<p>This is my first cross over to the film schools thread. My senior son intends to be a music composition major with a desire to eventually enter a career in film scoring. He is presently working with a Grammy winning musician/composer with extensive ties to LA. As our son is finalizing his list of schools, I thought I'd stop over here to read your experiences. For those of you who are in (or have a student in) a film program, how well does your school encourage/coordinate film students to also work with students in the music composition program?</p>
<p>My son is at USC and I know they work closely with the Thornton School of music folks to score their films. There is also a graduate program in scoring for film and television. I’m not sure if there is an undergraduate major or minor in this field.</p>
<p>I believe there is perhaps only one undergrad program in film scoring. Most film scoring students first study composition. Thornton is definitely one of the programs he is exploring. Do you know if the film school students are collaborating with the grad students already in film scoring, or whether composition students also have an opportunity to write music for them?</p>
<p>I think the Eastman School of Music (part of the University or Rochester) and the Berklee School of Music (near Boston) may offer an undergraduate degree in film scoring. Maybe the Steinhardt school at NYU?</p>
<p>My son is only in his first year which is mostly the gen ed year, however we have heard from kids whose roomates or friends (so undergrads as well) scored their films. Whether there is a more formal arrangement, I’m not sure. Perhaps madbean will read this thread as she had two kids in the SCA program and knows a lot more than I do! Or any other USC knowledgable folks??? I might suggest you post this exact question on the USC board, and I bet you get a lot of information.</p>
<p>OCMusicMom, I only have anecdotal info on the collaboration aspect between film students in SCA and music majors at Thornton. Since there are many ug and grad level of student films being made all the time, each film’s director and/or producer(s) continually reach out to the great Thornton talent pool of student composers to get original scores composed and recorded. For music majors who want to participate, there are really more opportunities than they have time to take up–including composing for the great video games being designed by SCA’s Interactive Media majors (undergrad and grad level) as well as projects by the Animation majors. It is hoped all these connections made in college have a way of translating to prime creative friendships after graduation when everyone moves on throughout their careers in Hollywood. In fact, willing freshmen/soph continually get solicited through department email and visits to their composing classes and often have the chance to work on advanced and grad level films, I have heard.</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore at Belmont University, majoring in commercial composition and arranging. He is also an aspiring film scorer. He also applied to Berklee and NYU. NYU was his first choice but he was not accepted. It has a first rate film school and a very good composition program that offers a concentration in film scoring. Film students regularly worik with the composition students for scoring. NYU also has a graduate program in film scoring. We visited one other school where the dean of the school of music told us that UCLA has the best film scoring program. </p>
<p>Berklee has a film scoring major, but actually any student at Berklee who writes music can find opportunities to work on films. My son has a good friend who is there as a guitar performance/composition major but is also working with a documentary filmmaker on a score. Boston has three or four good film schools and Berklee is their go-to place for scoring.</p>
<p>Belmont has a partnership with the Watkins School of Art and Design, which has a film program, and students there regularly work with Belmont composers. My son’s commercial composition professor this year is a working film and TV composer and is already putting him in touch with some filmmakers to review and critique his music. Nashville is not LA or New York, but obviously it has many music studios and it does have a burgeoning film scene. And Belmont is about half the price of Berklee, USC, or NYU if that is a consideration. Very good financial aid there. Belmont also has a program for music students to take a semester in LA or New York where they can make additional contacts with filmmakers. </p>
<p>We have learned that there are many ways for a student composer to connect with filmmakers and there probably isn’t a “best” college for this. It’s important to visit campuses and professors and find out what style of music their composition programs focus on.</p>
<p>I’m three semesters into the film scoring program at UCLA. My undergrad was at SFSU. My classmates are Berkelee graduates and all very accomplished musicians. Although I’m taking a slow route of three years in this program, my composition skills have greatly improved from taking this program. My teachers are very helpful and encourage us to keep in touch with each other as our careers progress. I’d recommend it.</p>