Abstract

Academically, few scholars have theorized about re-scoring, particularly as a creative practice and a research-creation methodology. To address this gap, I re-scored four film scenes from different genres to understand how a change in score alters the audiovisual contract, a concept established by Michel Chion, and challenges the idea of a definitive score. In fact, I observed that the original score was often considered the “true” version rather than one successful work among many other possibilities. Most importantly, this project focuses on the compositional process rather than audience reception, allowing a deeper insight into the creative decisions and implications of re-scoring. Using self-reflexivity to unpack intuitive choices, my compositions revealed how the audiovisual contract is more fluid than a one-time agreement. Genre conventions were also limiting when designing a new score that feels both innovative and coherent, as they all carry different expectations. Thus, this research-creation extends the concept of the audiovisual contract by showing the ongoing renegotiation with each new score.