11th International Film Scoring Competition 2023 (as part of the Zurich Film Festival)

I’ve been tempted to participate in the past because the movies to score are good and inspiring.

But 55CHF for a competition I have zero chance to win, come on!

I understand that they do not want to be swamped by application from people that do not have any skill writing for a real orchestra but live under the illusion they do (thanks to modern technology). But I agree that the price is very inhibitive! It certainly favors people who would not mind losing a couple bucks, as for winning such a competition - talent and skill taken for granted - you always need to get lucky.

Otherwise, it is a refreshingly unique picture to score. Very difficult to do that well, as you really need to get into the surreal world.

What they constantly do wrong though is picking films whose cinematic scope does not really fit the ensemble (orchestra) they provide - this time is no exception. The visual style of this film also clearly indicates 70ies and I couldn’t think of a good way to make that resonate with the orchestra.

That being said, I think it is a good challenge to write for that film and one probably has to distinguish between an actual job to score and such a public live event. Those do not exactly match.

Wow, this is a really beautiful short film. Not sure I'll afford the entry fee, but the source film is a fantastic opportunity.

I concur that it’s really nice that they make the movie available without paying. I did score last year’s movie (about a circus freak) to “test drive” my new VSL errands but didn’t enter nor release my submission.

However I beg to differ about the orchestra not meeting the movie.
History has told us that you can score a western with electric guitars or a movie about Christobal Colombus with synths, so I don’t think that the orchestra is per se a mismatch. Let’s be creative.

Loïc D said:

However I beg to differ about the orchestra not meeting the movie.
History has told us that you can score a western with electric guitars or a movie about Christobal Colombus with synths, so I don’t think that the orchestra is per se a mismatch. Let’s be creative.

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You can do everything of course! But there is something with scope of movies and size of the ensemble that seems as close to 'objective' as it can get in a field like the arts. And only because you can do anything does not mean it is always the best to do anything ... this is of course subjective, but I have watched those films very often and thought to myself, hmmm ... if I had the choice, I would score that with a band or with synths or a smaller ensemble. They rarely had a film in this competition where I thought about orchestra as the first choice.

What a movie they chose this year. Did anyone else have trouble grasping it, or was just me?

It’s a bit ambivalent and very surreal, so, I don’t think there is one way to interpret it. But that is not necessarily a negative IMO.

I'm going to give it a go this year. That's an extremely hard movie to score and in many ways that evens the playing field. Capturing the surreal nature of the piece but still supporting the story is the key, and many approaches are valid. Pulling it off in a coherent manner for orchestra is the hard bit. Not many hit points for an animation which helps but it's going to take multiple watches to get inside the narrative. This is going to be very interesting.

I don't mind the fee - it's a good 1st prize and having skin in the game is always good motivation to get the damn thing finished.

I am working on this and finding it super hard, but it’s a lot of fun. Also seeing last years finalists, it seems the jury opts for takes on the composition that bring the music to the foreground (in this year’s case, the scene with the ants and the reconstruction).

However, I want to share shorter cuts (20 sec, 30 sec, 90 sec …) from the work-in-progress as private videos with friends, for feedback, etc. but YouTube is now blocking them due to copyright claims from Nikita Ventures (even though being listed as private). I may end up using Dropbox or Box.net, but it’s not as convenient as YouTube or Vimeo for the person watching. Are there any other alternatives for private sharing that others use commonly for works in progress?

52 Euros


if you have more than 3 IMDB credits geht nicht



Unisson midi chord pack allowed

I decided to my self that i get paid to compose, not to pay to show i can compose.

Idk...


People can open your soundcloud and see if you are good. The cool then is the promotion and be performed, and the cv. Well...

If someone shows a screenshot of the movie here helps to decide

As expected I have not been selected as one of the three finalists so I can now publish my score.

Initially I really had no clue about what to do given the weird story and content of the film.

Then I went for a chamberish rather than full orchestra piece (except for the Jerome reconstruction part), almost no brass except for some Horns. Not a great idea in terms of chances to get selected but they were anyway almost null so …

I quoted a few great composers (Johann Strauss, Bernard Herrmann, Duke Ellington) and in the end I had a lot of fun.

