Lesson video

Hi everyone, I'm Ms. Friar and a welcome to the music lesson for today.

We are on lesson four of the film music unit, and we have been having a look at how all the different sounds at music for film is made.

Today, we're going to focus on something called diegetic and non-diegetic sound, really interesting stuff.

Let's get going.

As always it's really important we make sure that you have everything you need for today's lesson.

So you're going to need a piece of paper, lined paper if you'd like or perhaps an exercise book for you to be able to make notes and write answers to questions.

You're going to need a pencil to do that.

And I suggest a different colour pen for marking and annotating your work.

You are going to need yourself, so that you are ready for music making.

And you're also going to need an electronic device either a tablet, laptop, computer, mobile phone, so that you can use the music technology to create some music today.

Pause the video now and go and get any of those things that you need.

Come back, press play, and we'll carry on.

Let's go through the three parts of today's lesson.

The first thing we're going to do is explore the types of sound that you hear in the film.

Then we're going to extend that even further and have a look at the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic sound.

And then you're going to have a go at creating some of these sounds yourselves for certain clips.

Okay, let's look at part one.

The first thing you're going to do is to watch a clip on a video that is on slide two of the worksheet for this lesson.

And to access the worksheet, You just need to click next activity to be able to see it.

All the instructions are on the worksheet, for how much of the clip to watch and listen to, but what you need to do is to name all the sounds you can hear in the clip and answer the questions on the sheet.

Take a good five minutes to complete this task, then come back and we'll go through the answers together.

Pause the video, off you go.

Welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed watching a classic scene of mister Bean in one of his movies.

As I said before, mister Bean in particular, with there not being so much dialogue is a really good example of the different sounds that can be recorded for film.

So let's go through some of those answers together now.

So the sounds that the characters can hear are things like mister Bean dropping his bag onto the chair of the bus, people talking in the background, the chickens that you can hear in the background, when mister Bean is chasing the chicken.

Mister Bean making noises, signs things like that, of course his footsteps.

The difference is the things that us as audience can hear, as well as all of those main things happening in the scene, like the bag dropping, the people talking, we should be able to hear.

We can also hear all castro music playing, and there's a harmonica, a guitar and some band music as well.

And that background music is just for the audience to hear it.

It isn't something that mister Bean and the other people in the scene can hear.

So there's the difference between those two sounds.

well done if you've got some of those.

if you've got more sounds that the characters can hear in my list, That's great.

I wanted to just give the main ones for the answers for you to mark.

Great.

So now we've had a look at the fact that there's these different types of sounds.

So ones the characters in the film compare and one that the audience can hear.

Let's look at that specifically.

Diegetic versus non-diegetic.

Similar task to before.

On the slide three of the worksheet is another clip that shows really well the difference between these two types of sounds.

Same thing again, for each video that it shows you , just list the sounds that you can hear, and we'll discuss it in the answers.

Pause the video now and go to slide three of the worksheet.

Great.

I'm sure by now you've got a really good idea of the kind of sounds that are composed for diegetic sound and a non-diegetic sound.

Let's get the formal definition.

Sounds that can be heard by the audience and the characters in the film.

So write that definition on your piece of paper and the kind of sounds that we could hear in the clip or things like the club music, the music the DJ was playing.

You can hear people cheering, you can hear the crowds moving.

You can hear the dancing.

And they are all sounds that both audience and the characters can hear.

If you've got those.

Well done.

We compare that with non-diegetic sound, which is sounds which are added after filming and can only be heard by the audience.

Please write that sentence down.

So you've got the definition for non-diegetic sound.

And the main music that you could hear in the second half of the clip you watched on the worksheet is the piano music.

And the couple that you can see on that clip, they can't hear the piano music.

It is purely added to create a certain mood for the audience while they are watching those characters.

So that's non-diegetic sound.

Well done if that was your answer.

So now it's really clear in our minds, the different types of sounds and who can hear them, which is really important.

Let's have a go at you creating some of your own.

Let's be film composers today.

Right.

Quick recap, quick five questions, pen at the ready.

Let's see if you remember diegetic and non-diegetic and in examples.

So which of these sounds would be diegetic in a film? Choose two.

Option one, hand clapping.

Option two, violin music to create tension.

Option three, synth chords.

Or option four, turning up the volume of a radio.

You've got two to choose, writing your numbers on your piece of paper.

Nice and quick.

In five, four, three, two, one, pen down.

The answers are, hand clapping and turning up the volume of a radio.

They are diegetic.

So the characters within the films would hear those as well.

Well done if you've got option one and option four.

We're going to go ahead and use a music technology today to create some music both diegetic and non-diegetic.

Take 20 seconds to read the important information about using music software on the left-hand side of the screen.

Okay.

So the first piece of music that you are going to create is diegetic music.

There is a brilliant cartoon clip on slide four of this lessons worksheets.

Using music software, you going to create the diegetic sound for that cartoon clip.

So we're looking for everyday sounds in the scene that the characters and the audience would be able to hear, as well as the music that the characters are listening to.

Because again, both them and us can hear it.

I'm going to show you a demonstration now of how I would do that.

And then you're going to pause the video and give yourself plenty of time to create your own music to this cartoon clip.

So the clip that we are putting music to, is a cartoon called Sir dancealot.

And we are adding diegetic sound.

So that must be anything that both the animated characters can hear as well as the audience.

So the first thing that I did to create my track is I added a voice or a mic, because that is how I'm going to add the live realistic sounds before the music comes in later on.

So the very start of the clip, the character walks onto the screen.

And I created that sound by clicking record.

And I just tapped my table to imitate his little feet across the floor.

After that, a large pencil comes on the screen and draws the radio or the boom box.

