Ignoring Hit Points in Favor of the Bigger Arc

In some situations, it might be the better choice to musically ignore hit points that you normally would score in favor of a higher dramatic purpose. For example imagine a battle scene with lots of action going on, many visual “hits” that could be highlighted by the music.

However, as this might cause a certain fatigue over the long run, you might want to decide to score it not from the action perspective but from the emotional perspective with music that portrays the seemingly desperate situation of the main character(s) or something compareable. Another great example ist the TEST DRIVE sequence from HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. Composer John Powell avoids highlighting quite a few quite obvious visual cues in order to portray the triumphant emotion paired with the scenic images.