Sacrificing Hit Points for the Higher Purpose

In some occasions, particularly in busy action/adventure scoring with a high hit point density, it is sometimes desirable to sacrifice some hit points that you would normally hit and play through them with the music. This can have three reasons:

1. The sheer frequency of hit points makes it impossible to accent them all and still maintain coherence in the musical writing. In these cases, it is advisable to focus on the "bigger" action and ignore hitting the smaller ones. However even if you can't hit them, make sure the music doesn't contradict them by at least having the music have the appropriate tone. If you ignore a hit point where the mood/tempo changes and you keep plowing through to reach the next one, the lack of musical interaction might weaken the scene. So make sure that your music follows the development if there isn't the chance to properly hit the action

2. The music would otherwise end up being inappropriatly mickey-mousy. A high hit point frequency in the music can very quickly become too cartoony. The term "mickey mousing" describes the music reacting on every little action as it is and has been done in Mickey Mouse cartoons where even the lift of an eyebrow often gets a musical response. This film scoring approach is mostly not appropriate and just feels like the music is overstating the obvious. In such cases it is better to focus on the important accents and let the other ones pass without the music reacting. The right frequency of hit points might be very subjective and depending on genre so use your gut feeling to determine how much accenting a scene needs

3. The music serves a higher purpose that is more important than accenting hit points. This is probably the most elegant way as it also avoids that the music stays in a one dimensional level of just commenting what can be seen anyway. In such cases, the music transports an information or emotion that is not necessarily transported by the images but heightens the experience of the movie. In such cases the accents of hit points becomes secondary and only important on big shifts.

A great example that shows this is the famous Test Drive Sequence from HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON by John Powell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LECmyZB-cgM 

In order to portay the grand and uplifting emotional quality of this whole sequence with breathtaking wide angle shots, Powell consciously ignores some of the hit points but even more interestingly a temporary radical shift in visual tempo.

The first 30 seconds are pretty much a set up without any need for hitting the action, the first shift in the music appears at 0:33 where both go into "dive mode", establishing the noble horn theme.

At 0:48, the wide angle shot of them passing through the rock arch could be seen as a slight hit (even though it is a bit late and seems to be accented just because it conveniently lay in the rhythmic grid) 

Same goes for the hit at 0:54 which nicely lands on a downbeat with the music accenting it but ignoring the next ones at 0:58 and 1:01

1:08 visually changes the pace slightly but is ignored by the music as well

At 1:16 the music actually reacts on the radical shift in emotion. The previously rather comfortable "enjoy the ride" feeling that is told by the scene but also by the music gets interrupted with the loss of the manual. The music shifts to a more tenseful and dissonant quality. Notice that all rhythmic information that previsouly was locked in the percussive groove gets abandoned. 

The whole falling squence including the ignored hit at 1:34 remain in this rather dissonant and tenseful sound.

The next big hit point that the music accents is at 1:49 where they regain control again going back into the former groove and thematic material

From 1:57 onwards the music reaches the strongest degree of detachment from the actual action. The visual language speeds up tremendously here with a dizzying speed of edits, comparatively narrow shots with constant shifts of camera angles. Looking at this sequence individually would indicate a radically higher speed in the music. However the higher purpose of the storytelling and the music here is "He doesn't need the "manual", he can intuitively do it". This is where the music has more important things to tell than simply reacting on the visuals. The majestic theme gets reprised during that sequence.

The decision to NOT go for the obvious here gives this whole scene way more emotional impact and is one of the reasons why people still remember that sequence. However, it should be noted that this is one of the pivotal scenes of this movie which means that you shouldn't expect or aim to find another layer you can emphasize with your music in every scene. In quite a lot of such situations it would be more appropriate to go with the indicated visual action to not create a noticeable detachment between movie and music.