Temp Tracks; Are They A Useful Reference Or A Creative Trap?

[TLDR: Yes they can be both. It is a balance of what you as a director want vs the freedom of creativity vs the schedule.]

A tool, or a creative decision?

Very few things can be as impactful, and potentially dangerous, to the end result of a film score than temporary music. A well edited temp track can give a director a framework to base a scene around and shape the narrative arc, it can provide the additional emotive context which is something that is difficult to put into words. It can instantly provide context to an idea such as time, place, momentum, mood, intent, and so on.

The dangerous part of using temp tracks is knowing where the fine line is between a reference and a creative constraint. If you are making creative choices by all means do so, but this can’t be at the expense of the final score.

Identify its function

What not to do is choose a track and tell your composer nothing else about its use in the scene. This is a sure fire way to get a soundalike track that doesn’t bring any more of a creative input than your initial choice.

If you use a temp track, say why you have chosen it (even if you don’t have the musical terminology). Say whether there are elements to focus on, or ignore, what you want it to achieve. You may choose a piece of music for its anticipation or warmth, and quite rightly identify a track that does this, but by identifying your focus the composer may be able to understand what you are trying to achieve and have a better suggestion for highlighting this.

Hidden Choices

By placing a temp track into a score you are making a choice about all manner of things. A director may be choosing a track that on the surface gives, say, the desired mood they are looking for but may also have hidden implications for elements beyond the sound.

Temp music influences not only the onscreen sound but how that scene is edited and therefore the composer automatically inherits choices that may have not been consciously made. These choices may not be bad choices at all, but they will inevitably reduce the creative choice of the composer.

Temp-Love

Directors fall in love with the temp track frequently. It is no wonder why when they spend a huge amount of time preparing, shooting and editing their work in a way that by nature is fragmented. Music is immediate. It has instant emotion, momentum, structure and everything in between. So when a director drops a temp track to their edit it is the first moment where everything in a scene can click and become unified.

The problem with this is when a scene finally does click it also provides a secure completeness to a creative venture. This is so hard to part with and return again to the creative phase.

The trap many fall into is becoming so accustomed to a temporary piece of music that anything else now feels out of place. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey is a prime example of temp-love and has a wealth of study available about this.

This can also manifest unknowingly at first. A director chooses the temp track, the composer then goes away and writes the cue based upon the reference. The director listens and provides feedback along the lines of ‘Ok, but can we have more x like the temp’. Revisions occur and each listen the cue sounds closer and closer to the temp track. It can influence the director’s perception so much that the end result is simply a long-winded reworking of the temp track itself.

Temp Tracks as the Initiation of dialogue

A great way to use temp tracks is if a director uses them not to fix creative choices but as the start of a creative conversation between them and the composer… If, the director uses open questions.

A way for a director to immediately shoot themselves in the foot is to provide a temp track and ask their composer ‘Can you create something like this?’. The answer is likely always ‘yes’. By doing this nothing new is created, there is little consideration to whether it is the right choice, only a homage to the original work. The long toiled over film doesn’t receive the consideration it deserves just from this closed question. A well experienced composer may challenge poor choices or try to steer the direction of intent. However, particularly for indie films where composers are trying to build relationships with new directors, they aren’t going to be wanting to challenge the director’s choices for fear of negatively impacting a new relationship.

A good approach to initiate discussions around temp tracks is for a director to choose the track, use the cue sheet to make notes for each cue. Outline what the intent is, what elements are desired and how the composer interprets the temp cue. By asking a composer a freely interpretable question such as ‘what do you hear for this cue?, you allow an unbiased response and can highlight differences in interpretation.

Useful Practicalities

Some projects have an insanely quick turn around time with very little freedom for experimentation. There is a full awareness that in the entertainment business time is money and where films/shows have to be edited quickly there is a benefit to limiting creativity for the purpose of function and efficiency.

A temp track by experienced editors can make the creative choices required for a composer to create a sound quickly to fit into the defined narrative and structure of a scene. Briefs are sent out, temp tracks are provided and the composer creates based upon the defined parameters.

This is not necessarily a bad choice, the exchange of a limitation of creativity for efficiency can give a higher yield of turn over in a world where the consumer is ever hungry for content. This does not mean the composer will provide music that is entirely derivative, by nature they will produce new music with a cohesive sound but it will not be an off the wall creative explosion of cutting edge innovation without the freedom to do so. In this sense priorities for the purpose of the project matters.

Always keep in mind

What are the project priorities?

How is the temp music being used?

What is the purpose of the temp cue?

Is it a creative choice or an initiation for dialogue?

A temp score does not have to be a full score with every choice pre made. A director can have a spark of inspiration for a single scene and only suggest one temp cue, or it can be multiple cues roughly cut and stitched together. It may sound horrendous when placed with the film but if there is intent, there is a starting point for the creative compositional process.