Music Terminology II

A film score is a document of written out music that shows the parts to be played by all of the instruments involved.

An individual piece of film music, from beginning to end, which may be seconds or minutes long.

Music is written, and heard non-stop throughout the motion pictur

The obvious musical mimicking of on-screen action. This is often used as a derogatory term due to its association with cartoon music.

A “clash” or strident/tense sound created by a combination of pitches. The augmented 4th and minor 2nd can often be used to achieve this affect.

Indicate the volume at which the music should be performed. Forteis loud, pianois quiet. Both of these dynamics can vary by degrees, which necessitates more terminology.Crescendomeans to gradually get louder, while decrescendo means gradually get quieter.

A technique in which a leitmotif or theme is modified rhythmically, harmonically, texturally, dynamically, or directionally, all the while maintaining its fundamental melodic content.This deals with small cells of melody, not complete compositions, which can be arranged.

The person who oversees the financial and organisational aspects of the film.

The creativeleader of the film. This person is in charge of “the look” of the film, ie sets, camera work, costuming, what the actors do, etc.

Watching the film and deciding where the music will go and what it will sound like.

The person responsible for making spotting notes from the spotting session, creating detailed timing notes for the composer, and preparing the film for synchronisation with the recorded music track.

Are a generalized description of where the music begins and ends for each cue.

Sometimes called cue sheets, are extremely detailed descriptions of every shot, cut, and line of dialogue in a scene, with timings to 1/100th of a second. The composer uses these notes to find exact moments to synchronize the music with the film, and also to choose appropriate tempos for the cues.

The carousel that the film is loaded onto when it goes through the camera during shooting, and through a projector.

A short composition combining music and lyrics.