Is the movie shown during the recording of the score? [FAQ#2]

     Yes. Almost always. The intended product of a film scoring session is not the music itself, but the 'filmic experience' - the 'gestalt' achieved when the music and picture are melded. Constructive criticism, evaluation and meaningful feedback would be nigh impossible during scoring if the picture was left in the can. Scoring to picture, though, is not a technical necessity - picture (film or video) is not absolutely required to achieve mechanical fit or synchronization, at least if a click track is employed.

     In fact there have been a number of occasions where there was simply no picture to show and things still got done. Alf Clausen, who scored the TV episodes of Moonlighting (1985-1989, for which he received six EMMY nominations) would, because of shooting or production delays, often have to write to a script then record 'wild' (without picture) at the time of the recording sessions. This all worked out because when he wrote his music he solved his timing problems using The Auricle which 'builds' a click track automatically in the background as one composes with it. Thus when he got to the stage, he or his music editor ran The Auricle's click track (starting it by hand!) which nonetheless guaranteed that when the recorded music was later matched up with and spliced into the final picture, everything would fit as intended in the composing. Alf's experience is of course exceptional. But it is not unusual for there to be one or two cues at nearly every feature scoring session for which, for one reason or another, there is no picture or there is a technical problem preventing its display or projection. If they've got a click track or they can build one on the spot on The Auricle, they usually go for it anyway, all else being equal.