The analysis of the music in relation to the characters in the film it represents

Project work 11th grade

Julian Sterk

Mentor: Ann O'Connor

2021/2022

Table of content

1 Introduction......................................................................................... 2

1.1 Why I chose this topic....................................................................................................... 2

1.2 What my goals were........................................................................................................... 2

2 Basics of music theory (S. 1 a.f.u.t. 8)........................................................ 3

2.1 Minor and major chords and scales (S. 1 a.f.u.t. 6)..................................................................... 3

2.2 Intervals (S. 7 a.f.u.t. 11)............................................................................................................. 9

3 How to compose a piece of music (12 a.f.u.t. 33)..................................... 12

3.1 How film composers compose? (12 a.f.u.t. 18)........................................................................ 12

3.2 Creating a melody (19 a.f.u.t. 22)............................................................................................. 16

3.3 Building chords (23 a.f.u.t. 25)................................................................................................. 18

3.4 Melody structure (27 a.f.u.t. 33).............................................................................................. 21

4 Practical part..................................................................................... 24

4.1 Composing a soundtrack.................................................................................................. 24

4.2 Working with a DAW...................................................................................................... 33

5 Conclusion......................................................................................... 36

6 Acknowledgments............................................................................. 37

7 List of abbreviations......................................................................... 38

8 Sources.............................................................................................. 38

8.1 Text sources..................................................................................................................... 38

8.2 Image sources................................................................................................................... 40

• Introduction

In this section I will show why I chose this topic and what I want to learn and present with this work in the future.

• Why I chosen this topic

I was not really sure which specific topic I should choose at the start of this work. I was sure that I wanted to do something with music. Since I was 7 years old I have played guitar and I also learned how to play the piano. If you are good at it, the feeling of playing an instrument is so unbelievable that everything around you pales in comparison.

At the start I thought I could learn another instrument or build one, but with time I rejected these options. I wanted to create something without instructions. Then my brother came to me and told me about his project work. He wanted to create a short film about a young man who lived with his friends in a house in the wasteland. He asked me if I could play the main character in this film. I agreed and I also ask him if I could possibly compose a soundtrack for his film. So, I decided to do the following in my project work: For the practical part I want to compose a soundtrack and for the theoretical part I want to write about some basics of music theory and how to compose a piece.

• What my goals were

The goals of my project work are to help young or even not so young musicians and composers to start composing. However, the work is not only for beginners; there is also a lot of information and techniques for advanced musicians to help and motivate them.

The work should also help me with my skill as a musician. I want to learn new things about music and become a better composer. With the practical part I will try to challenge myself. I have never written a soundtrack before. I have composed some riffs on the guitar and some piano pieces but a soundtrack is something completely different. A composer needs to understand the real story of the film and let it be told through the themes of the characters. The music tells a story about the characters around the "real" story of the film. This is much more complicated than writing a "normal" song, because the composer has to compose in a certain direction and not just write what he or she wants. So I look forward to learning something new and being challenged by the work.

• Basics of music theory (S. 1 a.f.u.t. 8)

In this part of my work I will deal with the basics of music theory. I will only focus on western music and not on African or Asian styles of music. There is so much to look at, but I cannot write about everything, even if I only focus on western music. Consequently, I thought about the most important aspects of music theory and for me these are: the different intervals, and the differences between minor and major chords and scales. I included other basic things like scales or harmonies in these topics because they are related to them in some ways. The work would be over 100 pages if I just included the general basics. Therefore, these are the basics to know about before a musician is able to compose. After these basics I will go deeper into the theory to help musicians who can already compose.

• Minor and major chords and scales in diatonic music (S. 1 a.f.u.t. 6)

Minor and major chords and scales in diatonic music are the key elements of our western music. Nearly every meldoy is based either on the major or on the minor scale. The differences between these two scales are the semitones. In major there is a semitone between the third and fourth notes of the scale and between the seventh and eighth notes of the scale (more about the notes and their numbers in the next chapter).

In minor there is a semitone between the second and third notes of the scale and between the sixth and seventh notes of the scale.

These small differences between the two scales make a huge difference in their sound. The major scale sounds more happy and joyful. It's the most commonly used tone type in music. The minor scale on the other hand sounds more depressive, desperate and sad. That is because the sound of the semitones in the minor scale doesn't sound natural for our ears (S.1).

