FILM SCORING IAN INTRODUCTION TO THE INDUSTRY

EML

Normal Music vs. Film Music

Normal Music

Music for musics sake

Collaboration between musicians

Mostly songs

Easy to understand without visuals

Film Music

Music for dramatic effect

Collaboration between musicians and non-musicians

Mostly instrumental compositions

Difficult to understand without visuals

Say by John Mayer Batman - The Dark Knight

Use of Songs in Movies

Kill Bill directed by Quentin Tarantino

Soundtrack by RZA of Wu-Tang Clan. Uses a number songs in a popular style

Use of Original Music in Movies

American Beauty directed by Sam Mendes

Soundtrack by Thomas Newman. Experimental use of marimba, ethnic percussion and

electronic textures

Music and Emotions

The role of music in film is to play the drama

The composer can choose to either subdue or enhance an emotion in a particular scene

The music can reflect emotion either from the point of view of the audience or the actors

Basic Emotions

Love Joy Anger Fear Sadness

Genres and common emotions

Action Tension, retribution, sadness, joy, love, hope, triumph

Romance Sadness, joy, comedy, love

Fantasy Awe, tension, sadness, joy, love, hope

Horror Fear, tension, surprise, relief, panic

Comedy Amusement, joy, love

A bit of Film History

Silent films were one of the earliest kinds of films.

No synchronized dialogue or music

The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse (1921)by Rex Ingram

Silent Films

Silent films had music fake books for various moods to be played by a live band/orchestra

The beginning of synchronized sound

Synchronized music began with invention of sound-on-disc processes such as the Warner Brothers Vitaphone

The Jazz Singer (1927) by Alan Crosland. An early film based on the vitaphone technique.

Modern day sound on film

A competing process, sound on film (dubbing), eventually won the movie sound format war giving rise to the kind of films we have today

Sound is usually printed onto the same piece of film as the picture

Macro of 35mm film audio tracks. From left to right:SDDS track, dolby digital track in between perforations, RCA Photophone, timecodeCourtesy: Wikipedia

Film Music from 1930s to 1970sFi

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Max Steiner

Erich Korngold

Styl

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Pre 1950s Romantic period classical Attached themes to characters Similar in style to opera Mostly European composers

Post 1950s Contemporary classical textures of

Stravinsky, Bartok and Schoenberg Twelve tone, Jazz, Dissonance, Rock,

Ostinati Rise of American composers Theme Songs

DavidRaksin

BernardHermann

AlexNorth

Henry Mancini

1938 1939 1944 1951 1960 1961 1969

RogerMcGuinn

Film Music from 1970s to TodayFi

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JohnWilliams

JerryGoldsmith

Styl

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1970 to 1980 Sweetening technique

(Overdubbing) Multi-track recording Rise of scores for TV serials

with Jazz/Rock influences Return of big lush orchestras

1980s to 1990s Rise of the synthesized score The pop influenced orchestra World beat/location influenced scores Blend of real and synthesized

instruments Rise of the rock/pop star film scorer

Vangelis DannyElfman

Thomas Newman

1970 1977 1981 1989 1990 2000

2000s Affordable studio technology Sound design in scoring Sequencers for syncing High quality mock ups Minimalism

HansZimmer

2010?

DaftPunk

The Film Making Process

Development

Obtain rights

Write the Screenplay

Prepare film treatment

Financing

Pre-production

Hire principal creative people

Casting

Scheduling

Hire Film Crew

Scout locations

Production

Rehearsals

Actual shoot

Editors start reviewing daily footage

Post -production

Film Editing

Temp tracks

ADR

Foley

Special Effects

Soundtrack

Sales & Distribution

Distribution to Theatres

Spotting the Film

You carry out the spotting session with the director and producer to decide:

The start and end of each cue

What each cue will sound like

What the role of the music is for the cue

Try to understand what the director wants in layman terms

Use temp tracks as guides

The Music Editor

The music editor:

Prepares spotting notes, timing notes and master cue list

Syncs temp tracks to the work print (Tracking)

Prepares click tracks, streamers and punches for the recording session

Oversees the dubbing of the music onto the film ensuring they are placed at the proper places

Does final editing of music, if any, after recording

Sample spotting notes

Excerpt from Complete Guide to Film Scoring by Richard Davis

Sample Master Cue List

Excerpt from Complete Guide to Film Scoring by Richard Davis

Comparing notes

Click to watch Treehouse of Horror VIII

Hands On: Syncing Movies to AbletonLive

Ableton only accepts movies in Quicktimeformat

Alternatively, Ableton can sync to external devices using midi timecode

Step 1: Add the Movie

Drag and drop Quicktime movie onto a track in Arrangement View

Step 2: View the Video Window

From the View menu, select Video Window. Video Window should pop up.

Step 3: Set the tempo

Select the clip, Warp and set to Tempo Master

Hands On: Syncing Tron Legacy

Spot the Tron Legacy trailer and sync appropriate music