audio to image, scoring to picture
As a musician and music producer my way of working and thinking changed quite radically when I had my first experience with making a soundtrack to a short movie.
Before I could go with the composition and sound choices purely on my personal tasts and feeling. When scoring to a movie the imag is dictating you instead. There are certain rules, and there are certain rules that need to be broken to stand out.
I found it very challenging to make the synchronisations and adjust tempo, time signatures, choise of instruments and so on to guide a viewer to what he or she should feel or anticipate according to the director.
Often the montage can be modified and cues need to be redone. It might be a reason why music comes last when finishing a movie... But even before the final montge you can prepare audio design, instrument selection, theme creation, foley interactivity and so on. It is best to be in the production ambiance as soon as possible.
A very important aspect of scoring to a movie is the mixing. You need to know that it is very likely that some parts will fall in the background. There are moments that speach takes over all the audio, sometimes the soundeffects are pushed up more and the music down. These things need to be taken in account to have the best results.
Never forget however that people may be, and like to be surprised, so if time allows you, and you have a project: do make what you think the director wants, but also make a secondary version and find a good moment to present it. A director may be surprised in a positive way and might give you more freedom if you know your territory.
Antonius Driessens aka Duuster