West One Music Group back with tips and music treats
Posted 20th July 2022
West One Music Group are a global independant music company with clients that include Netflix, Disney and the BBC. Back to support the Vista Foundation 48Hours with not only an amazing grand champion prize award valued at 10K, West One Music Group are also opening up for free, their entire music library for 48-hours of fun and furious film making. These guys obviously love 48Hours and supporting up and coming filmmakers, so we checked in to ask a few questions and if there were any music tips they had to share?
Why does West One Music Group want to support our 48Hour filmmakers?
It’s important to us to support up-and-coming filmmakers and give them access to quality music that will elevate their already incredible projects. Music licensing can be confusing and complicated, so we’re happy to educate independent filmmakers and take the confusion out of the process.
What did you enjoy about the partnership last year?
It was so incredible to see how different each submission was, and how each had such a unique and clear artistic voice. We loved hearing which songs the participants selected and how they incorporated them into their work.
Any tips on searching and choosing music on your website?
We have a really intuitive website with powerful search functionality. The more you put in the search bar at the top of search.westonemusic.com, the more refined your results will be.
If you want a dark, menacing score with lots of synth try words like: dark, synth, orchestral, score. You could then pick a theme e.g. Spy, horror, mystery to narrow it down further.
If you are looking for music from a particular decade, just put in the last numbers e.g. 90s or 80s. If you’re not sure where to start, navigate to the green “discover” tab on the left-hand side. There you can browse by different categories including genre, mood and instrument. We also have tons of specially-curated playlists with hand-picked tracks for specific events and programming.
Check out our Search Tips and Tricks for more.
Can you talk about how music helps shape and create tone in a film?
Music can help create a mood and feeling in a scene, as well as help connect the audience with the filmmaker’s feelings and intent. The right piece of music can pull at the heart strings in an epic romance film, or it can convey tension in dramatic action storyline. Using different instrumentation and musical genres can totally change the overall tone of the film. A sparse, dark score creates a very different atmosphere to an upbeat and quirky one.
How can music enhance a scene?
Would Jaws have been the same film without it’s iconic, tension-building main theme music? Would a group of men walking in suits be as memorable in Reservoir Dogs if not accompanied with the classic song “Little Green Bag”?
A film’s music lets the audience know how they should be feeling. Scared? Hopeful? Happy? Depressed? All of these emotions are communicable just through sound, allowing filmmakers to enhance their work and build a greater depth to their characters.
Why is it necessary to save time over the 48Hours for this important element?
Music should be seen as another character in your film, one that helps create the tone and enhances the scene, without forgetting their lines. While our website is intuitive and easy to use, we have over 70,000 tracks in our library, so searching through everything we have to offer can take a bit of time. We suggest having one person available to search through our music during the shoot and also starting the day with an idea in mind of what you’re after.
To help prepare musical options for this years Vista Foundation 48Hours, check out the West One Music Group website.
Prior to the event you’ll be emailed the official 48 Hour login that will allow you to access and download our music for the duration of the competition. Once the competition is over, you are welcome to sign up to the West One Music catalogue for your own projects.