Lesson video

Hi everyone, I'm Ms. Fryer and I'm really excited to be your music teacher today.

This is our first lesson looking at film music.

We're going to spend the next series of lessons looking at how famous film composers have created amazing sound tracks and pieces of music for films and how they use technology to create that music.

First of all, let's how I look at everything you need to be really successful today.

Okay, so there are three things that you're going to need to go and get if you haven't got them already.

The first thing is you're going to need a piece of paper or an exercise book, so you can make notes and then mark through your work.

I suggest that we use a pencil to do any of our work so that you can correct it and then also I suggest you get a different coloured pen for when we do go through the answers to some questions.

And for, today for music making, all you're going to need is yourself.

Okay, so if there's any of those things that you need to go and get, please pause the video now and do that and then come back and we'll carry on.

Okay, for our first activity we're going to do a listening task, where you're going to go and watch a video and this is the question.

If you were commissioned to compose music for a sci-fi film trailer, what of these things would you consider? So what family of instruments would you use and why? What would the music sound like and why? And how might the music that you compose change throughout the trailer? The first thing I think we need to think about, is what does commissioned mean? Just take a few moments to think about it, perhaps write it down on your piece of paper.

What does being commissioned mean? Right, so hopefully your answer is something similar to this.

So if you are being commissioned to do something, you are being hired by the film director or the film company, specifically to do the music for this particular project.

Okay, so you have been selected and hired to compose the music for this particular project, which is a sci-fi film trailer.

Brilliant, well done if you've got something similar to my description.

What you need to do now is go to the worksheet for this lesson, watch through the sci-fi film trailer and answering those questions on the left-hand side.

Pause the video now and go and do that.

Okay, welcome back.

So now I'm going to reveal some of my ideas and answers for how I would compose music for that sci-fi film.

Grab your pen of a different colour and let's go through those ideas together.

So around instruments that I would use, I would definitely be focusing on instruments from the orchestra.

It's used very often for film music.

That ensemble, it gives us lots of variety of sound to create the right mood for something like a sci-fi film.

I would focus specifically on brass instruments and lots of drums, because in the sci-fi trailer, there's lots of action scenes happening and I need strong sounding instruments.

So well done if you've got those kinds of instruments and sounds as well.

So for the kind of ways that I would use them, I would have loud dynamics for the same reason.

I need a strong sound.

So I need loud dynamics.

I would use a combination of short repeated notes, 'cause it gives us that sense of adventure, as well as some sustained notes, to create a bit of mystery.

There is so much happening on the screen, you need lots of different musical ideas.

And then the things that I would change are the musical element dynamics.

I might want the quiet moment and then loud moment to match the action or the screen.

And I would change the texture between lots of instruments playing and maybe just a few, so that the action and the fighting scenes are reflected through that music.

So go through and jot down a few of those notes if you didn't have them.

Well done, if you've got similar ideas, I'm sure your answers are great.

And let's go on to the next activity.

So in every lesson I'm going to lay out for you, all the activities we're going to cover so you know the plan of action for each lesson.

The first thing we're going to do, is have a look at the purpose of an underscore and I'll explain what that word means in a moment.

Then and hopefully this gets you thinking, we're going to look at why Mickey Mouse is so important to film music.

All right, let's get going.

So before we can look at any particular pieces of film music, I need to introduce to you some famous film composers.

This is a picture of a film composer called, Hans Zimmer.

He is a very famous film composer and has won many awards and been nominated for loads of Grammy Awards for the music that he has created for films, TV, and lots of different forms of media.

Let's have a look at some of the films that he's composed the music for.

He has written the music for "Lion King", which we know is a huge production, which then went on to the stage.

He composed the music for "Prince of Egypt" and "Pirates of the Caribbean", the entire series.

He also composed the music for games, in particular "Call of Duty".

So I am sure most of you have heard the music that he has created for lots of different films and different films of media.

Right, so the next task for our lesson is a bit for musical analysis.

Now this is quite a challenging task, but I reckon you're up for the challenge.

We are going to complete the table you can see on the right-hand side after watching an action film clip.

