Keep Them On the Edge of Their Seats

Composer Michael Giacchino's method for scoring Lost was largely based on the idea of not giving too much away with the music. He would receive a copy of an episode ready to score, without having read the script or seeing it before. He would then just start scoring right from the beginning.He would watch "just a scene at a time". Watch a little ahead, score that part, a little further ahead, score that part.The reason for doing this is that the kept himself in the audience's frame of mind. He didn't know the answers to the big mysteries or anything about the surprise cliffhanger coming after the commercial break. By going just a little at a time he made sure that he never spoiled the tension.Although I don't think scoring a feature in this way is entirely practical, the purpose of the method is still very applicable. It's critical that the composer and filmmaker don't become so used to the story that they forget how exciting and fun it can be for someone seeing it for the first time.Take a classic horror scene for example. If you know that the killer isn't hiding in the basement, playing a high pitched eerie cue as the heroine slowly walks through her house might feel cliche and corny. But if the audience has no idea where the killer is, using music to push them to their edge of their seat in anticipation is the best possible thing to do.Don't take the "first viewing" perspective for granted. There is great value in balancing the use of themes, size of the score, etc. based on what's to come (for example scoring the first battle scene light so the climactic battle scene has room to sound huge). But always keep in mind that when the audience is watching that first battle scene it's all they've seen, and it still needs to be treated as exciting and epic accordingly. As Giacchino says, you want the audience "as on the edge of their seat as they need to be".