Transcripts
1. Intro: Film scoring is a daunting task, whether you're doing
it for somebody else's film or for your own. It's not so simple
because every second of frame is time when you're
supposed to be telling a story. And you need to create music
that's layered and nuanced. And it's helping the
narrative and it's, and it's suits the
medium and it's something that makes the
film better all the time. And it's really scary every
time you get asked to do it. But it doesn't have to be that difficult if you can
work out a flow. If you can work out
how you create music along with what's being
created on screen. And you work out the easy
ways to tell a story. While the film is unfolding, you can see what's onscreen
and you can translate it musically and then tell that story back
to the audience. It, it gets easier the
more you do it about. There are some, there are some
easy ways to go about it. So that's what we're
going to do today. I've taken a short film from online that is in
the creative comments. So it is something that I can use without any issues
copyright wise. Look into the class description for more details about that. But what we're gonna do is
we're going to start with a silent animated short, just a minute of it, and we're going to create a score to that. So that's the goal. My name is Jordan. I'm a composer and a
producer from Australia. And today we're going to together create a score for
one minute of animated film. We're going to make it
creepy and mysterious. And also we're going
to put together some character themes and
lay that into the score. So that later on in the film
we could bring them back, change them, and adapt them. So that's what we're going
to do. Let's get started.
2. Scoring for Film: When it comes to film score, it's not like creating just soundtrack that's
in the background. It's not something that is divorced from what
you're seeing on screen. You need to make sure
that what people are hearing is lining up with the
story being told visually. And it's quite
simple to do that. Basically, you're
going to want to deal with theme and with ambiance. Ambiance is quite easy. You just need to create
some chords that suit the feeling of
what you're looking at. And that's easily
achieved by just literally looking at the visual and playing with codes
until you feel like the cord is exactly suiting
what you're looking at. And that's entirely
based on feeling. Your feelings get
better with time. But always trust them. Trust your gut. Chords can sound
really great on their own and then terrible
next to another chord. So even though you feel like in the moment that
the cord is placed, well, you're going to want to go back and listen to
chords altogether. There'll be several times
that we're going to look at the film in its entirety
or enlarge pieces. And the point of that is
obviously not always time. The point is that things
sound different when it's in relation to choices you've made either
earlier or later. So you need to hear the
piece in its entirety so that you can see how a decision that made
sense at the time, how it makes sense
in the big picture. Ambiance is a big part of it. You need to create the
feeling and you need to allow that feeling to
change as the shots do. Even then this animated film is just one minute, one
minute of a film. Their mood changes a few
times quite dramatically. Actually, we need to
go with that flow. We can't, as is with
something like house music, we can't come up with a
four-part chord progression that we repeat for
basically the entire time, we need to keep
moving and changing. The second thing is the theme. Today I'm not going
to worry about melody that just comes so much further down the road and
the scoring process. So we're not going
to worry about that. We're just going to come
up with some simple themes for the characters
that we see on screen. And now we're going to
bring those things back where appropriate and
in an appropriate way. What I really love to
do is come up with a character theme when the
character first shows up and then bring the theme back
later when the character is returns in a situation
that feels different and then bring it
back the theme back in a different way that
suits the new situation. So for example, let's say the character is introduced
in a very comfortable way. So we come up with
a theme that's in a major key and feels
quite positive. Then later the
character comes back in a more unhappy or unfamiliar
or scary situation. So we take that same theme
and we might lengthen it or change it toner
new instrument, quite an extreme way
is to change it. The key that's in, or literally just push
the notes out of K. I did a film pretty
recently that was horror. When a character came back
and things were really dire, I literally just played the
notes completely out of k, Just horrifying, just
wrong so that it's suited. What was you were looking at
on screen are communicated. Things are wrong and terrible. So today we're going
to worry about chords that create
the ambiance that we need and theme and trying to put the two together and
just create feeling. That's probably a first
and number one job. But my scoring a film is
to just create a feeling. Foster that feeling,
give the audience that feeling continuously and then change it as the visual does. Always, following the rules
of what they're saying. Keep that feeling going. Probably. The thing
you want to not do is follow very strict
rules of feeling. So for example, oh, a major key is happy
in a minor key is sad, darn, dark prescribed to that. That's just not how it goes. If you look at something like
Pixar and you'll start to really see that with
their animated films. They'll play a happy
theme at a sad time. And that kind of
contrast gives you a much stronger impact
than if it's sad. Let's make it sad.
It's not like that. Generally with some things
you'll be like, oh, it's scary, Let's play
scary, that can work. But look at how in horror films, how they'll play like happy children's music at
a scary situation. And it's so much scarier, big, creative, go with your
gut, trust your feelings. It's much more
reliable than roles.
