Course Code
Academic Year
This course offers a practical examination of the technology and art of scoring music for film, television and commercials. Using computer-based MIDI and digital audio workstations, synthesizers and sample libraries, this course examines a broad range of topics and applications including: SMPTE time code and synchronization; the use of click tracks and temp tracks; investigating the aesthetic and psychological relationship between film and music; spotting a film/TV sequence; scoring procedures and rehearsal techniques for writing film cues; enhancing dramatic elements; and specific writing techniques for jingles and animation. This course addresses the prevalent need in films to emulate a wide variety of stylistic scoring approaches appropriate to the period setting or specific geographical locale of a screenplay. Approaches to research and adaptation of authentic musical styles are discussed. (Such styles include, for example, 19th Century Romanticism, jazz, world music, rock, etc.) Careful attention to instrumentation, arranging, orchestration, and dramatic theme development are emphasized. Assignments representing realistic situations are recorded synchronously to film and TV scenes, as well as to commercials.