Art of the Cut

Chapter 8Music

There’s a great quote that says, “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.” As much as I like this quote, it discourages any discussion about music, a topic too important to leave undiscussed, so talking about music is what this chapter is all about.

The music most often used by film and television editors is really only temporary music—or “temp” in the lingo of the industry. These temporary tracks act as a “stand-in” for the film score, or incidental music, and are usually “borrowed” from other movie soundtracks or other instrumental music, and the use of it during early screenings is just standard industry practice despite the somewhat questionable legality of placing it on even a temporary cut, even though the ...