How
How a score comes together · let’s talk
How a score comes together
- 00The first impressionThe journey starts wherever the filmmakers feel comfortable: with the script, a conversation or the first images, ideally over coffee or tea together. We brainstorm, trade ideas and see what sparks. Nothing is committed at this stage.
I like to be as open as possible in the beginning.
Meet the Artist - 01DialogueEnis reads the script, watches the cut and talks with the director and their team until the idea for the score is clear: what the music is for in this film, and what it should never do.
It is very important for me to work closely with the filmmakers. I feel like we are counterparts in finding the right language for the film.
Enis on Love Sarah · Interview with Brittany Frederick - 02LaboratoryIn the studio he builds the film's own musical palette: instruments, sounds and themes, tested against the picture with the director until the language of the score is found.
We started working like we would in a laboratory, testing different sounds, instruments and musical ideas. We started out with small elements and ideas that grew more and more into what became the final score. … The guitar in my main theme is actually a resonator guitar tuned differently to work with my musical idea.
Enis on Trigger Warning · Film Score Monthly - 03TestingEnis produces demos that already contain the full composition with every detail – they sound almost like the real thing. They arrive synced to picture, notes travel back and forth, and a quick ping-pong on a scene happens in an online session, not on a calendar. Whenever schedules allow, the first demos are played in the room. Approved by the film team, the music then goes into production, where the difference to the demo becomes more than clear.
We tried out different ideas in a safe space. That gave me the opportunity to create many more ideas, so we could later see what really works with the movie and what does not.
Enis in conversation with Mouly Surya - 04RecordingOrchestras and soloists are recorded where the film needs them – in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Berlin, Babelsberg, London or Los Angeles.
On every project I try to record musicians, even on the electronic scores.
Enis on Love Sarah · The Nerd Daily - 05Edit and mixThe best takes from the recordings are combined into the perfect performance, then the music is mixed meticulously to achieve the sonic experience envisioned for the film. The engineers and music editor Enis works with sit in different time zones, which helps when a cut changes late or a deadline moves.
I studied sound for a year before studying film music, and the balance of the mix is incredibly important to me. Working with amazing engineers worldwide, the mix is like the colour grading of the music: you change the contrast, push or pull elements, and make one coherent sound for the film.
Enis Rotthoff Interview - 06DeliveryThe mixed music is delivered already adjusted to the sound of the film, so it slips smoothly into the final dub. Throughout the project Enis stays in continuous exchange with the sound team.
You can almost freeze time with music.
Film Score Monthly - 07Final mixThe music only comes to light in the final mix. Enis attends the dub, above all the first days, to make sure the music mix works and the score becomes part of the immersive experience of the film.
I always loved it when we mixed the music and the sound together. That’s when you finally see the finished film – and you will never hear your film the same way again afterwards.
Mouly Surya, director of Trigger Warning - 08AlbumA separate mix and master is made for the soundtrack release, whether streaming, vinyl or CD.
The album is experiencing the film again in its musical identity. I love rediscovering the different pieces from the film and, together with the filmmakers, telling the story as an album with a distinct order – rearranging and combining music to make the listening experience a memory and a surprise at the same time.
Enis Rotthoff on Soundtrack Albums - 09The premiereWe experience the film together, at a festival, in a cinema with an audience, or at the premiere before a streaming launch. It is the moment to celebrate our collaboration and what we have created together. That is what Enis loves about film: a huge collaboration of so many creatives, making something whole, where the sum is more than any single layer.
- Availability
- Currently taking on new assignments.
- Management
- , Los Angeles
- Works in
- Los Angeles and Berlin · authorised to work in the US and the EU
- From the script
- Send the script or a first chapter, and a sketch comes back before the shoot.
- Also
- Music for brands and events – the Fresenius 100th-anniversary live show, a Mitsubishi commercial, many other commercials and other immersive applied music. Ask.
- Let’s talk