Preproduction is the time to make decisions regarding the musical accompaniment of your film. Music often becomes an indelible aspect of the film, and many musical scores are instantly identifiable with the movies they were written for, becoming very nearly another character in the film. The theme music for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly plays in various forms throughout the movie, and is instantly recognizable to almost every fan of Clint Eastwood's early spaghetti westerns. While music is an intrinsic part of the postproduction process, there are many aspects that need to be started early on in the production.

Original Compositions

Sometimes the most creative and least legally contentious approach to giving a film its musical presence is to bring in a composer to write music specifically for the film. By contractual agreement, all of the rights to the music composed for a film can belong to its producers. The music can be edited and arranged in virtually any conceivable manner to suit the film, and is designed to match the mood of each scene (see Chapter 16).

Getting the Rights

For filmmakers who plan to use prerecorded music in their film, the process of obtaining rights to that music must be started very early in preproduction. Music recorded prior to 1922 is public domain and can be researched at www.pdinfo.com. Otherwise, using a prerecorded piece of music requires two clearances: the synchronization license and a master use license. The copyright owner of the music provides the synchronization license, which permits the synchronizing of the music to the visual image of the film. The master use license comes from the owner of the rights to a specific recording to be used, usually the record producer. The owners of these rights can usually be found by contacting the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (www.ascap.com) or the National Music Publishers' Association (www.nmpa.org).

Prices for these licenses are negotiable, and may be reduced for nonprofit student films and independent filmmakers who plan on releasing their films to film festivals. Step deals can also be arranged with independent producers that will allow for increased use rates if a distributor picks the film up for wide theatrical release.

Stock Music Libraries

Perhaps the most cost-effective approach for obtaining music and the rights to use it in a film production is by going through stock music libraries. Nearly all music libraries market their products on the Internet. Googling “stock music library” on your Web browser will provide more results than you'll ever have time to peruse, but you'll certainly get an idea of how many options you have.

These e-commerce companies offer a wide range of musical styles with relatively reasonable pricing. Some will sell the synchronization rights for their music for a standard fee. Although you won't be buying permanent use or copyrights of the music for any other purposes, you'll have the rights to use this music for your production. Some music libraries also offer step deals, where you can pay a relatively low initial fee, and as your production goes into general distribution, the fees rise in relation to the degree of that distribution. Utilizing stock music libraries can save a considerable amount of time and hassle for securing your musical requirements.