In music, melodies are divided into different keys. This makes them different and lets them fit into the style that the composer wants to create. The different keys have different key signatures (sharp # and flat b). Every key with the same numbers of sharps or flats (key signatures) in major has a parallel key in minor. They are called relative keys. So, for example, the relative key of C major is A minor. The two have no key signatures so on the piano they use only the white keys. It is not easy to tell the difference between them because they both have the same chords and so every song that is in C major could also be in A minor. The differences that are noticeable are, as I previously stated, the feeling of the song (sad, happy...). Another aspect that we can notice is the structure of the chords and notes especially at the start and at the end. Most melodies start or end with the root chord or with third or fifth. Another aspect of the chord structure that can be noticed is the order in which they occur. What is striking here is the use of the fifth chord of the scale in relation to the first chord of the scale. A simple way to find these chord progressions is to look for cadences. I will describe the relation between the fifth and the first chord and some other cadences in a next chapter (S.2).

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

A really good tool to understand the relative keys and their relation to the key signatures is the Circle of Fifths and the enharmonic equivalent. These two milestones in music theory were developed in Baroque music. In music theory the Circle of Fifths is a series of twelve tones arranged at a spaced tempered fifth, the last tone of which has the same pitch class as the first and can therefore be equated with it (S.3).

However, this equation is only possible through an enharmonic equivalent. This is graphically displayed as a circle. The enharmonic equivalent says that for example the note f sharp is equal to the note g flat. A piano keyboard can illustrate this in a very clear way; between F and G there is only one black flat for both notes g flat and f sharp. The composer Johann Sebastian Bach showed this enharmonic equivalent for the first time in music history in his collection for "The Well-Tempered Clavier" in 1722.

There are also some genres of music that don't actually use minor or major chords in their songs. A good example for this is the hard rock or metal music. Of course, there are a lot of rock or metal songs that use such chords, but especially for those pieces of music that use a distorted guitar, there is no difference between the major and minor chords. This is because of one special type of chord: the "power chord", or in common music theory also referred to as the fifth chord. This chord is made up of the perfect unison and the perfect fifth, and sometimes there is also the perfect octave. The peculiarity is that the fifth chord does not use the minor or the major third. Therefore, it is unclear if it's minor or major chord. These chords are very minimalist because they are only made up of two notes but, with a distorted guitar and a simple riff they can sound very cool. The simple thing about these chords is that the guitarist or the composer does not have to think about whether it's minor or major. The only important thing is the key in which the piece of music is written. But otherwise, everything sounds right, because the unison, the fifth and the octave actually match to every other note in the scale.

Another style of music where the difference between minor and major may be important, where the key in which the song is written is not always taken into account, is jazz. A jazz piece can have a lot of notes or chords in it which are not in the key. The most commonly used notes are the 9 flat or the 13 flat. The power of jazz lies in the hands of the improviser who can decide which notes to use. The musician is probably able to play every note that even exists between two bars. But he or she should never use a note that is not in the scale, or a note that matches the chord that is being played simultaneously if the rhythm is on the main beat. This gives the jazz music it's own "identity" and makes it exciting to listen to the music. Because of the diversity of the notes, the pieces do not become boring (if the musicians are good).

The blues shows a similar phenomenon, although not as pronounced as jazz. The only note that does not match the key here is the blue note. The blue note is also used in jazz but I would like to give the note an extra paragraph, because I think this is important from now on. Blue notes are tones that shape the blues character of a melody or the solo. In general, it is understood to mean the flat third, the flat fifth (or the sharp fourth) and the flat seventh. These notes are not in the key of the song. For example, if the song is in C major the blue notes are e flat, g flat and b flat (or of course the enharmonic equivalent tones in sharp). These tones make a song more interesting and give the piece the typical blues touch.

Major and minor scales and chords are everywhere in "popular" music. Over a period of time some genres have developed that prefer major and some minor. In the past, famous composers composed their well-known pieces in either minor or major keys and so the composers who were not so successful took an example from them. This happened all the time. In the baroque period and at the beginning of the classical music period the composers wrote more songs in major than in minor keys. This is because the musicians had to write their songs for the church or for the nobles and most of them did not want to hear depressing or sad music. Some good examples were Georg Friedrich Händel and his "Hallelujah" in D major, Johann Sebastian Bach and his "Cello suit no. 1" in G major or his "Air" from the "suite no. 3" in D major. Other important composers who were from the classical period were Haydn or Mozart. They also wrote more in major than in minor. Mozart, with his "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" in G major and his "Piano Sonata no. 11 "Alla Turca" in A major or Haydn and his "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser", today also known as the German national anthem originally in G major, show the spirit of this time.

