Lack of big screen gigs lead composers to video games

More and more movie and TV composers are finding their way to video game scores, according to a recent story from the LA Times.

Daniel Licht, composer for the TV show Dexter, finds that movies today tend to be "a little paint-by-numbers." With the exception of a few films, Licht believes that big-budget films don't take chances.

"They'll go for a brand-name composer and stock sound rather than trying something startling," said Licht.

By Licht's account, musicians make the jump to games to continue work on scores not found in many films today. "A lot of the middle ground movies have disappeared," said Licht.

"All of the movies-of-the-week have disappeared. There's a whole new class of film composing that just does not exist anymore. So TV and film composers have gone into video games to keep working on long-form fiction."

The change in scenery opens up more than just a specific kind of work; it's a previously unexplored platform. Brian Tyler, who worked on both the film Battle: Los Angeles and popular game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, views video game composing as a new avenue for musicians.

"For as long as I can think back, there were two areas you could compose and find work: television and movies," said Tyler. "Now there's a third completely separate entity that exists for composing, and it didn't exist a few years ago."