Dominican composer, flutist, and Smallfoot score engineer Elaine Lizardo was recently featured in her country’s newspaper El Nacional to discuss composing, and the non-verbal power of film music.

“The music is an emotional support to transmit a message” said Lizardo. This firm belief is at the core of her mindset when composing to picture. From creating themes for characters to conveying emotions in a scene, Lizardo strives to bring out essential details of what’s being seen and heard. Her focus is to musically “highlight the emotions and characteristics of each character during a scene when words can’t fully explain alone.” Ultimately, the audience should feel something while watching a scene with music supporting it.

Supporting the emotional aspects within a scene is challenging, but Lizardo explains the joy and benefits once she has accomplished the task. “There is not a moment that feels more satisfying than when I finally managed to decipher that specific melody for an emotion or a character and see how that combination of sounds describes every detail that wants to stand out in the story.” Lizardo also added that music placed in film is so impactful that even hearing it elsewhere “makes us remember exactly all those feelings we felt while watching the movie.”

Lizardo also reflected on her experience working in the music production team for the Warner Bros. film, Smallfoot. As the score technical engineer for the film, Lizardo would have never imagined to work so soon on a major release shortly after graduating college. “Working in a Hollywood movie, it’s a goal that I saw so far today is a reality, I never thought I would achieve it in just 5 months after I graduated. This is proof that when a goal seems difficult to achieve, with dedication, effort and perseverance it can be achieved. But above all that I owe it to God, my family and my friends.”

Keep updated on Elaine through her website elainelizardo.com. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook. For latest movie credits visit her IMDb page.