In this period of time after the "Thirty Years' War", from the middle of the 17th century to the end of the 18th century, the noble people in Europe did not want to have anything that "destroyed" their feeling of peace. They wanted to spend time in their castles and gardens in Paris or Vienna and have fun. So the composers at this time composed happy and joyful pieces. The only two institutions for which composers could write a piece were, as stated, the aristocracy and also the church. The other people simply did not have enough money or use for music. This is shown in the musical legacy of composers during the Baroque period. Composers such as Georg Philipp Telemann or Georg Friedrich Handel are known for such works. They composed awakening pieces for the aristocracy, for their bath or dinnertime, and pieces for the church organ or other musical works with a religious touch. This continued up to the time of the Viennese classics and found its climax there (S.4 a.f.u.t. 5). However, after this time the mood and musical needs of the people changed as a result of the "French Revolution" and the "Napoleonic Wars". So, the composers wrote differently placing an emphasis on sad music. In addition, the composers were no longer tied to the nobility or the church; they could simply develop freely and sell their music to someone else. At this time point came the change from classical music to romantic music. One composer showed this particularly well: Ludwig van Beethoven. He started as a student of Haydn and wrote sonatas and symphonies in his style, changing later as a deaf musician to a different style creating a new genre. Most of his iconic pieces are in minor for example, his "fifth symphony", his "ninth symphony", his "Piano Sonata no. 14" also known as "Moonlight Sonata", his "Piano Sonata no. 8" also known as "Pathetic Sonata" or his "Piano Sonata no. 23" also known as "Appassionata" are all a in minor key (S.6).

I visualized the differences between the times to see how much the environment had an influence on the music. As described there was a social upheaval around the turn of the century from 1700

to 1800. The poor people defend themselves against the nobility during the "French Revolution" of 1789 to 1815, the "July Revolution", the "German Revolutions of 1848-1849", also called the "March Revolution" and the "Napoleonic Wars".

This change in politics also influenced the music. After Beethoven, the musical epoch of romance started and the pieces became darker and had a more tragic touch than the more cheerful pieces for the aristocracy who just wanted to have fun. Musicians like the Polish-French composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin or the German composer Richard Wagner continued the tragedy in music.

I took the sonatas as a guide value, because the composers wrote a lot of them during the time point I am looking at. It would be unfair and incorrect to compare Händel's oratorios or Bach's suites with Mozart's operas or Beethoven's symphonies. Consequently, I took the guide value, in this case the Sonata, that most of them have in common.

The change to the frequent uses of minor was not just as a result of the political situation. It also had to do with the composers themselves. Musicians were not as popular and wealthy at this time as they are today. Most of them had to teach students or had to look somewhere else for money. A reason for this was the enormous prices or rents for instruments and opera houses. As a result, a lot of musicians had a contract with a church or lived in a dependent relationship with the aristocracy. Another problem which the composers had during this time was the division in society into nobles and non-nobles. The musicians lived in the "world" of the nobles with all their luxury, but the nobles did not regard them as a member of the same social class. For this reason they were not allowed to marry with a noble person. This split the composers from the aristocracy and made them often very lonely. Beethoven is the best example for this. In addition to his issues with the nobility, he also suffered from the loss of his hearing.

So the weighting of the significance of minor and major changed with time. In some periods the leading composers used more major and in others they used more minor. This was because of political issues, wars or other military altercations like revolutions. Another reason for the frequent use of minor was the mental condition of composers. To summarize, it can be said that major is used more frequently than minor even in the periods in which minor was more common.

• Intervals (S. 7 a.f.u.t. 11)

Intervals are the distances between the tones. This is measured in semitones. In music, the semitone denotes the smallest interval of the twelve-step tonal system that is widespread today. The twelve-step tone system is:

• C3 has a frequency of 130.813 Hz (hertz).
• C3-sharp or D3-flat has a frequency of 138.591 Hz (+7.778 Hz).
• D3 has a frequency of 146.832 Hz (+8.241 Hz).
• D3-sharp or E3-flat has a frequency of 155.563 Hz (+8.731 Hz).
• E3 has a frequency of 164.814 Hz (+9.251Hz).
• F3 has a frequency of 174.614 Hz (+9.8Hz).
• F3-sharp or G3-flat has a frequency of 184.997 Hz (+10.383Hz).
• G3 has a frequency of 195.998 Hz (+11.001 Hz).
• G3-sharp or A3-flat has a frequency of 207.652 Hz (+11.654 Hz).
• A3 has a frequency of 220 Hz (+12.348 Hz).
• A3-sharp or B3-flat has a frequency of 233.082 Hz (+13.082 Hz).
• B3 has a frequency of 246.942 Hz (+13.86Hz).
• C4 has a frequency of 261.626 Hz (+14.684 Hz).

