Music in a film can establish the mood of a scene, convey a character’s emotions, build tension or make an ordinary moment memorable. But how does a composer decide what a film should sound like? And how does the process of creating a film score differ from composing songs for a movie?

The collaboration between German-born Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer and Indian composer AR Rahman for Nitesh Tiwari’s two-part Ramayana brings these questions into focus. The two are working on the film’s music and score, combining their different musical backgrounds for a production that has been conceived in multiple languages and versions.

How does composing for a film work?

The process generally begins with conversations between the director and composer. Once the film is sufficiently developed, they watch it together and decide where music is required, where silence might work better, and what emotions the music should convey.…