From Silence to Sound: Composing for Film & Commercials

Music Composition - film/TV/commercials : Writing Music : Film Score : How To Compose Music : Commercial Music

4.45 (63 reviews)

Udemy

platform

English

language

Production

What you will learn

How to work with a creative brief

How to approach scoring music to moving picture

Examples from documentaries, commercials, and narrative film

Description

Are you a composer that’s always been curious about scoring music for film, documentaries or commercials?

This class takes you through the fundamental elements (with real life examples) for scoring music to moving picture. At the end of this class, you’ll have working strategies to:

Outline/layout your rough draft so the music fits
Determine the right tempo/meter
Make important decisions about how to approach composing for your video
Successfully communicate with the director
Respond to a reference track

It used to be that having a custom film score was out of reach, except the big budget movies. There's now an explosion of indie films, in need of music. And tremendous opportunity for new composers to find projects to work on. In addition, you can now finish/complete a film score with a home recording studio. Writing music for film is an opportunity to make a huge impact on the emotional tone of a film/project. Your contribution will greatly shape how the viewer interprets the events happening on the screen.

These are real world examples for composing for commercials, or composing for film. This class also assumes that you have a working knowledge of music theory, and using audio recording software. And probably some experiencing composing songs/music already. We will be looking more specifically on applying those skills to moving picture/video/film.

#music #composition #songwriting #musicproduction #compose #filmscore #filmscoring

Content

Introduction

Composing examples

Overview of composing for moving picture

Documentary: Jumper

Initial Work on Jumper

Narrative: Simba

Initial Work on Simba

Director Revisions: Jumper

Director Revisions: Simba

Alternative Revisions: Simba

Commercial: Deer

Commercial: Mannequin

Initial Work on Deer

Initial Work on Mannequin

Director Revisions: Deer

Alternative Revisions: Deer

Director Revisions: Mannequin

Final Thoughts

Student Critique

Review of the assignment

Student - Rough Draft

Initial Thoughts on Student Work

Further Breakdown of Student Work

Expanding on Student's Idea

Another Attempt

Final Thoughts

Screenshots

From Silence to Sound: Composing for Film & Commercials - Screenshot_01

From Silence to Sound: Composing for Film & Commercials - Screenshot_02

From Silence to Sound: Composing for Film & Commercials - Screenshot_03

From Silence to Sound: Composing for Film & Commercials - Screenshot_04

Reviews

Nico

February 23, 2022

This course feels like it would be good for a beginner with very little knowledge of composing. I found Section 3 to be the most informative where he actually shows how to get from an idea to a composition. The other lessons don't show enough of the process to really pick up usable tips.

Dennis

July 9, 2021

Certainly appreciate Jonathan's attention to the creative grind of coming up with a composition that fits the commercial and documentary film's purpose. He illustrates the difficulty of pleasing the "director's" wishes. The use of real world examples is particularly impressive for us who simply don't know anything about this business. Perhaps Jonathan can write a course that fleshes composing for film and commercials as a business.

David

March 8, 2021

Hearing Jonathan analyze a sample project was involving and creatively stimulating. The ways in which the film --- and in particular, the scene --- suggest music are surprisingly strong. I purchased this course out of curiosity, but now, I could imagine doing this kind of composition myself. In pop music, it's the genre and the topic that suggest structure and lyrics. Here, it's the visuals and the hidden side of what you see: the heartbeat, the wind, the sun, the night, the direction and pacing of the drama --- all of them suggest sound. Music becomes a narrative voice. Beautiful and thought-provoking course!

Richard

April 28, 2019

I enjoyed the course a great deal. I wish there would be more like it from other composers too. The teacher did a great job with presenting the challenges at hand for film and tv music composers. The template was really helpful. For me, I felt that the teacher was too piano-centric. It's clear that he comes from a classical piano background. The course was weakest when he was asked by the directors to add some energy to his compositions, but didn't really show us how he was going to do that. Perhaps he had a time constraint. It would have been nice to discuss HOW to add energy to music, esp in view of all the samples and effects plugins that composers have access to these days. I was dying to hear a guitar and a bit of diversity in style. Yet, I still really enjoyed the course - the teacher has a pleasant and professional demeanor - which is indirectly a lesson itself - if you want to compose sync for directors and supervisors, you have to carry yourself in a professional manner.

Kim

March 29, 2019

Very well structured course. Be informed that it assumes you are comfortable with some DAW and also you know how to compose music according the mood (joyful, anticipating, etc). But it clearly teaches you how to approach the composition and work with the director with multiple iterations, etc.

Anne

March 25, 2019

Great class - loved seeing all these pieces come together. I had been trying to get tips on writing music for a game I'm developing, and although there are no games used as examples here, the tips and techniques demonstrated in this class taught me a lot about how different elements of a piece can influence the overall vibe of what is happening. The teacher also provides a list of key things to pay attention to when you are composing for a certain event/situation that is extremely useful. In conclusion, I would definitely recommend this class to ANYONE who is interested in writing music, whether it is to tie into a cinematic piece or to be played on the radio.

Janice

March 20, 2019

Found this class from other one he's teaching on composition techniques - writing stronger melodies. This is a good compliment if you're interested in learning about film scoring, or writing music for commercials.

Hari

March 19, 2019

Wow - this course had a lot of different examples. Really liked seeing how he approached composing for film, and composing for commercials - how those were different, and how they were similar. I have been curious about writing for TV commercials, or writing for film. So this was a great intro into that process. Note - that is not really a beginner class (for the beginner musician). As it assumes you already know things about using a DAW, and music theory.

Erin

February 25, 2019

Great amount of material. Really like that there were different sorts of examples - i.e. film, commercials, etc. Great class!

Jan

February 20, 2019

This is definitely not a course for beginners. You need to be someone who already understands music and how to use a DAW. That said...it's EXTREMELY relevant to someone who really wants to get a "behind the scenes" look at composing for film, and what not. I honestly could've watched hours more of this class! Seems like there's so much more here to learn. But this was a great start.

Annie