The slides for my Music For Media 1st Lesson

1. Julio d’Escriván
Senior Lecturer in Music
Anglia Ruskin University
Music and Performing Arts
Cambridge
Anatomy of the
Soundtrack
The Composer’s
overview: Things you
need to know.

2. Soundtracks are used
Music for Live Action: From narration to reflection.
•
Music for Animation: Mickey Mousing and beyond.
•
Branding: identity through sonic and musical association.
•
Music in commercials: the miniature narration. Where every musical
•
element has a precise comunicational meaning.
• The Sound of Painting: Imagining movement. possible implied
‘vectorisations’ of the static image.

3. Images are permeated by sound in so
far as there is…
• Synchresis: creating meaning through synchronizing
audio elements to visual elements. Vectorized
elements in film.
• Empathetic and Anempathetic Music.
• A presence or absence of rhythm, harmony or
melody that ‘direct’ the flow of images or distort our
perception of time.

4. Approaches to ‘musical sound’
• In Music for film: music is tailor made to support or
contradict the narrative.
• In terms of Sound Design: electroacoustic
techniques are applied to creating sound effects and to the
general organization of sound fx and auxiliary sound
elements.

5. Technical details of how the soundtrack
works…
1. measuring duration in films:
Frame rates: 24, 25, 29.97
smpte
hh:mm:ss:ff
2. Music synchrony: Spotting the film.
Hit points;
Cues vs. scenes;
The Cue Sheet and author’s/performer’s rights.

6. Sound Elements
in Film
-Dialogue
-Production
Sound

7. • Foley
• ADR

9. Sound that aids the narrative of the visuals and
the flow of the story is said to be ‘diegetic’
Some other diegetic audio elements within the
sound track are: Room Tones, Atmosphere,
FX and source music. (ex. From Brazil:the small room/noises/clues of
size, reverb, etc. the frozen room, ‘false’ wind fx…))

10. The Main
Functions of Film
Music... a
summary.

11. A Summary of the main functions of Film Music
From Polish musicologist Zofia Lissa, in her Asthetik der Filmmusik (1959: pp115-256).
1. Emphasis of movement (mickey mousing)
2. Emphasis of real sounds (illustration, adding character)
3. Representation of location: physical, ethnic,social, historical.
4. Source music (diegetic).
5. Comment
6. Expression of actor's emotions
7. Basis for audience's emotions
8. Symbol (one leitmotiv to illustrate a different scene))
9. Anticipation of subsequent action (preparing or misleading)
10. Enhancement and demarcation of the film's formal structure.
(Cue Point)
-leitmotifs, serving to (re-)identify characters, moods, environments, etc., thereby helping to
make the film emotionally more comprehensible and to glue the narrative together across
heavy cuts.
-openings, i.e. 'something new starts now, folks'.
-links and bridges. Music bridges two scenes, often of quite disparate character, across a cut (or
fade-out plus fade-in, etc.)
-
tails. Snippets of music, often after a change of scene, that set the mood of the new scene
and tail off, often on an unresolved chord demanding that the narrative (musical or
otherwise) continue, thereby leaving the acoustic space open for dialogue or sound effects.
-endings, i.e. 'that's the end of that bit, folks'.
(summary by P. Tagg, http://www.tagg.org/teaching/mmi/filmfunx.html)