Course Description
An overview study of music in film, television, games, videos, and multimedia. Music for film and other media is about “helping tell the story” of the film, show, or game play. We will be critically analyzing the underscore (and songs) for various genres to help gain an understanding of how underscore works to help tell the story.
Athena Title
Music and Media
Prerequisite
MUSI 1100 or MUSI 3550 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
At the completion of this course, the student will have learned to critically analyze the purpose and effects of music within the visual context of various media including commercials, television, films, and games. Further, the student will have learned to break down underscore by its harmony and melody, instrumentation, and rhythm and tempo to better inform how the music “helps tell the story” for various genres, including drama, thriller, comedy, horror, sci-fi, superhero, and animation.
Topical Outline
All topics will be illustrated with case studies drawn from award-winning and critically-acclaimed commercial media. • Class Concepts: Underscore, Source music, Harmony, Melody, Instrumentation, Tempo, Rhythm • Underscoring Drama: Harmonies used, Instrumentation, Rhythm and Tempo • Underscoring Science Fiction: Harmonies used, Instrumentation, Rhythm and Tempo • Underscoring Action: Harmonies used, Instrumentation, Rhythm and Tempo • Underscoring the Super Hero: Harmonies used, Instrumentation, Rhythm and Tempo • Underscoring Comedy: Harmonies used, Instrumentation, Rhythm and Tempo • Underscoring Animation: Harmonies used, Instrumentation, Rhythm and Tempo • Underscoring Thriller: Harmonies used, Instrumentation, Rhythm and Tempo • Underscoring Horror: Harmonies used, Instrumentation, Rhythm and Tempo • Song use in films: source music, songs as score, Harmonies used, Instrumentation, Rhythm and Tempo • Music in TV: Discussion of TV Formats – Long Form (1 hour), Short form (30 minutes), Sitcom (30 minutes), Reality TV • Music in Documentaries: Discussion of the format, How the music differs in Documentaries • Music in Videogames: Discussion of the Format, Music Looping, Music Layering • Music in Commercials: Discussions of the needs of commercials, Branding, Selling the product • Script Breakdown: Read a script and put together an excel spreadsheet of all of the music needs - Source music, music onscreen, possibilities for score • Guest composers will be invited to speak on their scores depending on availability.
Syllabus