You all going to write down the different musical elements you can see written in the first column.

So, the next challenge is you are going to do some analysis of an action film clip.

It's going to be quite a challenging task, but I think you're up for it.

We are going to use the musical elements you can see written in the table, texture, sonority, tonality, dynamics, and melody and you are going to describe those from the action film clip and complete the table.

So in the first box, you're going to describe the texture of the music you can hear in the clip and that is how many parts you can hear playing.

Then you're going to describe the sonority, which are the instruments you can hear and how they are being played.

The way that they've been composed to play.

Then you're going to compete what the tonality is for the action clip.

Is it major, quite bright sounding? Is it minor, quite mysterious sounding? Or is there atonal, where we're not quite sure what the key is? You're going to add what the dynamics are that you can hear and how they can change.

And then describe the melodies, which are the main tunes or the musical ideas, and whether they move in step, so you can hear that the notes and pictures are really close together or if they leap from high to low throughout the clip.

Pause the video, go to the worksheet for today's lesson.

Watch an action film clip of your choice and then complete the table.

And then come back, press play and resume once you finished.

Good luck.

Okay, welcome back.

I'm sure you've got to some brilliant ideas and I'm sure you found some really interesting action film clips to watch.

There are loads available to see online.

I chose one that was around a car chase.

I think they're used quite a lot in action films. So let me share some of my ideas, 'cause I reckon probably yours are quite similar to match the style or genre of a film of action.

So for the one I saw, the texture was polyphonic.

What that means is there are many parts, many different parts playing at the same time and what that does is that matches all the different action that was on the screen.

So in a car chase, you have lots of changes of where they are in the city, lots of different images of which car they were following in the camera, all the different things that happened in the car chase.

So I think a polyphonic texture was what I could hear and I imagine you heard something similar.

For the sonority, for the instruments I could hear, the film composer for the clip I watched, definitely had a full orchestration.

I could hear string instruments being played really quickly, in lots of repeated patterns, 'cause that builds tension of the action on the screen.

And then similar to the sci-fi action trailer from before, mine had loads of brass, loud, stabbing instruments that played chords, again, to build the tension and to create the exciting atmosphere we needed for the action film.

For tonality, mine was atonal, so there was no specific key, but I think that was really important to match the chaos of the screen for that particular clip.

Yours might have been major or minor and that's fine, as long as you've described why and what you can hear.

For the dynamics, it was mainly loud and I think that was really important, because it was a very quick-paced part of the action clip that I watched.

And for the melody, most of it was stepwise and it started low and the pitch got higher and higher and higher and higher, leading to the main part of the car chase scene for my clip.

So if you used any of that musical vocabulary and linked it well to the musical elements and I'm sure you did, well done.

If you weren't sure of some of those musical key words, please pause the video and write them down now, 'cause it's really going to help you with your musical analysis in future musical lessons.

But if you've marked your work, let's go on to the next task.

Right, so in doing that musical analysis, what we've actually listened to, using musical elements, was an underscore.

It was the music underneath that action on the screen.

So let's see if you can answer this question for me now.

What is the purpose of an underscore? Option one, to reflect the action on the screen.

Option two, to add interest to the film clip.

Option three, to help shape the scene.

Or option four, so the cinema audience have some music to listen to.

Let's do this as a quickfire round.

So just write one, two, three, or four on your piece of paper.

Remember, I'm looking for two options.

I want answers in, five, four, three, two, one, pens down.

We were looking for option one, to match and reflect the action on the screen and option three to help shape the scene, 'cause then the music helps take the direction that the scene is going in.

Well done if you go option one and option three.

Let's have a look at the next part of our lesson and we're going to focus on a very important character.

Well done, great work so far looking at how an underscore is used in film music and what it is used for.

Right, so for the second half of the lesson, we're going to be having a look at why the character Mickey Mouse is so important to film music.

So our first task is we're going to have a think about how and which sounds or effects could we use to match the images on my screen? So we've got a classic Disney character here, Donald Duck, and these are the three actions from a clip.

The first one is Donald Duck, he is wrapped up in bed.

