'', ''Haml ...

Atticus Ross Atticus Matthew Cowper Ross (born 16 January 1968) is an English musician, record producer, composer, and audio engineer. Along with Trent Reznor, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for '' The Social Network'' in 2010. In 2013, th ...

* John Powell *

Mark Mothersbaugh Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (; born May 18, 1950) is an American composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose " Whip It" was a top 20 ...

Dario Marianelli Dario Marianelli (born 21 June 1963) is an Italian composer known for his frequent collaborations with director Joe Wright. Early life, education Marianelli was born in Pisa, Italy. He came from a musically inclined family and learned the pian ...

Trevor Rabin Trevor Charles Rabin (; born ) is a South African rock musician and composer. Born into a musical family and raised in Johannesburg, Rabin took up the piano and guitar at an early age and became a session musician, playing and producing with a va ...

Henry Jackman Henry Pryce Jackman (born 1974) is an English composer. He composed music for films such as '' Kong: Skull Island'', '' X-Men: First Class'', ''Winnie the Pooh'', ''Wreck-It Ralph'', ''Puss in Boots'', '' Monsters vs. Aliens'', '' Captain Phi ...

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the ''Rambo'' franch ...

* Max Richter *

Christophe Beck Jean-Christophe Beck (born November 30, 1972) is a Canadian television and film score composer and conductor. He is a brother of pianist Chilly Gonzales. He is best known for his collaborations with Disney and its subsidiaries, which include co ...

Tyler Bates Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film, television, and video game scores. Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres, with films like '' Dawn of the Dead, 300, Sucker Punch, H ...

David Arnold David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is a British film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as ''Stargate'' (1994), '' Independence Day'' (1996), ''Godzilla'' (1998) and the television series ''Little Britain'' ...

* Christopher Young * Ennio Morricone * David Newman *

Heitor Pereira Heitor Teixeira Pereira () (born November 29, 1960), or Heitor TP, is a Brazilian composer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and record producer. In his career, Pereira has recorded with the band Simply Red and several famous musicians, such as Elt ...

Mychael Danna Mychael Danna (born September 20, 1958) is a Canadian composer of film and television scores. He won both the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Original Score for '' Life of Pi''. He has also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition ...

Elliot Goldenthal Elliot Goldenthal (born May 2, 1954) is an American composer of contemporary classical music and film and theatrical scores. A student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, he is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various ...

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely r ...

Conrad Pope Conrad Pope is an American composer and orchestrator. He has worked on numerous films and has collaborated with composers such as John Williams, James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman, Mark Isham, James Horner, John Powell, Alexan ...

* Alfred Newman *

Joseph Trapanese Joseph Trapanese (born 1984) is an American composer, arranger, and producer. He works in the production of music for films, television, records, theater, concerts, and interactive media. Early life and education Raised in Jersey City, New Jers ...

Max Steiner Maximilian Raoul Steiner (May 10, 1888 – December 28, 1971) was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers. Steiner was a child prodigy who conducted ...

Mervyn Warren Mervyn Edwin Warren (born February 29, 1964) is an American film composer, record producer, conductor, arranger, lyricist, songwriter, pianist, and vocalist. Warren is a five-time Grammy Award winner and a 10-time Grammy Award nominee. Warren ...

Christopher Lennertz Christopher Joseph Lennertz (born January 2, 1972) is an American composer, songwriter, and conductor of film, television, and video game scores. His musical scores appeared in ''Alvin and the Chipmunks'', '' Hop'', '' Think Like a Man'', and '' ...

Deborah Lurie Deborah Ruth Lurie is an American composer, arranger, and music producer. Her work has appeared in films such as '' Dear John'', '' An Unfinished Life'', ''Safe Haven'', and '' 9''. She has also been a string arranger for rock and pop performers ...

J. Ralph Josh Ralph (born 1975), known professionally as J. Ralph, is an American composer, producer, singer/songwriter and social activist who focuses on creating awareness and change through music and film. A three-time Academy Award-nominated compos ...

* Buck Sanders * John Barry * J.A.C. Redford *

Alex North Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), '' Viva Zapata!'', '' S ...

