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TASK RESOURCES

Film music
Learning area:The artsLevel: Years 7 and 8
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
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Step 5

Preparation

Prior teaching and learning

For this task, students need to have an understanding of:

  • ways in which musical concepts and compositional devices are used in a range of genres and styles
  • types of sound used in films (dialogue, SFX, music)
  • ways in which music is used in film (titles music, mood or dramatic underscore, character theme, source music).

In addition they should be able to:

  • identify and discuss use of musical concepts and compositional devices in a range of genres and styles
  • identify types of sound used in specific film sequences
  • identify ways in which music is used in selected excerpts from films
  • compose short music work/s using available sound sources (vocal, instrumental, found sounds)
  • prepare and present an oral presentation.

Teacher preparation

Student resources

Teacher resources

Teachers might find it helpful to examine an annotated worksample for the task. Further information about worksamples and how to use them can be found at this link.

Preparing students for the task

Inform students of the nature of the assessment task and explain/clarify the criteria against which they will be assessed (Student instructions for film music assessment task (doc,16kb) and Student rubric for film music assessment task (doc,37kb)).

The following preparatory activities are designed to prepare students for both components of the task. Teachers will select from them according to student experience, and also according to whether or not they are going to complete both components of the assessment task.

The activities will provide opportunities to informally assess for learning and to provide students with feedback on their progress.

Activity One

Introduce students to the Types of film music (doc,16kb). Make use of the suggestions offered on the A list of suggested viewing (doc,39kb) to play excerpts from films that demonstrate the functions described.

Activity Two

Distribute and discuss the Film music listening outline (doc,17kb) and the Concepts of music overview (doc,24kb) (or Concepts of music overview – simplified version (doc,17kb)). The latter resource comes in two forms – choose the form that is most appropriate to the music experience of your students. Explain that these resources are designed to assist in structuring the responses to the listening component of the task.

Select a film excerpt and model an analysis of the music in the excerpt, completing the Film music listening outline (doc,17kb)* along with the students and referring them, as necessary, to the Concepts of music overview (doc,24kb).

*This could be placed on an OHT for ease of use.

Activity Three

Play another film excerpt to the class and have students work in groups to complete the Film music listening outline (doc,17kb). Share group findings in a class discussion.

Activity Four

Select from the activities described in the Suggested composition exercises in preparation for composition element of the film music assessment task (doc,16kb) to prepare students for the composition component of the task.

Activity Five

It is suggested that teachers might like to discuss with students:

  • the constraints of composing to a director's 'brief' (including time limits, climax points, suggested mood, budget)
  • how they could use a range of musical techniques drawn from various cultures – eg African rhythm structures or Indonesian scale structures – to reflect the location and style of a film
  • the use of sequencing software or appropriate acoustic instrumental techniques and recording technology (mini-disc, analog tape, hard disk etc). This will, of course, depend on resources and time available.
  • advice about the ways in which they could record their ideas during the composing process. For example, if students are preparing an acoustic performance they might use conventional notation/tab/graphic notation to record work in progress, or they could keep an audio journal on mini-disc or analog tape so that they can recall ideas from one session to another.