Music 355: Film Music

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Functions of Film Scoring

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1. To intensify or relax the pace of a film
2. To reflect emotion
3. To create "unspoken" thoughts of a character or unseen implications of a situation
4. To parallel or underscore the action (Mickey mouse the action)
5. To create atmosphere of time and place
6. To create comedy
7. To provide unity or coherence to the story (use of leitmotif)
8. To be used as source music (diegetic music)
9. When music plays against the action
10. To speed up slow scenes or slow down scenes that are too fast
11. To be used as a neutral background filler (wall to wall music)

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Ostinato

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A repeated figure (pattern) in music.

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Wordless Choir

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A chorus who sings without text. (Has become a favorite technique among Hollywood film composers for moments involving either religious themes or out-of-this-world fantasy-type scenarios.

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Mickey Mousing

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Ex: A character punches another character in the face, the music may contain an accented musical chord or loud bass drum beat to parallel the action.
*Its obvious similarity to a cartoon that follows or mimics almost every move of its character.

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Leitmotif

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Melody associated with a given character or situation in the story.

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Picture Cueing

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When the music cue is to end, there will be one final streamer followed by a final punch. The music will end precisely on the last punch.

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Free Timing

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The name giving for two ways of lining up the music with the picture cues, either the punch and streamer method or the stopwatch method. It is called free timing because it allows some elasticity or "give and take" to the tempo during the performance and recording of the musical score, thus being "free."

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Newman System

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Invented by Alfred Newman. Based on using series of punches made on every other frame of film at certain key points for synchronization purposes. This group or cluster of visual punches (usually 3, 5, or perhaps 7 of them) made on every other frame produces a flutter or flicker effect when the film is projected.

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Variable Click Track

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This is when the steady clicks fluctuate at dramatic moments or tempo changes. The recurring clicks will speed up or slow down depending on what is called for within the score and the visual action on screen.

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Window Burn / Window Code

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This is the name given for the series of numbers that appears at the top or bottom of the screen when working with timecode.

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Music Editor

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Present at spotting sessions, and prepares the spotting notes that will be turned into timing or breakdown notes for the composers to use while composing the music cues. Music editors prepare click tracks, punch and streamers, or stopwatch timings on the conductor's score. The editor is present at the scorring sessions to make sure the composer's music is in sync with the picture both dramatically and technically.

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Side-Line

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Term used to describe looking like you are playing a musical instrument on screen even though you actually aren't.

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Booth Person

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This is someone who sits in the booth "and watches the score to make sure that wrong notes, mistakes, and the like are caught and fixed."

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3 Types of Recording for Movies

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1. Recording Music BEFORE the Scene is Shot- prerecording, prescoring, or playback: when an actor appears to be singing or playing an instrument within the film
2. Recording Music DURING the Shooting of a Scene- set recording or standard recording
3. Recording Music AFTER the Scene is Shot- known as scoring or underscoring "recording to the picture"

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M&E Track or M&E Stem

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The soundtrack that contains only the music and sound effect but no dialogue. This track is made for releases in foreign countries, where the local dialogue can be mixed with the original music and sound effects.

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Looping / ADR

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ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement). Used during the postproduction phase of film making, ADR is when a performer will watch a playback of a certain scene, and will rerecord a better version of the original production sound.

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Room Tone

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The background "neutral sound" of the room.

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Foley Artist / Foley Walker

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A specialist who creates sounds on the foley stage to match and enhance especially the body movements of actors, to make them more audible for playback on the soundtrack in the theater. Named after Jack Foley, the man who invented this technique.

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Production Sound

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The sound recorded live on the set as the film is being shot. Many times this sound recording will be inadequate to be used in the final film; therefore, actors will be called back to loop their scenes and foley artists and sound designers will "sweeten" the sound effects. In this case, the production sound is used as a guide when replacing it with the newly recorded dialogue and sound effects. Also called "live sound."

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Sound Designer

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A person who designs needed sounds for a movie and/or lays in recordings of existing sounds from a prerecorded library of special sounds.

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Dialogue Mixer

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"Captain in Charge;" considered the supervisor of the dubbing session, because the dialogue must always reign supreme.

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Sound Effects Mixer

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Will balance in the sound effects in order to heighten the dramatic effects of the movie without overpowering the dialogue track.

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Music Mixer

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Will dub in the composer's completed score. It is the responsibility of the music mixer to achieve the most effective results by dubbing in the music with the right dynamics and yet blend the music under the dialogue at all times.