[Nick Zwar]

I’m of the firm belief that film music has its own set of characteristics

Of course I also believe that film music has its own set of characteristics, but as I said, that set of characteristics is not musical per se, it’s contextual, it’s frequency of use, etc., it’s not in the notes themselves. There is not a single musical device unique to film music, not any “type” of music that just has to be film music, not a single page of a written score would reveal it’s a film score.. it is only in context (how the devices are used in relation to other musical devices etc., the frequency in which they are applied, etc., the construction of the work at large, with cues in relation to each other etc.) that a film score reveals what it is.
Like no isolated paragraph or even paragraphs of a written text reveal whether they belong to a novel, or a short story, or a novella, or even a play, or a screenplay, film music discloses its identity through its dramatic function and the architecture of the whole, because there are no linguistic differences between a novel, a short story or a screenplay, so there are no musical differences between a ballet score, a film score, a tone poem.