Scoring a Film Clip; Lesson with Michalis (bob_the_sane)

Michalis has recently expressed his interesting to me in scoring a film clip. This is an extremely fun and rewarding exercise and I'm glad that he wants me to help guide him through the process.

The clip in question is from the Turner Classic Movies Young Film Composer Competition and the site describes the clip as follows:

Brummel, always looking for a way to impress his superiors, helps Prince George avoid an embarrassing situation with a married woman by convincing the portly Prince to hide, or try to hide, in a closet before the married woman's husband arrives.

When scoring a moving picture, it is extremely important to have a firm grasp of the theme that the producers want. You must understand the meaning behind the scene as well as they do to be able to accurately portray it musically; its role, its significance, its moral, etc.

In this case, all we really have to work with is a rough understanding of the context from the blurb above and the clip itself. This provides a good challenge for you because you need to use your imagination and limited understanding of the material to make things work.

So where to begin? Well the most important step is watching the clip a number of times. Since your specific request was that I give you assistance with creating the happy mood which this clip requires, I suggest that you view the clip with that positive mindset - remember that a happy mood is to be evoked and then just watch. Most times, some music will simply occur to you, like a passing thought. The mind is often quick to add a soundtrack to whatever it's watching and if you focus on this and refine the ability then you'll find that any incidental music becomes infinitely easier to produce.

But I digress. Watch the clip and begin sketching down thematic ideas. In the "real world" of film scoring, you will often have to imagine, create and produce a track in a very short amount of time so you should try to keep that in mind while you're working at this - even as a relative beginner at the process. The sooner you get used to working under the real conditions, the better you'll become at it.

The sketches you make should be fairly simplistic; you can even just sit down at the piano (assuming you play) and try to play out some themes that would fit the clip, then write them down. Otherwise, just play around with melodies and give them a rough harmonic structure so that you can expand on them later.

Another very important point to keep in mind is that you should strive to have a number of different alternatives. Make as many sketches as you can, even if one seems to fit brilliantly. I suggest this because, as with any other subjective thing, there's always a chance that the theme you think will fit perfectly is deemed unsuitable by your employer. That's why it's always nice to have something to fall back on quickly.

In a nutshell, your homework for now is to create and post 3 different thematic sketches for this clip. Try to explore your musical palette while creating them so that each one achieves the same general feel through a clearly distinct method. And don't be afraid to experiment; that's how the most brilliant ideas can often come up. Unlikely instrument combinations and harmonic progressions can sometimes inadvertently end up providing an innovative and wonderful score.

When you post them (in this thread), briefly describe any thoughts behind each one and then we'll look through them together and go from there.

Good luck! :P

Thankyou Marius, there is some great advice there.:P

I do actually have one idea already, I was playing around with it on the piano yesterday and thought that it would fit the clip

I have a concert to prepare for today but I may well be able to get this done tomorrow. Like I said, please don't expect very fast progress, I'm extremely busy at the moment:(

This is in response to an earlier post in this thread:

Please note, do not post in a lesson thread unless you are the teacher or the student, or if you have a query that is directly relevant to the subject matter being discussed at the time. Failure to follow this rule will most likely result in your post being deleted.

Also, some teachers may choose to forbid everyone but themselves and the student posting in the thread altogether.

See the Lessons Rules for further info.

Okay Mike. For the record then, I would prefer to get replies in here from my student only, although I have no issues with other questions as long as they're relevant, as you said. I'm not sure what post you're referring to since I see only Michalis', but I assume you deleted it already. :thumbsup:

Michalis, I know you're busy; we all are, after all, so that's why I didn't put any sort of due date on it. Whenever you get to this, you get to it. Ultimately, this will all happen at your pace anyway, I only prefer that once you're working on it, you manage your time like I described above so that you can prepare yourself for the insane deadlines that you'll encounter sometimes. :)

I had some time (10 minutes) last night to write down an idea. It sounds pretty good, but it is just a few bars of bassoon.

Is that enough?

And should I upload them seperately or all at once?

I'll probaly have some more time tonight.

All three at once, please. ;)

I would assume that means you'd like to participate and use this same video clip for continuity, so yes, please post your work in here. :laugh:

You've both had a lot of time here and I've seen no work posted here, so I will assume that you've given up on this lesson project.

If you wish to resume it, or have work to post, please let me know.

Oh man!!!

I am so sorry!:sadtears: This totally slipped my mind.:angry: I was distracted by other things, not least the fact that I have had to study for exams non-stop the last few months... But my last (and biggest...) exam is on Monday, and then I am free!!!;)

I did get one idea down and develop it a bit, and I wrote down a few other things, but they were rubbish...

After Monday I will be able to devote all my time and energy to this. I am so sorry for taking this long...