And again, using the record button on my mic track I just drew on a piece of paper.

Like it was the pencil drawing on the screen.

And that click, this sound wave you can see here and here is the pencil turning the radio on and they are my diegetic sounds recorded live because they are more realistic sounds.

So there's all the sounds, leading up to the music playing.

Which both the characters and us can hear.

And these music tracks are loops.

And most music software will have loads of loops for you to choose from so that you can create some background music that would suit the style.

Now, as you look further into the clip, those characters dance, they have a dance off.

And so I felt like a kind of hip hop, R and B really upbeat kind of balancing loops was the right style to go for.

So you really think about the genre of music that would go well with the action on the screen.

So I chose my loops from a big pack here and you just find the one that you want by listening And you click and you drag it onto the screen.

So what I added here from the similar loop, so all are very similar style, you can see it's all NOLA, NOLA.

There was this great, I'll solo it here for you, almost sound effect loop, Which goes really well.

And I added to that a party atmosphere loop Which is what happens when the crowd comes into the clip to cheer the two little cartoons who are dancing.

And the finished piece sounds like this.

And we're looking for around 30 seconds of diegetic sound and music to go with this cartoon clip.

And you can see mine got to just over at 34.

Pause this video now.

Go and find the piece of music software that you want to use.

Watch the clip on the worksheet, remember to mute the original video cause you're going to be making your own.

Spend a good 15 minutes during this task.

Maybe longer if you'd like, really thinking about the sounds and how you're going to record them for this clip.

Have fun, off you go.

Welcome back.

I hope you've enjoyed putting music to that cartoon clip is a great example of how different sounds and music comes together when filming for animation.

And so all of the sound needs to be put on after the drawings and images and animations have been made.

Let's look at a non-diegetic example, quickfire question, which of these sounds would be non-diegetic in a film? You're going to choose two.

Option one, hand clapping.

Option two, piano music playing a romantic song.

Option three, synth drone building tension in a horror film.

Option four, turning up the volume of a radio.

Writing, one, two, three, or four, there's two to choose in five, four, three, two, one, pens down, time's up.

The answers are option two, piano music playing a romantic song 'cause of course it's evoking a mood.

So unless there's a piano in the scene, the music wouldn't be heard by the characters and there's loads of non-diegetic film used in horror films because they need the music in the background to build the tension for the audience watching the action on the screen.

Well done if you got option two and option three.

Similar tasks before, here's another opportunity for you to have a go at creating film music.

But now we're going to focus on non-diegetic music.

That is another video for you to use on slide five of the worksheet.

And this time, you going to use music software loops.

So loops are prerecorded sounds, to create the mood of the scene.

You need to think about the theme and the genre of the film and the kind of atmosphere that you need to create for the audience watching.

And remember the music is for them to feel certain emotion.

So if you're building tension or it's an action scene, or you need a sense of something's coming, or something's about to happen you need to add the music so that the audience can hear and feel that.

Remember you click next activity to access the worksheet.

I will show you a demonstration first and then you'll pause the video and go and have a go yourself.

So, for your composition task for creating non-diegetic sound, we have picked the clip which is the trailer for a film called Midway, which is a war style action film all based around the story of Pearl Harbour.

Remember non-diegetic sound is the sound that just the audience can hear to create a mood.

So it isn't anything the characters can hear, it's for us as audience so that we can feel the tension of the action film, or you can feel the emotion that the director and the film composer is trying to create.

So knowing that this is a quite tense trailer, at times maybe quite scary, it needs to build intention.

I chose very electronic sounding loops and then I changed the dynamics.

Let me show you.

So all the loops come from this, choosing your loops option, and most music software that you use, will have the option to be able to pick loops.

I went for a drone sound to begin with.

I think a sustained note like that really does build the tension.

Then I added another layer of loop which is similar, very metal sound, almost which can, I think went very well with all the ships and the aeroplanes and things that you could see on the screen for the trailer.

Okay, we just want a short clip using loops just to create the feel.

It's all about emotion with non-diegetic sound, the right mood for the trailer that's on the worksheet.

So I might just want to add another almost effects style loop to create the sense of war.

So I found some of these sounds.

Yes, I think that one works quite well.

I think that's two musical.

No, again I think that's to clear a music loop rather than a sort of distorted sound, I want for war style trailer.

I'm going to try adding that in here.

And I liked the one here cause it almost sounded like the planes flying over as well.

So let's take my loops off now and have look and listen to what it sounds like so far.

Yes, that's exactly the kind of mood I want to create to give it a sense of sort of war and action with a few sound effects in there which I think suit quite well.

Something that is really good to do using music software is something called automation.

And that is basically where you can feed sounds in and out gradually.

And it will happen automatically when you play your music.

So to do that, you just press A on your keyboard and you get these lines up here.

And the lower the lines or the dots, the lower the volume the more dots you create, you can change.

So the volume will go up there, down there.

I want this one to come in quite gradually.

So I've got this going up.

So it starts with quiet.

And I think I'm going to do the same for this whole part here.

I really wanted to get quite aloud at this point.

So it sounds like the plane swooping over.

And that is my example of how to create non-diegetic, very atmospheric music to the clip on the worksheet using loops.

Enjoy this task again, take 15 minutes.

Really think about the loops that you want to use to create the mood of the trailer.

Pause the video, go to the worksheet, have fun, off you go.

Well done today everyone.

I really hope that you took your time and got to explore using loops and really interesting pieces of software to create diegetic and non-diegetic sound for those movie clips.

Remember to record your music and share it with family, friends, and teachers, and please go and take the quiz and show us everything that you've learned in today's lesson.

And I'll see you for the next lesson five of our film music unit.

Take care.

Bye.