Junkie XL Tom Holkenborg (born 8 December 1967), also known by his stage name Junkie XL or occasionally JXL, is a Dutch composer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, producer, and engineer. Originally known for his trance productions, he has moved to producing ...

Directors

* James Cameron *

Garry Marshall Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 – July 19, 2016) was an American filmmaker and actor. He started his career in the 1960s writing for ''The Lucy Show'' and ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' before he developed Neil Simon's 1965 play '' The Odd C ...

* Steven Spielberg *

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5&nb ...

* George Lucas

Other cast

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

* Jon Burlingame *

Robert Kraft Robert Kenneth Kraft (born June 5, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment ...

* Moby * Siu-Lan Tan * Amos Newman * Robert Townson * Mitchell Leib * Paul Broucek * Doreen Ringer Ross * Shawn LeMone

Production

In 2014, director Schrader left his career as an investigative journalist for CBS News to pursue a feature documentary about film composers. Bankrolling budget camera lenses and editing equipment from his own savings, Schrader recruited friends to join his team, including producers Trevor Thompson, Jonathan Willbanks and Nate Gold, and former KOVR-TV news photographer, Kenny Holmes. In February 2015, ''SCORE'' launched a campaign on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, which garnered attention and raised $120,930 in 30 days — more than triple the initial goal of $40,000. Former President of

Fox Music Fox Music was the music division label of 20th Century Fox. It encompassed music publishing and licensing businesses, dealing primarily with television and film soundtracks. It was located in Century City, California. During CEO Robert Kraft's ...

joined after hearing about the project, and by early 2016, Schrader had completed more than 60 interviews with composers, directors, orchestrators, agents and more in the film music industry. The film was acquired by Gravitas Ventures, which released it in theaters June 2017, earning $101,382 box office in the United States. The film was then released on Blu-ray, DVD and digital in September 2017, and was the #1 iTunes documentary for four consecutive weeks. The film's website says it is available in other territories including Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Austria, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Israel.

Reception

Critical reception

''Score'' received positive reviews from critics. Film review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported that 91% of critics gave it a positive review, based on 35 reviews with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''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." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Gary Goldstein of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called the film "a feast for the eyes and ears," while film critic

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' said ''Score'' was "a celebration of the artists who create the musical heartbeat of the movies we love." Critic and historian

(who appears in the film) said Schrader produced "a cohesive and fascinating film", adding the film "doesn’t miss a beat." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' selected the film as a Critics Pick in June 2017.

Awards

''Score'' premiered at the

Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October ...

in October 2016 and won awards at eight film festivals, including the

Boulder International Film Festival The Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF), sponsored by the Colorado Film Society, is held annually on Presidents Day Weekend in Boulder, Colorado USA, and has developed a reputation as one of the most compelling young film festivals in the ...

, Chicago Critics Film Festival,

Cleveland International Film Festival The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is an annual film festival based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the largest film festival in Ohio. It was first held in 1977, showing eight films over a period of eight weeks at the Cedar Lee Theatre. ...

, Gasparilla International Film Festival,

Nashville Film Festival The Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm), held annually in Nashville, Tennessee, is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. In 2016, Nashville Film Festival received more than 6,700 submissions from ...

Newport Beach Film Festival The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) is an annual film festival in Newport Beach, California, typically held in late April. In 2022, it was announced that the festival have permanently changed its date to be held in October, as the festival beg ...

Sedona Film Festival The Sedona International Film Festival (SIFF) is an annual, eight-day film festival in Sedona, Arizona. The festival was founded in 1994. The Sedona Film Festival screens feature films, documentary films, short films, animated films, and studen ...

and Tacoma Film Festival. It was also an official selection to the 2017

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in i ...

. In October 2017, the film was nominated for the

Hollywood Music in Media Awards The Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA) is an award organization honoring original music (Song and Score) in all forms visual media including film, TV, video games, trailers, commercial advertisements, documentaries, music videos and special pr ...

in the Music Documentary category. ''Score'' was named Best Documentary at the 2017 Chicago Critics Film Festival.

References

External links

* * * * * {{mojo title, scorefilmmusicdocumentary 2016 films 2016 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about the music industry 2010s English-language films 2010s American films