{Audio Post: Score2_Theme}

Today we're going to work on a specific area of film scoring: the theme.

According to Wikipedia:

A theme (or "leitmotif") is "...is a phrase or melodic cell that signifies a character, place, plot element, mood, idea, relationship or other specific part of the film. It is commonly used in modern film scoring, as a device to mentally anchor certain parts of a film to the soundtrack."

Last time, we talked briefly about the example of Darth Vader from Star Wars and the theme music associated with him. Today, we're going to listen to another theme from Star Wars and work on creating our own themes for a specific scene from the movie.

"Why are we spending so much time talking about Star Wars?" you ask.

Because along with many other areas of film making, Star Wars had a major influence on the way other film scores were made after it came out. The composer, John Williams, is one of the most famous film composers in the history of cinema. One of the things that it made popular in modern movies was the idea of having themes in the score that are associated with specific characters and ideas. This is part of what makes the music so memorable and recognizable.

So, let's take a look to a few scenes:




What do you think this theme represents?
What kind of mood does it create in your mind?
Is it connected to a specific character or idea?
How is it put together or structured?
What kinds of instruments are used?

Now you are going to create your own theme for the Binary Sunset scene.

Please do the following:

1. Look in Shared Media>Class Materials>Film Clips and find the file called StarWars_Binary Sunset.mov. Copy it to your computer.
2. Launch Pro Tools and make a new Blank Session. Name it: your name_ForceTheme
3. Import the Binary Sunset Quicktime movie into your session.
4. Watch the clip a few times and think about how you are going to create a theme for it. What kind of mood? What kinds of instruments? Will the music change at a certain point? Feel free to listen to the original version if you need some ideas!
   
5. Go to New Track and create a Stereo Aux Input track.
6. Insert Reason on the Aux Track.
7. Create a theme!
8. Save.
9. Bounce everything to a Quicktime movie. Name the file: your name_ForceTheme
   
10. Put a copy on Shared Media in Student Work>Force Theme