How did you keep up with scoring assignments info, etc. before the Internet..?

[Sandor 459]

Sometimes I have a hard time remembering how I found out - for example - John Williams was scoring JFK or Far And Away... This already feels like another reality to me.

What I do remember is checking out posters of upcoming movies in magazines and hoping to spot John Williams' name in the credits.

So how did you keep up with scoring assignments, movie news, etc. before the Internet..?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

Often via the movie posters in the local cinema.

[Luke Skywalker 1,285]

i went to the Patriot and was surprised to read john williams in the opening credits.

i would like to have that sentiment again.. but it is impossible

[Incanus 5,519]

I can't remember exactly how did I keep tabs on JWs assignments in the pre-internet era because I became a fan just at the watershed. I guess it was mainly by spotting JWs name on the film posters.

[Brónach 490]

I was still in proto-fan stage before the Internet. When I first started to use the Internet one my primary reactions was looking for the music I liked in films like Star Wars and stuff. I became a fan through this.

[Quintus 5,391]

I used to read Empire magazine. That was my only method.

[JoeinAR 1,759]

Starlog, Films in Review, Fangoria, Cinefantastique, they all posted upcoming film scoring assignments.

[Datameister 1,394]

Mostly it caught me by (pleasant) surprise when I went to see a film, as I recall.

[Olivier 5]

Looking for the name of the composer on posters or in trailers, which I still do.

[MrJosh 440]

I can't remember exactly how did I keep tabs on JWs assignments in the pre-internet era because I became a fan just at the watershed. I guess it was mainly by spotting JWs name on the film posters.

The same for me. In fact, as soon as I got internet I discovered this site.

[indy4 152]

I didn't become a major film music fan until 2007, so it was never an issue for me.

[Koray Savas 2,095]

I don't think I really kept up with anything. I would watch movies and love the scores and just get the soundtracks for them, and that eventually shaped my music taste. Zimmer's The Rock, Powell's Face/Off, Serra's Goldeneye and The Fifth Element, Giacchino's Medal Of Honor, Elfman's The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Williams' Jurassic Park were some of my first film scores. At this time I only identified with the music and its respective film, rather than the composers themselves.

I didn't start the hoarding collecting until around 2002. That's when I had determined that my three favorite composers were John Williams, Danny Elfman, and James Newton Howard. I think I discovered Morricone a little after that, through The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. I didn't become aware of Giacchino until 2006 with Black and M:i:III. I think those were the first scores outside of MOH where I recognized his name. Oddly enough that's the year I joined this board.

[King Mark 2,924]

I'd check the newspapers with movie adds and check the names on the posters. I remember I was very anxious to see Williams name on the JP poster.

Around 1994 I got a print subscription to FSM magazine

[BloodBoal 7,532]

I didn't start the hoarding collecting until around 2002. That's when I had determined that my three favorite composers were John Williams, Danny Elfman, and James Newton Howard. I think I discovered Morricone a little after that, through The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. I didn't become aware of Giacchino until 2006 with Black and M:i:III. I think those were the first scores outside of MOH where I recognized his name. Oddly enough that's the year I joined this board.

OK, so now we know four more composers from your Top 10 list! Woohoo!

[Thor 5,273]

Posters, film covers etc. like most of you.

But in the early 90's, I also got a big database program from the local VHS rental that I often used -- even though by the time I searched a title there, it was no longer a future assignment, of course.

When I first started my subscription to FSM in 1995 (I think), internet was already getting established and I could get pertinent info on imdb, filmmusic.com etc.

[JamieC 13]

Starlog, Starburst, Fantastic Films, carrier pigeon.

It is still incredibly thrilling to have the internet now and it only serves to remind me of a very different kind of excitement that used to engulf films when promotional activity, by today's standards, was essentially much more limited. For example, with Spielberg's Hook: we knew it had started filming in early '91 but there was no official first promo. image available, and of course only in print, until the end of August '91 (TIME magazine ran the RW/DH crossed blades photo). Suffice to say, being a teenager back then, time seemed to take longer to pass...such is life. It fascinates me to think what will supersede the internet's current rapid-response in twenty years' time.

Also fascinating to me is how, with the expensive studio movies at least, we have to wait very little time for their UK/European release. For example, in 1988 we had to wait six months for Who Framed Roger Rabbit ? to be released in the UK after its USA release. If memory serves correctly, Indy 3 and Batman marked a turning point as their releases tied in with the first multiplexes being opened in the UK. I may have that correlation wrong , of course, so feel free to correct.

Watch the skies.

JC

http://about.me/jamesclarkewriter