Scoring Kissing Scenes

Many inexperienced composers tend to score kiss scenes overly climactic and cheesy which almost always feels like a bad caricature of the whole scene. There are only few kiss scenes in movies nowadays that need the big orchestral sweep or that specifically play with this cliché but most of them are rather toned down with the music being present but not taking over the lead.

When you’re scoring a kiss scene, think about what the scene really needs and don’t just simply presume because it is a kiss it needs to be a big romance moment. Even if the hero has struggled through the whole movie to finally kiss his girl at the end of it, that still doesn’t automatically mean it needs to be a big climax. Rather try keeping the intimacy of that moment that is often also visual in your score and it will most likely be way more touching.

In general, be aware that audience reacts quite negatively once the emotional manipulation on the musical side gets too obvious.