Composing for visual media

Unit 26
60 credits
 Introduction
• How is it that most of the television or film we
watch contains music of one type or another,
and yet a lot of the time we notice very little
of it?
• From the perspective of a director, music in a
film scene, advert or TV show is not there for
its own merit; it is there only to enhance the
viewer’s emotional response to what is
happening.
• Composing for media requires a composer to
correctly identify the emotions, moods and
effects that fulfill the director’s vision, and
then write music that is single-minded in its
achievement of this goal.
• Musical development, thematic complexity,
harmonic effects, rhythmic excitement and
structural regularity all have a place within
this –but only if appropriate to the scene.
• Composing within this industry is competitive.
• You may be approached by a director to
submit some music, but the director may also
have approached several other composers,
and in a fast-paced world of competition, you
will need to come up with the best musical
ideas in a short time.
• During this unit, you will need to work to strict
deadlines in order to reflect this.
• Working through this unit, you will produce detailed
compositions in response to visual media.
• In order to do this, you will first conduct research into
how composers have written music for various
different media, before moving on to composition.
• You will learn about a range of techniques that
established composers use to help them support their
brief, and investigate how these techniques are used in
a variety of situations.
• You will need to ensure that your music fits exactly to
the visual material and is of an appropriate mood to
match the mood required for the visual media.
 Learning Aims
• A develop knowledge of the techniques and
issues involved in composing music for visual
media
• B compose music for visual media
• C review the effectiveness of your
compositions.
 Develop knowledge of the techniques and
issues involved in composing music for visual
media
We will look at music written for a variety of Media

• Film
• Television Music
• Adverts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Cby33ZR98
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdf2tqSy2zc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXgkYZLW25c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I52TicNBijE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5K8cEMikJQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFg-oduezDs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aduxrHlU0NM
 Describe the following
• Instrumentation
• Melody
• Rhythm
• Tempo
• Textures
• Timbres
• Harmonies
• Textures
• Effects