LessonPage:Film scoring for musicians:Creating a mood with a melody

Your assignment - A mood

Devise a melody which creates a MOOD.

• 2 points. Be sure to tell me what mood your melody creates.

At the beginnning of these lessons, you created a mood simply from the natural sound of the instrument.

Now you create a melody which tells a specific mood. Try to keep the melody very simple and short.

• Suggestions: "tired", "sad", and "happy".

Less than 6 seconds!

How do you end the melody?

Do not just fade the melody.

Instead, hold the last note.

Remember the basics

Remember that you can play a single note or a delicate rhythm behind dialog. Those are the only two forms of music which will not conflict with the spoken words of the actors.

Therefore, if you hold the last note, it is almost like holding that thought while the actors begin their dialog. Then you can slowly fade the single note.

How long should the melody be?

The melody has to be only as long as needed to create the mood or story. For a story, the melody can be just enough that the audience recognizes the melody.

That can be as short as two notes. You do not have to play the entire melody. Just create the hint.

Remember, this is supposed to be subtle.

From Oregon, Orsanct has completed this assignment. July 22, 2007

• Orsanct sent me a melody which creates the mood of Cheerful which you can hear by clicking here. 10 points.

• Orsanct sent me a melody which creates the mood of Sadness which you can hear by clicking here. 10 points.

From Germany, Blueygh2 has completed this assignment. September 6, 2007

• Blueygh2 sent me a melody which creates the mood of Happy which you can hear by clicking here. 10 points.

• Blueygh2 sent me a melody which creates the mood of Tension Resolve which you can hear by clicking here. 10 points.

Joe Mac has completed this assignment. These pieces are played by hand on midi controller, using GarageBand synth texture "skye breath." Master setting: ambient basic. September 16, 2007

• The sound of Joy can be heard by clicking here to listen. 10 points.

• The sound of Excitement.ogg can be heard by clicking here to listen. 10 points.

Tiago Louis Zontag (Zon) has completed this assignment. December 27, 2007

• The mood of sorrow and loneliness. clicking here to listen. 10 points.

May 17, 2008

• Tonto Silver has created this assignment.

Reflections.ogg‎ .

The next page

Next is a fun pop quiz. You get to watch a movie and they make up stories. What fun! Creative pop quiz: The spy story - Deciding who is who?

Contact your instructor

Your instructor for this course is Robert Elliott. You can send me a quick email by clicking here.

NOTE: To submit assignments

To submit assignments, attach your completed assignments to an email and send it to me at "r_elliott innercite.com".