What People Weep For

A commission, a scoring stage, ninety musicians. Three days at three hundred thousand dollars a day. Sony Scoring Stage, Abbey Road, Air Studios: the cathedrals where the orchestra finally records what the composer spent six months writing alone at the piano.

From the first spotting session to the final mix, every step of the film composer's craft, taken apart. What gets paid, what gets kept, what gets thrown away. The temp tracks everyone fights. The replaced scores nobody mentions.

John Williams and Spielberg, Hans Zimmer and Nolan, Joe Hisaishi and Miyazaki, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Bertolucci, A. R. Rahman and Mani Ratnam, Hildur Guðnadóttir and Todd Phillips. Fifty-six composers, thirty-seven chapters on the real craft.