3. Crafting Our Chords: Alright, let's start
our endeavor by checking out the film
that we're scoring. We open over a landscape
establishing shot. We're introduced to
our first character, which is this dog, fetching the stick for the
second character, this human. So we already know that we
need two different themes. Kind of an optimistic Dog theme, and then a human theme that is reflective of the personality
that will unfold. We've got kind of a
curious what is in the great yonder expression, walking off into
the mysterious fog. What could be beyond? Fog itself has its
own personality. We enter the fog and it's
super creepy, which is great. We can make a
really creepy theme for this foggy wasteland. Alright, those, that
water looked frozen, so maybe it's cold. It looks like she's got
some steamy cold breadth. Alright, it's really creepy. So we can make a theme
that is extra creepy, especially with the help of the free orchestra that's
gonna be really helpful. The dogs running
off to discover, oops, having that
layers into shot. Something dark and mysterious. Alright, so the dog
remain optimistic. Human is cautiously walking up and a dressing the potting. She yep. Extra confirmation
that it's called oh, my goodness, hits it. Why does she hit it? It's the start of the film, so it's not yet
establish that she would do something
ridiculous like that. But I didn't know if she does. What looks like a big
tree foot has emerged, stumped down, broken. God, looks like the
introduction of something super
creepy coming out. And that's it. That's
what we're up to. About a minute of footage there. Let's see what we
can do with it. Let's start with our codes. Xiaowei using, I'm going to be relying pretty heavily on a free orchestra. So what's wrong with contact? Alright, here it is. Opening
up the free orchestra. Let's get what we're going
to use for our chords. I loved the Saudi no violence, especially if the chords,
great, awesome. Key. Gosh. We could go C major, G major. See how that sounds? All right, I've got some
pretty humungous notes here. How big can I make
this? Oh, okay. Yeah. Alright, sorry,
four measures. We got g. Be just
doing straight up. That's D. Then I'm going to grab that
G octave above as well. And then, then it's
a complete chord. Sounds good, it
sounds optimistic. Sounds very landscape. Let's have a look at
that landscape again. Alright, we want to stop it when we interact with the dog. Probably there. Yeah. Right when the dog bites. That's a good time. Maybe
bring it up a little bit. Okay. Yeah. That's a
good amount of time too. Down one. Nice. Oh, how's that timing there? Yeah, good. Now we want a final one. That kind of makes
us feel curious. More like, makes us feel excited to see what the human
is going to add. Okay, So let's say
from the beginning, I don't like that,
that code repeats. I thought it would be
fine, but I don't like it. What if it goes down
below the roots instead? Could whack, could
whack. Let's say. I liked that. It doesn't get optimistic
until the human comes in. This kind of implies that the human is the one
to bring the joy. Which is weird that the dog isn't the one
to bring the joy. Yeah, see the way that sounds. Enormous cost the dog and an antagonistic light as
though the dog need be feared. Next one's going to have
to drop down for balance. Maybe this one can
be the creepy one. If lucky, it'll
line up with the, with the shot of the forest. That would be great. That
would be very helpful. It doesn't but I don't know. I don't mind that, but it
doesn't line up very well. Come on. During the biscuit, there's the shot change. We could kinda lengthen it. Alright, there's the forest. Alright, I don't mind that. Might not because it kind of reads more as
friendship, eat and creepy. I think it works. But then with the forests introduction
now it's creepy. Sar, which is good. So now we have to intentionally
make it more creepy. I said we pull it down. We need to make it off putting. Maybe by making notes
too close together, maybe getting rid
of that top night. That might help. Alright, that's quite good, but it needs to only slightly
changed for the next one. Like, it feels like we know the forest the
way that that sounds. It feels like like we know
it. We've been there before. I'm just going to literally
pull this one down. Alright? E, F sharp. Hey, who? That's quite a tight
code. That could work quite well. Let's see. I think it's suits
her face expression. It suits the worry on her face. We need to we need to
lengthen this out. Go, go, go, go,
go, go, go there. Maybe maybe the tank. In our life, we've made
a decision or off. Oh my God, so optimistic. Definitely not. Maybe
you're a painting of this. I just feel like
we need to repeat. Maybe way too optimistic. Maybe it might just be
that top night there. That's not bad. Alright, maybe this could be one back again. Maybe we do it again, but we take off the
top note again. Pull it down further. I wonder. Maybe pull it off k. Yeah, I like that
and I like it off k. It's Grice and weird.
Down a little bit. Too long. Too long
to them. Sure. There are even gosh, they're really breaking
all the rules. Slightly longer. Daft. Alright, Cool. That's where I want to end
the conventional courts. I got plans for this creepy pot.
