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Underscoring for Film

SoundHouseTM

Powerhouse Museum

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Today’s workshop brief

• Select a film excerpt• Create an original audio interpretation

using musical elements and sound effects (‘think like a composer’)

• Save and render project• Take away projects on 1 compilation CD• Time budget: 2 hours!

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Q. Name any film maker?

• Spielberg• Tarantino• Lucas• Clooney• Cronenberg• Moore• Etc…

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Q. Name any film composer?• Danny Elfman• Batman, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare before Christmas,

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sleepy Hollow, Spiderman, Hulk, Men in Black

• The Simpsons (Doh!)

• John Williams• Fiddler on the Roof, Jaws, Star Wars, ET, Schindler's List, Raiders

of the Lost Ark, The Witches of Eastwick, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter series, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, War of the Worlds

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Q. Name any non-American film composer?

• Howard Shore (Canadian)• A History of Violence, The Silence of the Lambs, Looking for Richard, The Lord of the

Rings, The Aviator

• Ennio Morricone (Italian)• Spaghetti Westerns (50+), Cinema Paradiso, Once Upon a Time in America, The

Mission, The Untouchables, Mission to Mars, Kill Bill movies

• Patrick Doyle (British)• Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Bridget Jones Diary,

Gosford Park, Calendar Girls, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

• Tan Dun (Chinese)• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero

• Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japanese)• The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha.

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Q. Name any Australian film composer?

• Nigel Westlake• Babe, Babe2: Pig in the City, Children of the Revolution, A Little Bit of Soul, The

Nugget and Imax films Antarctica, Imagine, The Edge and Solarmax

• David Hirschfelder• Strictly Ballroom, Shine, Elizabeth, K19: The Widowmaker

• Graeme Revell• The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Aeon Flux, Open Water, CSI: Miami,

Collateral Damage, Tomb Raider, Tank Girl, Street Fighter, Ghost in the Machine, Hard Target, Boxing Helena, Hear No Evil, Dead Calm

• James Lee

• Birthday Boy

• Tom Ellard • The Illustrated Family Doctor

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Australian Guild of Screen Composers

http://www.agsc.org.au/

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Workshop film selections• Angels in America (2003)

Made by Mike NicholsScore by Thomas Newman

• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)Made by Sergio Leone Score by Ennio Morricone

• Birthday Boy (2004)Made by Sejong ParkScore by James Lee

• Metropolis (1927)Made by Fritz LangOriginally silent. Subsequently: Myles Boisen, Terry Donahue, Gottfried Huppertz Abel Korzeniowski, Giorgio Moroder, Peter Osborne, Bernd Schultheis, Wetfish.

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Think like a film composer...• Soundtrack tempo/flow relates to ‘image’ tempo• Consider which visual elements might lend

themselves to be ‘accented’ with sounds• Consider the mood, atmosphere eg tense,

dreamy, etc• Consider the ‘arc’ – builds up, or start with a high

key action then plateau, etc• Don’t over-burden it - 3 or 4 layers thoughtfully

arranged are usually better than stacks of tracks• 3 or 4 sound effects is plenty