Film Scoring – Part 1: Techniques for the Modern Composer

Welcome to the class!

Let’s take a look at some of the tools by way of a project I recently did.

I’ve done some homework on other film scoring classes, and they mostly seem to be missing one big thing.

The examples I’m going to put together for you here, are, well, examples.

Let’s talk about the intersection of music theory and genre.

Modes are a good way to nail down a specific emotion or mood.

The message you think you see might be different than what the director sees.

That title says it all.

“Spotting” is a process we do that helps to make sure the director and the composer are on the same page.

You might get put in charge of the music budget. If you do, a few things you need to know about.

In this example, there is a great example of Score and Source music.

If the music is coming from an instrument on-screen, it’s source.

Score + Source = “Scource”

Let’s look at this beautiful example for “Scource”.

Another great example of the Ostinato.

Ok, let’s get down to business with the Ostinato.

Silent Films are a great way to practice scoring to film.

Let’s dive in and start making something!

Let’s fine a cue that will let us use some ostinati.

We can spice up our ostinato pattern with more elements.

Sometimes we find a spot that we really want to hit, and if that happens we should “mark” it.

Let’s wrap up this intro section with a few more elements.

Let’s take a look at what we’ve got so far.

Here is the MuseScore file with notation if you want it.

A few notes about working with traditional notation.

A few definitions to get us started on this topic.

You can’t talk about motives without talking about Star Wars.

Where does this come from?

Let’s find some spots in our film where this concept might work.

Now that we have identified some spots, let’s write the motives.

We can always spice things up with rhythm.

Here is what we’ve got so far!

Another round of definitions – this one you might actually see in a script.

Let’s see if we can find a scene in our film with a mixed POV.

Now that we have a scene, let’s score it keeping in mind the POV we are using.

Next, let’s do a quick analysis and see what we did here.

Whoa – so much more to cover here!

Here is what is coming in the second half!

That’s it for now – see you in part 2!