Score, Song & Music Department

Music & Composers

A great film score is invisible when it works and unforgettable when you hear it again years later. From Bernard Herrmann’s shrieking strings in Psycho to John Williams’ two-note theme in Jaws, from Ennio Morricone’s sweeping spaghetti Westerns to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross redefining the digital-era sound of cinema — film music is its own art form, with its own awards, its own guild politics, and its own legends. This page covers every role in the music department, every major award from the Oscars to the Grammys, and a full archive of winners.

Oscar Best Original Score Oscar Best Original Song Grammy Best Score Soundtrack BAFTA Best Original Score Golden Globe Best Original Score BMI Film & TV Awards
1934
First Oscar for Score
52
John Williams Oscar Nominations (record)
5
John Williams Oscar Wins
3
Hans Zimmer Oscar Nominations Before Win
4
Alexandre Desplat Oscar Wins
Department Roles

The Music Department

The music department operates across production and post-production, bridging the creative worlds of composition, performance, licensing, and editorial.

Composer
Film Composer • Score Composer
Creates the original musical score for a film or television series. Works in close collaboration with the director — attending spotting sessions to determine where music will play, what emotional function it will serve, and how it will interact with dialogue and sound effects. The composer’s relationship with the director is one of cinema’s great creative partnerships: Hitchcock and Herrmann, Spielberg and Williams, Leone and Morricone, Nolan and Zimmer, P.T. Anderson and Jonny Greenwood. Eligible for the Oscar, Grammy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe.
Orchestrator
Arranger
Translates the composer’s musical sketches into full orchestral notation for live players — specifying which instruments play which notes, managing voicings, and ensuring the score is practical for the ensemble to perform. Many legendary film scores were orchestrated by specialists: John Williams is one of the few who regularly orchestrates his own work. The orchestrator’s contribution is often substantial but rarely credited at awards level.
Music Supervisor
Music Licensing Supervisor
Selects and licenses pre-existing music for use in a film or TV series — negotiating with record labels, music publishers, and artists for synchronisation rights. A creative role as much as a business one: the music supervisor who placed “Tiny Dancer” in Almost Famous or “Bohemian Rhapsody” in Wayne’s World made decisions as authorial as any directorial choice. Eligible for the Grammy for Music Supervision.
Music Editor
Score Editor
Works between the composer and the picture editor — cutting and assembling temp music during production, attending spotting sessions, managing the timing of music cues to picture, and assembling the final music tracks for the dub. The music editor is the connective tissue between the creative music world and the technical post-production pipeline.
Score Mixer
Scoring Mixer • Scoring Stage Engineer
Records and mixes the live orchestral score on the scoring stage — a specialist discipline combining classical music recording with film audio expertise. The scoring mixer works closely with the composer and conductor to capture performances that will survive the competitive sonic environment of a fully mixed film.
Songwriter
Original Song Writer
Writes original songs specifically for use in a film or TV series. Original songs eligible for the Oscar must be written specifically for the film and must appear in it in a meaningful way. The songwriter and composer may be the same person or entirely separate — La La Land’s Justin Hurwitz wrote both score and songs, while many films commission songs from external artists (Adele’s “Skyfall,” Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” and “What Was I Made For?”).
Conductor
Orchestral Conductor
Conducts the orchestra on the scoring stage. Sometimes the composer conducts their own sessions; more often a specialist conductor is engaged. The conductor works in the booth alongside the scoring mixer while watching picture, synchronising the orchestra to the film frame by frame.
Music Coordinator
Music Production Coordinator
Manages the logistics of the music department — scheduling recording sessions, handling musician contracts, managing clearances and delivery of music materials. Particularly important on large productions where multiple composers, orchestras, and recording sessions may overlap.
Award Shows

How Film & TV Music Gets Recognised

Film music has more award pathways than almost any other craft — spanning the film academies, the music recording industry, and dedicated guild recognition.

