GarageBand/Creating continuity with melodies

This course in music and filmmaking is:

Film scoring introduction for filmmakers

This lesson is:

Lesson #3 - Using melody to create moods with GarageBand and the sounds of a symphony orchestra

The pages in this lesson are:

Page 1: Creating moods with melodies

Page 2: Creating a simple melody using GarageBand - 6 points

Page 3: Creating a melody which tells a story - 6 points

Page 4: Creating a simple motif - 6 points

Page 5: Creating continuity with melodies - 6 points

Page 6: Create a musical cue for "Graduation Day" - #2 - 20 points

Melody creates continuity three ways

Another use of melodies

You can use melodies to create continuity.

1. All the shot of a scene

In a scene, you need some kind of sound which makes people feel that all the images are from the same scene. (Same location, same actors, same subject, same goals, etc.)

An easy way to create continuity for a scene is to have the same background sound (ambient sounds) and the same musical theme throughout the scene. Therefore, playing a short melody, or even a single note, or a simple rhythm during an entire scene gives the scene continuity. But what works best is to use musical themes.

2. Adjacent scenes

Two scenes can be tied together with music. When music from one scene continues into the next scene, it brings the two scenes together.

3. Unrelated scenes

Even then two scenes are not related, the action in one scene can be tied to the action in another scene much later by playing the same music in both scenes.

Your assignment - Part 4

Create continuity melodies.

The four characters in the story

1. The Papa Bear

2. The Mama Bear

3. The Baby Bear

Pick one of the musical motivs from above and play it three ways.

As an example, you can play the Baby Bear's motiv as "tired", "sad", and "happy".

2 points each. Keep this very simple. Only three seconds long.

The next page

We start very simply by look at a real world example

Contact your instructor

Your instructor for this film scoring class is Robert Elliott.

You can email me by clicking here.