I used a bunch of Libraries btw.

SA Fractured Strings
SA Symphonic Motions
SA Intimate Strings
PS Pacific Strings
Sonixinema Intimate Legato Cello

XSample Woodwinds
OT MA5 Woodwind Ensemble
SA British Drama Toolkit Brass & Reeds
Musical Sampling Austin Tenor Sax

8Dio Century Horns

Cineperc Timpani

Pianoteq 8 - NY Steinway D

Cineharp 3

EDIT: I uploaded an updated version (no distortion)
EDIT2: there is a copyright claim issue that the Zurich Film Festival is trying to address, so the video could be temporarily blocked.

Since I got the year wrong ...


Re. YouTube copyright claims, I received a confirmation from the organisers that there is an issue with the blocking and they have contacted the filmmakers to get it sorted with YouTube.

@mgaewsj I am glad yours did not get blocked. I feel jealous

Olympum said:

@mgaewsj I am glad yours did not get blocked. I feel jealous

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I guess it's only a matter of time... let's see

Seems I've fallen foul of the same copyright claim problem. But good to hear that there appears to be some movement by the competition organisers to resolving the issue.
Initially, I uploaded my entry as "unlisted", in preparation, before the finalists were announced. Realistically, even though I felt my entry may have been a viable contender, chances of being nominated were very slim (there are a lot of very talented composers out there!) so I wanted to get my work out there promptly after the announcement.
After a few days YouTube advised me of a copyright claim which had blocked the video worldwide even before the video had been published. So I took it down.
The company that had claimed copyright, according to internet searches, has been accused of being "copyright trolls" who, in at least one case, appear to have claimed copyright on properties they do not represent. That's a bit of a red flag for me ...
I decided to wait until a week after the finalist announcement before I uploaded it again in the hope that if there were any problems, they'd be ironed out by that time. They weren't. I got hit with another block. But this time I decided to dispute it. This morning, the block was lifted however the dispute still remains unresolved. I've complied with all the rules of the competition so we shall see what transpires ...
In the meantime, here it is. I wanted it to sound distinctive and slightly surreal.

*Edit - Well, that was short lived - They have rejected my dispute and blocked the video again. Now it becomes trickier because if I appeal the decision and lose I could get a "copyright strike" which would jeopardise my channel. Guess I'll just have to sit and wait it out ...

I contacted the organizers today and they said the issue is not yet resolved with the filmmakers. My channel also got “downgraded” and I have lost “advanced features” so I am not tremendously happy about this situation. Hope the filmmakers can sort this out promptly.

Olympum said:

I contacted the organizers today and they said the issue is not yet resolved with the filmmakers. My channel also got “downgraded” and I have lost “advanced features” so I am not tremendously happy about this situation. Hope the filmmakers can sort this out promptly.

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Sorry to hear that.
It's in the competition organisers' best interests to get this issue resolved promptly.
I suspect that, like many others, one of the most compelling reasons to enter this particular competition was because, even if you aren't nominated (the most likely outcome), at least you are able to post your work in your portfolio for prospective clients to appraise.
If you can't post your work with the movie to give it context, what's the point of even entering the competition in the first place, especially given that you have to pay to be in it.
And then there is the issue of false advertising - if we can't post our work as they advertised we could, that's a problem which must be addressed. I'm quite confident that Switzerland has laws to protect people from false advertising.

I asked the organizers if I should try to dispute the copyright claim and they told me to NOT do it.
I am waiting for the end of this absurd story

GraemeH said:

And then there is the issue of false advertising - if we can't post our work as they advertised we could,

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I think in previous years they'd mentioned that it would be ok to publish the music but not the video or maybe that you'd have to clear it with the creator or something like that (the videos they used were already released previously with original music, but I guess they'd be registered to be taken down at varying extents, like if they were made by independent creators who might not be partrnered with some overarching entity). Same happens when they give you clips from movies to score (same thing as above, people just assumed that it'd be ok to post the videos with their music, but the company started blocking and issuing takedowns, because the movie was still unreleased... Go figure).

Strikes on YT should go away by themselves after 3 or 6 months, but you need to be careful. I think it's Community Strikes that don't go away (if I'm not mistaken).