Oscar — Best Original Score & Song
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences • since 1934 (Score), 1934 (Song)
Two of the Academy’s most competitive categories. Best Original Score is voted on by the Music Branch and tends to reward emotionally expansive, orchestral work — though Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s wins for The Social Network and Soul show the Academy is open to electronic scores. Best Original Song requires that the song be written specifically for the film.
  • Best Original Score
  • Best Original Song
  • Previously: Best Score (Adaptation or Treatment) — discontinued 1999
  • Songs must be written specifically for the qualifying film
Annual • March • Hollywood
Grammy Awards
Recording Academy • Film/TV Categories since 1958
The Grammys approach film music from the recording industry’s perspective — honouring the recorded performance and production quality of the score album, rather than the compositional achievement. Film music categories sit alongside pop, rock, and classical at one of music’s most watched ceremonies.
  • Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
  • Best Song Written for Visual Media
  • Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media
  • Best Musical Theater Album (relevant for stage-to-screen)
Annual • February • Los Angeles
BAFTA — Best Original Score
British Academy of Film & Television Arts • since 1968
BAFTA’s score category is a strong Oscar predictor and frequently recognises European composers whose work might be overlooked by the Hollywood-centric Academy. Particular strength in recognising adventurous or unconventional scores.
  • Best Original Score
Annual • February • London
Golden Globe — Best Original Score & Song
Hollywood Foreign Press Association / Dick Clark Productions • since 1947
The Golden Globes have historically been more adventurous in their music nominations than the Academy, often recognising unconventional or genre-blending scores. The song category is one of the most watched at the Globes telecast.
  • Best Original Score — Motion Picture
  • Best Original Song — Motion Picture
Annual • January • Beverly Hills
BMI Film & TV Awards
Broadcast Music, Inc. • since 1959
BMI honours composers whose music receives the most US broadcast performances in a given year — covering film, television, and cable. The BMI awards are significant because they measure actual audience reach rather than critical opinion, and many of Hollywood’s leading composers are BMI members.
  • BMI Film Music Award (Top Grossing)
  • BMI TV Music Award
  • Richard Kirk Award (Career Achievement)
  • Pete Carpenter Award (Emerging Composers)
Annual • May • Los Angeles
ASCAP Film & TV Music Awards
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers • since 1986
Like BMI, ASCAP honours its member composers based on performance royalties earned. The top film music award goes to the score from the highest-grossing ASCAP-licensed film, making it a reliable indicator of mainstream commercial success. ASCAP and BMI together represent the vast majority of working film composers.
  • Top Box Office Films Award
  • Top Television Series Award
  • Henry Mancini Award (Career Achievement)
Annual • June • Los Angeles
Oscar Winners Archive — Score

Best Original Score — Academy Awards

Ceremony Composer Film
2025 · 97th Daniel Blumberg The Brutalist
2024 · 96th Ludwig Göransson Oppenheimer
2023 · 95th Volker Bertelmann All Quiet on the Western Front
2022 · 94th Hans Zimmer Dune
2021 · 93rd Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross & Jon Batiste Soul
2020 · 92nd Hildur Guðnadóttir Joker
2019 · 91st Ludwig Göransson Black Panther
2018 · 90th Alexandre Desplat The Shape of Water
2017 · 89th Justin Hurwitz La La Land
2016 · 88th Ennio Morricone The Hateful Eight
2015 · 87th Alexandre Desplat The Grand Budapest Hotel
2014 · 86th Steven Price Gravity
2013 · 85th Mychael Danna Life of Pi
2012 · 84th Ludovic Bource The Artist
2011 · 83rd Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross The Social Network
2010 · 82nd Michael Giacchino Up
Oscar Winners Archive — Song

Best Original Song — Academy Awards

Ceremony Song Film Artist(s)
2025 · 97th El Mal Emilia Pérez Clément Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard
2024 · 96th What Was I Made For? Barbie Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell
2023 · 95th Naatu Naatu RRR M.M. Keeravani, Chandrabose
2022 · 94th No Time to Die No Time to Die Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell
2021 · 93rd Fight For You Judas and the Black Messiah H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas
2020 · 92nd (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again Rocketman Elton John & Bernie Taupin
2019 · 91st Shallow A Star Is Born Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt
2018 · 90th Remember Me Coco Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez
2017 · 89th City of Stars La La Land Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
2016 · 88th Writing’s on the Wall Spectre Sam Smith & Jimmy Napes
2015 · 87th Glory Selma John Legend & Common
2014 · 86th Let It Go Frozen Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez
2013 · 85th Skyfall Skyfall Adele & Paul Epworth
2012 · 84th Man or Muppet The Muppets Bret McKenzie
2011 · 83rd We Belong Together Toy Story 3 Randy Newman
2010 · 82nd The Weary Kind Crazy Heart Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett
Notable Composers