He is freezing and he's bill or teeth are chattering together, cause he's so cold.

The second part or the second image from the clip, he pulls up the duvet to keep him warm, but which exposes his feet, flippers and they click together, because he's shivering so much.

And then the third image is snow's coming down his chimney into a big pile in his fireplace.

So I'm going to show you a little example and we'll talk about whether you think they are the right kind of sounds to match these images and then you're going to have a go at doing that yourself.

So let's have a think.

So for his bill or for us it would be teeth, chattering together, I might use and you can just do things that you've got around your house.

If you've got an instrument, great, but I'm just going to use either my body or something I've got lying around.

So maybe even just me tapping on the table could be good for him like shimmering, cause he's so cold.

So that's what I would do for his shivering duck bill.

For the feet, again, I'm going to use the table, but I'm going to use my fists.

So there's my example for what I would do for the feet.

And for the snow falling down, I've got a glass here and I think I might go for, that sound.

Take a moment.

Do you think the sounds that I've chosen would work very well for these actions on the clip? Just have a think.

Maybe you can even write down whether you think they would be good examples of sounds or effects to use.

Right, now having another think about it.

I think some of my sounds could be quite effective, but I might think one or two of them and let's see if you agree.

So for his bill chattering together, I quite like that sound.

I think that could be quite realistic for that, but for the feet, I think me hitting the table like that, is A, too slow, I don't think the rhythm's right and I think it's not a clear enough sound.

I want something quite exaggerated, 'cause it's a cartoon.

So I might use my fingers on my glass.

So I think that might be a better sound.

And then although the sound of the glass on the table worked quite well, I don't think it's the right effect for snow.

So I might make the sound funny, 'cause it's a cartoon and maybe use the sound with my mouth, like a sound.

It's a bit rude, I know, but I think it fits really well with the genre, which is a cartoon and would fit better with like the snow melting down into the fireplace.

I wonder if you got similar ideas? If you did, well done.

Keep those ideas in your head, because now I'd like you to have a go.

Here's your next composition challenge.

You are going to use the technique Mickey-mousing, which is where we match sound to action.

What I want you to do, is find a variety of sounds and this can be body percussion or like I said, if you've got an instrument at home, you can grab that or you can make some homemade instruments, like I did using my glass and using my table.

You could use pans, pens, maybe rice in a tin, anything that creates lots of different sound to match the different actions in the clip and I want you to have a go at doing that for the first 30 seconds of the clip that's on the worksheet.

Don't forget to turn the sound down, because I want you to put your own sounds to it, not what the composer has already put to the clip.

Have fun with this.

Pause the video now, go to the worksheet, have a go at the Mickey-mousing technique, then come back and we'll finish the lesson.

Off you go.

Welcome back, I hope you had great fun having a go at doing some Mickey-mousing with that classic cartoon, the first 30 seconds.

I wish I could hear it.

Please do take a little video or recording of yourself, maybe to share with family or friends and teachers at school.

Now that you've had a go at doing it with a clip, let's see if you can answer this quickfire question on what is Mickey-mousing? You've got two options to choose from these four.

Is it option one, the technique of drawing cartoons? Is it option two, sounds to match the actions on the screen? Is it option three, to create a mood in music or is it option four, so the cinema audience have some music to listen to? Let's answer this one really quickly.

Writing one, two, three, or four, two of them, don't forget, on your piece of paper in five, four, three, two, one, pens down.

We are looking for option two.

Sure you've got that one.

Sounds to match the action on the screen and the other one is, option four.

So the cinema audience would have some music to listen to, because if we didn't have the Mickey-mousing technique, it might just be a silent movie, which is not ideal for a cartoon like that.

If you got option two or option four, well done.

Well done today, everyone.

I really hope you've enjoyed the first lesson, looking at the film music.

I'm sure your pieces using the Mickey-mousing technique sounded great for that Donald Duck clip.

I wish I could hear them.

Make sure you do record those and share them with family, friends, and with teachers.

Please do go ahead now and take the quiz and show us everything that you've learned from today's lesson and I look forward to seeing you in lesson two of our film music series.

Take care.

Bye.