Music Supervisor: A Career Of A Career In Film And Music Production

The job of a music supervisor is an incredibly difficult and important task that is often overlooked or not given proper funding. Seeing as music plays such an essential role in the mood and substance of visual media, the job of acquiring the music should be put at the forefront of a production, and yet, it is normally left to post-production, when money is thin. Music supervisors provide an important balance of maintaining the creative vision of the filmmaker and adhering to the usually low budget, a feat that is deserving of a higher rank of importance. Music supervision is a relatively new career that reaches across many different aspects of both film and music industries. Some of the many responsibilities of a music supervisor include

First, the good-fast-cheap triangle is a concept that the music supervisor comes into contact with daily. As is explained beautifully by Jack Dubowsky, “If you want it good, it will cost you. If you want it now, it will cost you. If you want it cheap, you must sacrifice either time or quality” (26). Now, most filmmakers will not want to sacrifice quality, which is why the music supervisor should be addressed earlier on in the production process. Another problem that music supervisors face is negotiating with music publishing companies. Sometimes, these companies will have ideas of their own of how much money they will accept for a synchronization license, and the numbers may not coincide with what the film budget is able to spend. This becomes a problem where the music supervisor must decide what area of the triangle has to be compromised; good, fast, or cheap. The fact that this responsibility falls on the music supervisor is proof enough of his or her importance in the filmmaking

If a director has a certain vision for his or her film, they will rely on the music supervisor to get that vision shown. However the music supervisor must keep in mind the film’s music budget, making him or her an important mediator of creativity and commerce. There isn’t quite another job that must regulate between the two so immensely. The music supervisor also not only listens to the directors input, but must choose the music themselves that they believe will fit into a certain scene. A music supervisor must be able to look at a scene, understand the mood and emotions conveyed during the scene, and find a song that encompasses that feeling. Therefore, an understanding of film and music theory is needed in order to elicit the emotional reaction that the film wants to show. This process is an incredibly creative one that is vital to the quality of a film or television