[Fmpro] FMPRO Digest, Vol 37, Issue 35 CUE SHEET QUESTION

[Edrums@aol.com]

Mark N. (or anyone out there):

I am moving from individual song licensing to complete film scoring 
(instrumental, primarily).   When helping (i.e. making sure!) the producton company 
file an appropriate and correct cue sheet (BMI in my case), what is the 
definition of a "cue"?    It occurred to me, that in the case of a recent short film, 
my music was nearly throughout the film   (over 4 min of 6).   At times, music 
moved in and out of the dialogue or effects.     My understanding is that I 
can either list separate cues, or total time of my music.   (Mark:   according 
to a 2006 response you said that it didn't matter, financially, at least 
background instrumental-wise, and I believe I have read that on ASCAP websites.   I 
assume BMI is the same.   BMI is a bit harder to find this kind of 
information.

My question is, how to define the length of the cue or entire musical timing 
of a film.   As I look at the music soundtrack, there are inevitably silences, 
some long, and some short between cues or simply my own sounds.   In short, 
as I assembled all of my cues together, it became challenging to decide what 
was a single cue, and what was simple the silence between two cues.     Is there 
a minimum length of a cue (or max silence) - by definition, say 5 sec?    For 
example, in the case of any piece of music (like Beethoven's 5th), I assume 
the silences between notes are part of a cue.   What about a performance on 
film with two movements of a symphony.   Would the silence between the movements 
count?     On the extreme end, would John Cage's 4'33" work as a cue? (just 
kidding, but it is food for thought!)  With digital editing, you are looking at 
sound and silence in a very black and white way-literally, as opposed to 
listening by ear.       My guess is that this issue has been around a long time.    
It could be more difficult to define in modern digital production (and the 
fact that composers are more involved with production companies to submit cue 
sheets, etc.)   Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but it seems this information 
might be important in a big budget release, even for a single licensed piece of 
music, especially a vocal!
(PS:   I am waiting for BMI for an answer, and will post their response)
Ed Hartman
edhartmanmusic.com


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