There are no rules when it comes to naming cues. However, here are a few tips I’ve come up with based on my experience over the years.
- Make names descriptive.
Try to come up with names that are descriptive of the scene you’re scoring. That way everyone immediately knows what scene a cue is intended for. Here are some good examples from Laurence Rosenthal’s score to Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story. “Bob’s New Gun,” “Losing The Baby,” “Money Troubles,” “Ramon Contacts Russians.” When I worked on 9 there were several action/fight scenes so we used the names of the creatures that were being fought in the cue names – “Winged Beast,” “Slaying The Beast,” “The Seamstress.” - Make names unique.
This expands on my first tip. Often there are common scene types that happen in many films – titles, fights, chases, shootouts, credits, etc. As a music-editor I have an extensive library of soundtracks containing countless tracks named simply “Chase” or “Titles” or “Shootout” and so on. Adding a word or two to generic titles makes them unique. It can be as simple as adding the film’s name like “Hellboy II Titles.” Instead of “Chase” try a unique descriptor like “Chasing Across DC” or “Berlin Foot Chase” or “Studio Chase.” Here are some examples of “Fight” cues with better names “Airplane Fight,” “Alley Fight,” “Bank Fight,” “Bathroom Fight.” By simply adding one descriptive word, you get a unique name. - Keep names short.
When you’re working on a film, you print out spotting notes, master cue lists and various other lists. Keeping names short makes formatting these various lists easier. I try to keep names to no more than 3 words. There are often exceptions, but that’s what I aim for. - Use existing conventions.
Often by the time you join a movie and spot it, the director and editor and others on the team are referring to certain sections of the film by descriptive names they assigned them. If they’re already referring to a scene by a certain name, and you’re going to have a cue for that scene, use that name. This will eliminate any confusion by having different names when referring to the same scene. Instead of their name when talking about the scene and yours when talking about the cue for that scene, just use the same name they’re already using. - Use lines of dialog.
Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out what to name a scene. There’s no simple description that makes itself obvious as a great name. Often in those cases, there is some key line of dialog that everyone working on the film will know and associate with that scene. Using that line (or paraphrasing it into 3-4 words) is an effective way to name cues. Here are some examples from when I worked on Go On, and even though a couple of years have passed, these key lines of dialog still remind me of the episode and scene right away “May I Follow Ryan?“, “Porsche, Ignition On!“, “I Can’t Stand Being Alone“, “I’m Gonna Dump Him“.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or add a comment.