The Most Celebrated Film Composers

John Williams
American • b. 1932
The most Oscar-nominated person in history (52 nominations) and the defining voice of the Hollywood orchestral score. Williams’ themes are not merely accompaniment but autonomous musical statements — the two-note Jaws motif, the Imperial March, Indiana Jones’ Raiders theme, Hedwig’s Theme for Harry Potter. His 50-year collaboration with Steven Spielberg is the most celebrated composer-director partnership in cinema history.
Jaws Star Wars E.T. Schindler’s List Harry Potter Lincoln
★ 5 Oscars • 52 nominations (all-time record) • Kennedy Center Honoree
Ennio Morricone
Italian • 1928–2020
One of the most prolific and influential composers in film history, with over 500 scores to his name. Morricone’s work for Sergio Leone — A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West — redefined the sound of the Western. He waited until 2016 to win a competitive Oscar (for The Hateful Eight), having previously received an Honorary Oscar in 2007.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Once Upon a Time in the West Cinema Paradiso The Mission The Hateful Eight
★ 1 competitive Oscar • Honorary Oscar (2007) • Grammy Lifetime Achievement
Hans Zimmer
German • b. 1957
The most commercially dominant film composer of his generation and the architect of the modern blockbuster sound — epic, electronic-orchestral, rhythmically driven. Zimmer’s collaborations with Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, and Denis Villeneuve have shaped what mainstream audiences expect film music to sound like. His work on Dune finally won him a second Oscar after decades of nominations.
The Lion King Gladiator The Dark Knight Inception Interstellar Dune
★ 2 Oscars • 4 Grammys • Golden Globe
Bernard Herrmann
American • 1911–1975
The greatest film composer who was never fully recognised in his own time. Herrmann’s collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock — Vertigo, Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much — produced some of cinema’s most psychologically acute music. His use of the all-strings orchestra in Psycho was revolutionary. He won his only Oscar for All That Money Can Buy (1941) and died the night he finished recording Taxi Driver.
Citizen Kane Vertigo Psycho North by Northwest Taxi Driver
★ 1 Oscar • Grammy Lifetime Achievement • Profoundly influential
Jonny Greenwood
British • b. 1971
Radiohead’s lead guitarist and one of the most critically acclaimed film composers of his generation. Greenwood’s long collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson — There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread, Licorice Pizza — has produced scores that function as modernist chamber music. His work is the strongest case for film scoring as a legitimate branch of contemporary classical composition.
There Will Be Blood The Master Phantom Thread The Power of the Dog Spencer
★ Oscar nominated • BAFTA wins • Critical consensus: criminally under-recognised by the Academy
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
American
The Nine Inch Nails duo who redefined what a film score could sound like in the digital era. Their collaboration with David Fincher on The Social Network won the Oscar and changed the conversation about electronic scores. Their work on Soul (with Jon Batiste) won a second Oscar. Reznor and Ross prove that rock musicians can make the transition to film music without compromise.
The Social Network The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Gone Girl Soul Mank
★ 2 Oscars • Multiple Grammys • Golden Globe
Hildur Guðnadóttir
Icelandic • b. 1982
Won the Oscar, Grammy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe for her Joker score — an unprecedented clean sweep for a film score. Guðnadóttir recorded much of the music before filming began, with Joaquin Phoenix listening to it on set to inform his performance. She was the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Original Score since Anne Dudley in 1997. Her work has also defined the sound of HBO’s Chernobyl.
Joker Chernobyl (TV) Tár Women Talking
★ 1 Oscar • Grammy • BAFTA • Golden Globe — All for Joker
Alexandre Desplat
French • b. 1961
The most nominated living film composer at the Oscars after John Williams, with two wins from nine nominations. Desplat is the consummate craftsman of the modern film score — versatile, prolific, and always in service of the film rather than his own identity. His range from the delicate miniaturism of The Grand Budapest Hotel to the aquatic grandeur of The Shape of Water is remarkable.
The Queen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Grand Budapest Hotel The Shape of Water Little Women
★ 2 Oscars • 9 nominations • BAFTA • César Awards