4. Ambiant Soundscapes: Alright, that brings
us to the end of the conventional chords. So now let's add
some creepy codes. I'm going to put
this code back in to kinda go over
that creepy code. But just, just that bottom note. And I'll put a creepy
chord underneath it. Something very unsettling, which the free yoga strict
can help us out with. I love the dystopian joins. Great for perfection. It's quite good. But
let's fade it out. It's not an even fade. That's quite good. Alright,
let's get another one here. We'll add a spooky
punctuation to that. Creepy Girard. I love ghostly
clusters for that. All right, let's
see what the video. All right. Correct. Good. It's like late. I think it's early now. My fixed. Maybe keep it going but put
something underneath it. Sitting near, maybe reintroduce
conventional chords. But to use with a new
instrument, maybe some horns. The free orchestra has
some heroic Colin's. That's, that's interesting. Let's say it with some
like crazy reverb on them. This one's my ultimate
favorite reverb. We're stardust. But just
because it's insane. Long past finished,
just keeps going. Let's say that with the video. Oh, my goodness. I actually love it. I just think
it's too early. Why do I put them in that spectrum? Very spooky bracket. From here, I really need themes. So I'm going to get to work on the themes for the
girl and for the dog. That's what's really
needed. At this point.
5. Character Themes: I actually love making themes. I think it's one of my
favorite things to do. Make a theme and then adapted for different situations
within the same medium. I've got two new tracks here, muted all the other tracks
so that we can make something for the girl. Let's put a piano down. Something higher pitched. I don't think I'll need this
much. This is too much. Okay? Okay. I'm thinking that non-monotonic entirely
based on field. I'm imagining this chord here. Def. So quick, way too quick. This one's a little bit too low. The core does something
wrong with that. C, E, G, B. Maybe it's because
it's a complete chord. It just, Let's say
Pig Improvement. I think, I think
I'll just make it simple. Let's try that. All right. I was right and I
needed that much. That makes sense for the dog. What sounds do I have? That's kinda cool. The sound so much in humans. That's pretty good about
different instrument. That's pretty cool. Alright. Test these things out. Like where could they go? I don't know why we have
them. We have them. So that's the most
important thing. I'm going to try
to insert them in.
6. Arranging the Piece: Alright, so we have the themes and I've done a
little something. I have the Dog theme here. And then I've just taken this high pot and just load it so that it
can repeat over here. And then I have the girls theme. And all I did was just cut off the bottom note and made it
just one and lengthened debt. And I think it goes
with the film. So here's the video
from the beginning. Maybe we put a theme back in
here and answer it as well. A call and response, like a question and answer. All right, we're
introduced to her. The first part is
how pure theme? And then the second
part is kind of like a, the answer to the question and response to the
feeling of the scene. Maybe we put it back in here. Maybe it's a new statement. Optimistic. Does the forest needed? That's the question. That's the question. A piano theme. Like a dark deep piano. Maybe. I just make it a teeny-tiny. Yes. Nine and it's too much going on. It's
too much going on. All right, cool.
This ridiculously. Reverb is providing
a theme of sorts. Taking higher. Maybe a question. Suspense moment here. What will she do? Want like a boom. Something like that. Maybe I can reverb. Setting Medium. Cool. I kinda want birthday. Like I want there I was
taught the hard-hit. I want it all. That's pretty cool.
Kinda want the, um, that rata Tatooine as well. Does this have it there? Okay. I want that it's out of place where it
is, maybe a little earlier. Possibly. Just turn it off. I'm not sure if this
is the right decision, but I just have the feeling monster. It's increasing frequency. It's missing a creepy, maybe I bring these back. They would guard a couple of themes that we could probably work in a
little bit more. Yeah, we can probably find
more places for the themes. In the creepy Django me here. When we see it. When we see the egg thing, we bring the theme back, but we perverted a bit. So maybe we take it out of qi. Bring back the next chord here, also out of key. Just to really mess. And everybody's happy. All right, let's
see how this looks. From beginning to end. Gosh, that rave over
something else. Okay. I think a lot of
cleaning up as needed, like a lot of
different things that needed to be added to make
it feel a bit rounder. Sorry. We should
probably do that.
8. Until Next Time: And we're done. Well, Dan is a strong word, we're done for now. What we have right now are some chords that
feel really strong. They've got some
ambiance to them. They flow with the visual. You can feel it. We've got a main character
named that I like. Dog theme. That's okay. You'll notice when you watch
the film back on its own, I've switched the
Dog theme off of that instrument that I had
it on, onto the piano. That's the same as the
main characters piano. It just felt more consistent with the wild what
I was going for. So that was one
change that I made. I also added a symbol to the kinda the heating
effect against the tree. So I just thought it made
it a little bit stronger. I made a couple of changes. But basically, we
have a couple of themes that work into courts. Moving on from here is
where we would start to find China had a level of base. Maybe add some more instruments, get some more harmonies going. Maybe add it would
definitely we need a melody. And then once we have a melody, we needed contradictory or a contradicting melody that
goes underneath that one. So there's a lot of
work still to be done. When you're beginning. You just worry about the
core of what matters. You need that basic
feeling in the Army. And so that's what
we've created. Even if the film just had
that as what we made today. And even if the film
just had what we made today, that's fine. For film. That is just nice and basic. We could do that at a
bunch of Foley to it. Obviously the film
has no sound effects, so you'd need a lot
of sound effects on top with our basic
ambience together. And it would sound
pretty good actually. So I keep going, keep creating,
see what the next one.
Misici, Music Composer & Producer
