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Lessons/Activities

Score to Movie Activity

National Content Standards: 4 (Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines)
8 (Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the
arts)
Synopsis: Students compose a musical score to a QuickTime movie. Students learn basic film scor-
ing techniques and explore the relationship of sound to image.
Related Topics: Timecode, MIDI sequencing, Digital audio
Recommended Grade Level: Elementary, High School
Software: Micro Logic AV 4.0, Logic Audio Silver, Logic Audio Gold, Logic Audio Platinum
Attached File(s): Score_to_Picture.lso, LogicLine.mov

1.0 Create a new song.

Select File>New, to create a new song with the Arrange window and Transport showing.

2.0 Import a QuickTime movie.

QuickTime movies can be easily obtained from CD-ROMs, or downloaded from the Internet.

To foster interdisciplinary collaboration within the school, use student-made movies from multi-
IDEA media or video classes.
If you do not have a QuickTime movie to use, try using the supplied example: LogicLine.mov

NOTE: It is important to copy the QuickTime movie onto the hard drive in a place that can be easily accessed
(create a new folder for the project with the movie residing within). MicroLogic will automatically create a link to
this file; it does not actually import the movie data into the song, but only refers to the file itself (this saves hard
drive space and processing power).
Choose Options>Movie as Float to import the QuickTime movie into MicroLogic. Select the QuickTime
file from the computer’s hard drive and select “Open.” You should now see a window with the first frame of the
QuickTime movie, floating above the Arrange window. You might choose to resize windows, or move the movie
window to maximize viewing.

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Lessons/Activities

3.0 Mute the movie’s audio.

If the movie has an audio
track integrated in the Quick-
Time file, make sure to mute
the volume by grabbing the
volume slider that appears
when you click and hold on
the speaker icon (next to play
transport button). Use the
mouse to pull the slider down
all of the way for muting. So
as to not color the student’s
interpretation of the video, it
is important that the student
not hear an example of the
“official” score beforehand.

4.0 Navigation Essentials

When working with movies in MicroLogic, navigation is accomplished in a variety of ways. The QuickTime slider
control running under the movie provides fast-forward and rewind transport, while the arrow buttons on the far
right let you advance and rewind in smaller intervals. Note that MicroLogic’s position will change in correspon-
dence with the movie; they are synchronized.
MicroLogic’s own Transport controls will work in the same manner, controlling both the movie and the song itself.
You can even customize the Transport to have a Position Slider similar to the movie’s controls. This is done by
click-holding on the flip down arrow in the bottom right corner.

The Position Slider works by clicking and dragging to shuttle back and forth.
NOTE: You can also click-hold on the Song Position Line in the Arrange window and drag it back and forth to
rewind/fast forward smoothly.
The movie window can be resized or centered for viewing by click-holding on the lower right corner
of the Movie window.

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5.0 “Spot” the movie

Watch the entire movie with the students. Discuss the important elements in the movie that should be high-
lighted or emphasized by sound/music.

6.0 Position Essentials

Illustrate to the students how the counter situated at the bottom of the movie window relates Position (measures/
beats) to SMPTE time and Movie Start.
Isolate and explain the concept of “hits” (precise events that can be punctuated with music) by utilizing the
Transport controls. Have the students make note of the SMPTE and/or bar position from the movie’s display of
each of these important events.

For older students utilizing Logic Audio Silver, Logic Audio Gold, or Logic Audio Platinum:
OPTION
Create Markers for each “hit” in the movie. This can be done easily while Logic is playing by
A choosing Options>Marker>Create without rounding, or using the assignable key
B command.

- Once these “hits” have been roughly specified, open up the Marker List (Options>Marker>Open
list...) window. Here, all Marker positions can be named (double-click on the text “Marker #”) and edited either
by bar/beat (default), or SMPTE time (choose Options>Position and length in SMPTE units).

- To change the marker’s to correspond exactly with the desired event, simply drag the mouse while click-holding on
a time division, or double-click on the position and enter a new time.

- Note that the movie will locate in correspondence to these adjustments in the Marker List. Markers can be named
by double-clicking on the Marker itself and entering text.

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7.0 Compose a sound track

Students are now able to utilize MicroLogic AV to compose their own sound track. Since both the movie and Micro-
Logic AV will be perfectly synchronized, improvising music while watching the movie, and then going back to edit
the material is a snap. Emphasize that it is not important that the student perform a musical event precisely in
time with the movie while in the creative process. One of the main strengths of MicroLogic AV is the ability to edit
(and align) events precisely, maintaining the original musical feeling of the performance, while providing maxi-
mum flexibility.

For inexperienced, non-musical, or younger students: Provide students with a palette of audio files
IDEA (sounds and music) that can be placed anywhere within the movie. These can be sound effects,
or musical events/cues (created by the instructor, taken from a sound effects CD, or downloaded
from the internet). Place them in a marked folder from which the students can easily import into
the Arrange Window (Pencil Tool+SHIFT).

8.0 Editing: Aligning events (audio or MIDI)

Aligning events (from single notes to entire sequences or regions) with the movie is very intuitive and easy within
MicroLogic AV. Click-holding on an event and dragging with the mouse will move the object, scanning forward or
backward with the movie at the same time.

Arrange Window: click-holding and dragging with the mouse in combination with CTRL-SHIFT (Macintosh) or ALT-
SHIFT (Windows) keys will provide accurate placement of the event. This view works best for moving start times
of a group of events (sequence or region).

Event List: This view works well to input a numerical position in bars/beats (or SMPTE with Logic Audio Silver, Gold and
Platinum) for events that have been previously noted by observing the Position. Dragging up and down under the
“Position” column will make the value increase/decrease. Double-clicking on the numbers in this column will let
you input a time manually as well. You can even copy and paste the numerical readout from the position counters
on movie into the Event List itself!

NOTE: You can change the position of groups of events at the same time (chord) by OPTION-SHIFT and dragging with
mouse on “Position” column.

Matrix Editor: Best for adjustment of individual

notes. When a note is dragged, the movie po-
sition changes along with the movement in
the editor. When making adjustments, note
the event’s position in the Info Line, which
will appear at the top of the Matrix Editor as
long as the mouse button is held.

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9.0 Sharing and Reflection

Play all the finished scores from a single class computer for all students to share. Discuss why each score works
with the movie or not. The instructor can isolate parts of the “score” for study by soloing/muting tracks. Don’t
forget about utilizing MicroLogic AV’s abilities to access (or repeat) any point of song instantly and easily.

If the QuickTime movie has a pre-composed audio track, play the “official” score that accom-
IDEA panies the movie. Discuss whether this works or not, and how it differs from the students inter-
pretation.

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