For many aspiring professional musicians, the opportunity to create music for adverts and film is not something to be sniffed at. Even if you’ve established yourself as an act, writing for film or adverts can be a great way to diversify your career.
A fantastic way of vastly improving a portfolio of work, musicians who create theme songs for adverts and write scores for film are extremely talented, dedicated, and, more often than not, will have spent decades honing their craft.
Tamara Barschak has written music for short films, adverts, animation and theatre. She says:
I was asked by one of the film makers to write the music to an advert she was directing and then, on the strength of that, she also commissioned me to do the score to her film, an Italian art house movie.
Tamara goes on to explain:
I guess it’s a question of really keeping your ear to the ground and getting your stuff out there for people to see and hear!
Top tips for getting work creating music for jingles
1. Consider formal education
Those who are extremely successful and produce music for the biggest Hollywood movies and advertisements are, more often than not, trained to a very high standard.
Whilst a music degree is by no means vital, musicians that complete one will be able to fill in any gaps in their education and explore other genres of music.
Learning advanced music theory will help with things like orchestral scoring. Higher musical education will also allow musicians to network among each other and help one another out to find work or generate leads.
2. Get involved in ad agencies and other organisations
Tamara’s insight:
I would advise musicians to compile their own showreel and send it off to a lot of advertising agencies all over the country. If they go on a film website called VIMEO they can look at film clips , some of which don’t have music to them and write their own music to the clips!
Inevitably, ad agencies will regularly be inundated with emails and phone calls from hopeful musicians wishing to be chosen to write the next advert jingle.
Musicians should try and set themselves apart from the crowd by ensuring that their showreel/portfolio is the best it can be.
It is also extremely useful if the musician has a basic understanding of how the advertising industry works, and try and develop as many personal connections as possible through networking.
Tamara also says:
I also contacted a number of film school across the UK, asking them if they would be prepared to put out an advert describing my work for film students potentially looking for soundtracks for their movies.
3. Make your showreel the best it can be
As musicians begin to receive commissions, a showreel will begin to grow. This is what is shown to ad agencies and other companies to show off talent and gain new work.
For those just starting out in the jingle writing business, try to work with students and young film makers on their projects, to get a few credits you can use.
Whilst these may not pay well (if at all!) they will enable beginners to understand what is expected of them without the big pressures of big businesses, and put together a showreel.
Even if you just want to showcase your music, a showreel with an engaging visual aspect will help prospective clients visualise its uses.
Sources
Have you created music for film or advert jingles? Let us know in the comments below!
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