Film scoring/The sound of fear

{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="margin:0em 0em 1em 0em; width:100%" The assignment for the first lesson
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[[Image:Blue check.svg|48px]]Your first assignment (Just one note!) [[Image:Nuvola apps juk.png|48px]]

 * 1. Create the sound of fear.


 * If your computer has the sound of a violin trill, create a 6-second long violin trill which sounds "scary". Keep it nice and simple.  (If your computer does not have a violin trill, try something else.  Some chords also sound scary.)


 * Once you are finished, attach the file to an email and send it to me at r_elliott at innercite.com.


 * Then @undefined to send me a message telling me what software you used.


 * Then go to the next lesson where you create additional moods with single instruments.

Huh?



 * That is too easy!!!!
 * Most music packages (such as Apple's Jam Pack:Symphony Orchestra) have terrific violin trills. Just by pressing one key, you get the wonderful sound of a violin trill or tremolo.




 * There is a problem
 * The problem is the volume has no shape. The sound is either on or off.  Not good!


 * If you use a program like GarageBand, you must create an envelope for the volume to give the sound emotion. Or you can create an envelope for expression which is an advanced feature of GarageBand which is hidden inside the track editor.

Keep it simple

 * That is all you have to do for this exercise. Easy!  Just adjust the volume of the sound of fear made with a violin trill.  That is all you have to do.



Sounds dull, doesn't it?
Many people think this will be boring. Not at all. A single note can be shaped in many different ways and can be pitch shifted over time. Yet it is still just a single keystroke on a MIDI keyboard.

Listen to the [[Media:Zon Sound of Fear F003.ogg|sound of fear]] created by Tiego Louis Zontag in Brazil using Protools and Miroslav plugin. Since with Miroslav, the trills violins not exceed 3 or 4 seconds, Zon used trem violins.

Ten minute rule

 * If this assignment takes you more than five or ten minutes, something is wrong!


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{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="margin:0em 0em 1em 0em; width:100%" Ten points for one note
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Ten points for just one note

 * If you use a single note, you get ten points. (Chords count as a single note.)


 * If you use two consecutive notes, you get nine points.   (Chords count as a single note.)


 * But if you use three consecutive notes, you get only four points.  (Chords count as a single note.)

The goal of this lesson

 * Extremely important
 * It is very important to understand the goal of this lesson.


 * I do NOT want you to create music. This lesson is not about making music.


 * Instead, I want you to find the natural sounds of musical instruments that create moods. A single violin trill creates the entire mood of fear.  You just need to shape the volume of this sound.


 * Limited time and space
 * When you are scoring a motion picture, most of the time, you don't have the room to create music. Instead, you will have only enough room to create a single sound.  That one sound must be enough to create the mood that you need.


 * That is why you are looking for moods which can be created just by the natural sound of the musical instrument with one or two notes or chords.

No music, please!!!

 * Don't create music. Just create moods with musical sound effects.


 * Create the mood with the natural sound of a musical instrument.


 * Use no melody and preferably no rhythm. Just simple notes!

Your Demo Reel



Creating a demo reel

 * When you finish creating all the musical cues for these lessons, you will put all the musical cues on your demo reel.


 * Therefore, try to make your assignments good enough to show to film producers who will hire you for their next motion picture.


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Why only one note?
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There is limited space and time in a motion picture. You need to be economical with your music, not just for the normal reasons.

Half the time when you have a film cue, something else is happening in the movie. Either there is action on the screen or someone is talking, etc.

The human brain has a limit to what it can process. The more notes you have, the less processing time for watching the movie.

When you write a song, you want to keep the audience completely engaged in your music. You want lots of notes and lots of instruments.

But this is NOT true in a motion picture. Most of the time, you want to create a mood without the audience having to think about it.

When you win an Oscar for best film score, you don't want the audience to say, "Hey, that was great music!!!". Instead, you want the audience to say, "Music? I didn't know there was any music in that movie."

If your music requires that the audience spend all its time concentrating on your music, the director and the producer of the motion picture are going to get mad. Their solution is to TURN DOWN THE VOLUME of your music.

So, to make everyone happy, PLEASE use as few a notes a possible.

Thick or thin
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You can create a mood with one note on one instrument or one note with octaves (say two octaves) or even multiple octaves with multiple instruments. Or you can go wild and try a chord.

Just remember that the more you make your music thicker and richer, the more it might distract from the motion pictures. So be careful.

Style
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If you are wondering what style to use, here is the rule.

If you have talent, limit yourself to a symphonic style. If you have extreme talent, do anything you want.


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{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="margin:0em 0em 1em 0em; width:100%" To your next exercise
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The next page

 * That was so much fun, let's do it again. Exercise : Other moods from a single note


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