Music Theory in the Context of Film Scoring

[dtd]

Dear all,

i hope this is not a too silly question, so bear with me

i'm interested in a practical book on film scoring, which focuses on the music part of film scoring (there are tons of "complete guide to film scoring" books, focusing mostly on the business and technical part).

my interest is in a book written for people who already know music theory, but still to guide them to apply specific aspects of this knowledge to film scoring with a focus on orchestral music. i'm thinking of disucssions of e.g. which instrumentation has been or could be used in what film situations. or what modes have been or could be used to support certain emotions or to deceive viewer's feelings. i'm thinking of examples such that the reader gets inspired to "pick certain aspects" of music theory and apply it to their scores. or has one to resort to the standard composition/orchestration literature for this purpose?

i hope you get the idea i'm looking forward to any tips or hints you can give.

thank you very much in advance!
dtd

[Opax]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sound-Design-Ex ... 709&sr=8-1

Highly recommended, and an excellent read.

[gravehill]

i'm thinking of disucssions of e.g. which instrumentation has been or could be used in what film situations. or what modes have been or could be used to support certain emotions or to deceive viewer's feelings. i'm thinking of examples such that the reader gets inspired to "pick certain aspects" of music theory and apply it to their scores. or has one to resort to the standard composition/orchestration literature for this purpose?

I think all that falls under general music theory which explains pretty well which combinations of instruments (=orchestration) or which modes would achieve the desired emotional effect. I think it would be rather pointless to write this again for film music as all normal theory applies and it's up to composer (and often director and/or producer) to decide what it is that is desired.

Of course general rules of thumb like "for sad emotions use a scale/mode with a minor 3rd in it" or "for surreal feel go atonal" could be given but I think in most cases they're fairly obvious anyway. It's more up to what you do with those scales. The details are what will make it or break it. And sometimes what the film needs is exactly the opposite. Maybe that violent bloodbath works better with Looney Tunes type of music? It all depends on the context.

Therefore my advise would be to take the music theory knowledge you already have and use it as you see fit. Instead of learning it anew for purpose of film, try studying dramaturgy instead. It will give you another perspective on what the film might need. The needs of film are always more important than any rule set in music theory.

[Dewdman42]

I can't really think of any unique music theory that only applies to film scoring, though there are particular musical tricks which many film composers tend to use. I can't think of a book that really covers that material. For example, film music often has to change meter a lot. There are musical and not-so-musical ways to do that. Or how do you take an 8 note theme and make it fit into half a bar, or spread it out to 12 bars, or make it work across two bars that are 2/4 followed by 5/4? That is film scoring. But there is more. Good theme creation means creating short kernals that can be glued together. Listen to Batman, the theme can be ripped out in 2 beats. That is key when you need to squeeze it in there.

Film music tends to change keys a lot. It has to, because it has to wander and wander and continue to go somewhere without ever really finishing. progressions by mediant are very common.

Anyway, there are a lot of tricks you can use in film scoring, but really it IS about the technical aspects that you need to learn and then apply your own musical theory knowledge to dervive film music that has a style you can call your own.

[JumpingJackFlash]

I agree with the others; the 'standard literature' should provide more than enough to start with, coupled of course with your own analysis of particular film scores.

I suspect you are seeking a book on Orchestration. Samuel Adler's is good.

Also, if you are interested, you might delve a little into the psychology of music and why people respond certain ways to particular things.

But of course, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Many instruments for example are capable of producing both really sad, melancholic music, and jolly, triumphant music. (The horn is a particularly good example of this). The overall effect depends on a lot of factors.

[dtd]

thanks everybody for your good answers and opinions.

i agree with you, there's no point to rewrite what is known on orchestration (i was hoping for a "preprocessed" view, emphasizing the "important", in the context of film, but i guess most of the orchestration literature will apply in some way..).

so thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
best wishes,
dtd

[soapninja]

a lot of community colleges offer film scoring classes, you should see if a nearby college has a class you can take.

[dannthr]

My suggestion is to study the actual filmic works. Start with the golden agers back in the 30s and 40s who basically sewed the seeds of the musical film language. Then the greats like Hugo Friedhofer, Leonard Bernstein, even Ralph Vaughan Williams (who almost predates the film-score movement, but who has a couple of films himself), Ennio Morricone, etc.

Watch the evolution of the film-music language and of course take a look at John Williams in the early 80s--just ANALYZE his scores, the man was a brilliant arranger (all that jazz influence).

Then I suggest sitting down and sort of deciding what your personal film-music language should be. What influences you, what do you hate? This is an artistic decision that only you can make. Who do you mimic? What do you try to do on your own?

People will always want something they know, clients will want something that sounds "elfman" or "zimmer" or whatever, but all those people have a sound that is wholly their own.

I can say Thomas Newman and you'll know what kind of sound I'm talking about. He's not the first and he's not the last but he's committed to his language/style/sound.

[Electric Chair Orchestra]

"Sounds and Scores" by Henri Mancini contains the CD, the score segments, and the film names. A good guide on orchestration.