Background

In 2021 I took part in a couple of short film scoring competitions, one of these had over 700 entries. For an amateur/novice like me the experience was a great opportunity to learn from other amateur and professional composers. Early in 2022 I uploaded a short film and encouraged anyone interested in music, no matter how proficient, to have a go at composing some theme music. I had two wonderful entries and so I thought I would run the challenge again. All the resources and information you need are in the details below.

The Challenge

The principle is simple, compose a piece of music for a short film using your favourite instruments and recording software/hardware.

The short film is called 'Journey to the sea' shot in Sardinia using the slow motion feature of my iphone, you can download it here. Download size 95.4 MB (100,035,906 bytes).

The Cubasis Template that I used to create this piece can be downloaded here. Download size 12.9 KB (13,187 bytes).

PLEASE NOTE: For you own protection please always virus scan downloads

An opportunity to share knowledge

To get real benefit from this challenge I would encourage everyone taking part to watch as many of the other submissions as possible and comment on them, positively or with constructive points and to ask questions so we can all learn from each other.

There's no fixed deadline, I will upload regular updates about the challenge on my YouTube channel.

Terms & conditions

Simple rules aimed at creating 'a level playing field' for all entries, these are:

• There are no prizes, no judging, this is just an invitation to score a short film and upload your work to YouTube or Instagram and, hopefully, to learn something new along the way.


• All submissions should include the hashtag #OurScoringChallenge2 in the title.


• All entries must be original compositions, abide by copyright laws and the upload polices of YouTube and Instagram.

If you have any questions please contact me via my contact form.

So am I, no problem!

I made this short film on holiday in Sardinia, it was shot on an iPhone SE3 and edited with iMovie on an iPad Air 2. I composed my theme using Cubasis 3 running on the iPad while sitting on the beach, more fun than reading the latest grisly thriller!

Cues or Cue Points

I think of the score as bringing the emotion to a film. Images and music choreographed into a sort of dance; creating feeelings of joy, sadness, wonder etc that we feel when watching the film. For me this was highlighted by the entries to the Lost Piano Competition run by Westwood instruments. The style of music determined whether you felt nostalga, sadness or hope - a whole spectrum of feelings.

Key to creating this 'dance' is being able to fit the music to the images and scenes. My approach is to watch the film and note where significant points occur. Not every scene change or piece of action needs to be a cue, in fact working to every scene change can sound very mechanical/boring. Pick out the cues you feel are significant in emphasising the underlying feeling of the film.

Musical motifs and melodies

One of my favourite classical collections is the Planet Suite by Gustav Holst. Holst imagines each of the planets to have their own character/emotion. The piece for Jupitor was used as the basis for a pop song called Joybringer and the theme creates this positive feeling.

I am not an expert in music theory or composition, my approach is trial and error. So, for example, I will experiement playing three or four notes on my guitar or keyboard using different rhythms until I find a short phrase (also known as a motif) that 'sounds right'. Of course it could be a single note played rhythmically eg like morse code to create a feeling of urgency. The trick I have found is to keep it simple.

What do I mean by it 'sounds right'?

After watching the film through a few times you will start to feel how some scenes/actions standout. Imagine what these scenes or actions might sound like in music; are they 'dark', 'sad', 'dangerous', or 'light', 'uplifting', 'action packed'? Now start to experiement with your short mofits, what combination of notes and rhythms have that feeling. Now can you add to the motif to create a melody, perhaps repeat the motif changing one or more notes, reversing the motif. Consider what notes you are playing, what chords contain this notes? The 'flavour' of the chord eg major or minor, will determine the feeling of the melody. So, for example, a melody using notes from the C Major chord will also work with an A minor chord. The major chord tends to feel more positive (happy) the minor chord tends to feel darker (sad).

The key is to experiement and remember keep it simple, great film themes often have very simple melodies. Strangely, very often its the 'wrong' note that really lifts the melody and makes it unique, like the flaw in a diamond or a combination of clashing colours in a great painting. I can't explain why this is but there have been many times when I've played the 'wrong note' and thought "that sounds great".

Themes, putting it all together

Now you have developed your melodies that describe the key moments of the film its time to consider the whole film and how these melodies are used to create a theme. One approach is to repeat the melody at key momments throughout the film. During the opening shots the melody may be played slowly or quietly and then brought back more loudly at dramatic moments. This approach allows the viewer to become familiar with the melody so that it has a greater impact on second or third time round. Once again its important to experiement, feel how your ideas interact with the images, create that 'dance'.

Composers in action

Here are a few very different composers/music producers approaches to writing music. These guys produce great videos - always worth watching.

How to write a tune - Guy Mitchelmore
How To Write Chord Progressions - Signals Music Studio
What My Songwriting Process Really Looks Like... - Mary Spender
Watch Me Make A Beat - Rachel K Collier
Scoring A Film In One Hour - Dan Keen Music
How to Write a Great Melody (Over Chords) - David Bruce Composer
Add Chords To A Melody You've Written - 5 EASY Steps - Gracie Terzian & Rotem Sivan

Audio recording

A search on Google for reasonably priced recording and video editing software will no doubt result in a long list, however, in this instance I used Cubasis 3 and iMovie both for the iPad. For the PC there is Audacity a free audio editor. Cubase Elements and Cuckoos Reaper are available at around the £50/$60 mark (Sept 2022).