The frequency shows the gradient of a semitone. It always rises by 5.94 per cent; from one octave to another it is a jump of 100 per cent. There is always an increasing gap between two semitones, because the increase in frequency of 5.94 per cent it is also increasing. The space or pitches between two semitones are not used in western music. A lot of the "classic" instruments like a piano, a vibraphone or a harp are not able to play anything between the semitones. There are some instruments where it is possible to play pitches or tones between two semitones. A violin for example or some wind instruments even a guitar can play pitches between two semitones. This phenomenon is often used in rock or blues music and is called a bending or bend (also known as a finger vibrato). This means that the guitarist puts the fingers on a guitar fret and presses the strings up (or in some cases down). This is often used as a transition from one note to the other and is not done to create an additional tone however, theoretically this is possible. In addition to the instruments that can produce pitches between the semitones, there are also those that can only play a certain part of the twelve-tone system: for example, a harmonica or an alphorn. These instruments can only play songs in specific keys. Apart from instruments that can only play the natural scale (harmonic series or overtone series), there are versions of both these instruments that can play in different keys. For example, there is a harmonica that can only play the C major scale (or the a minor), but there are also harmonicas that can only play the G major scale or the b minor scale (S.7).

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

When intervals are spoken of in music theory, the "normal" eight whole tones are usually referred to. The eight are called: perfect unison (P1), major second (M2), major third (M3), perfect fourth (P4), perfect fifth (P5), major sixth (M6), major seventh (M7) and perfect octave (P8). The tones between them are called: minor second (m2), minor third (m3) and so on. In the C major scale they would be the D-flat (or C-sharp), E-flat (or D-sharp)... They are used to describe the distance between notes in (for example) a melody. This makes it possible to transpose a melody into another key. This is important for instruments that cannot play every note, as explained earlier. The intervals are also helpful for creating melodies and matching chords to them, but I will describe this in the next chapter. (S. 8)

The frequency value is changeable; the "only" thing that is important is the distance (the interval). A good example for this is an orchestra. During a rehearsal and also before a concert if the piece includes a piano, the musicians tune their instruments in relation to the concert grand piano. If the grand is not in tune or not used in the piece the instrumentalists usually tune to the oboe. In other words:

"It matters if one instrument is out of tune, but not if all of them are out"(by Julian Sterk).

Therefore, it would also sound in tune if, for example, all instruments play the concert a semitone lower than "normal". This is also the reason why there are different versions of songs in the Internet or even in music books. For example, the composition "Ode to joy" by Ludwig van Beethoven can be played with one key signature (sharp or flat), with two or with three and so on. If the melody has no key signature then the melody of "Ode to Joy" starts with E played two times, then F, than G played two times and so on. No one without an absolute pitch could hear whether it is the original or not. Theoretically, the song can be played in every key that exists. The thing that is important is the distance between the notes (intervals). In the of case of "Ode to joy" the song starts with the same note played twice, then it goes up a semitone, then a whole tone and so one. So a musician could start on any note he or she wants and only have to focus on the distance between the notes to play the melody correctly. (S. 9 a.f.u.t.10)

A common way to use the typical differences in intervals is with cadences. In today's music theory, cadence usually describes a chord progression that indicates the end of a section or an entire piece. The cadences build up tension in order to resolve it in a satisfactory manner at the end. The most popular cadence is the I-IV-V-I. The I means the chord is built on the tonic or first note of the scale, the IV means the chord is built on the subdominant or fourth note of the scale, and the V means the chord is built on the dominant or fifth note of the scale. If the melody is in a major key then the cadence is also in major. If it is in minor key then the cadence is also in minor. For example; if the song is in C major than the tonic (I) is a C major chord, the subdominant (IV) is an F major chord and the dominant (V) is a G major chord. There are also other cadences ii-V-I, V-IV-I or bVII-V7-I. They are often used in jazz (S.11).

• How to compose a piece of music (12 a.f.u.t. 33)

In this section I will look at composing a piece of music. I will start with some famous film composers and look at their typical styles. After this I will describe the different approaches to creating a melody, the structure of chords accompanying this melody, the different parts of the melody and finally the structure of a melody.

• How film composers compose? (12 a.f.u.t. 18)

In this part, I will deal with two different film composers: first Ennio Morricone and his western soundtracks and then Hans Zimmer and his work with Christopher Nolan. I chose these composers because I admire their pieces and their skills as composers, and I think it would be good if I first looked at how film composers actually compose their soundtracks before I start composing myself. I also chose them because they are two completely different composers with completely different styles.

Ennio Morricone's style has influenced a lot of composers, not only film composers like Hans Zimmer, but also bands like Metallica. Morricone was the first film musician who gave music a special place in film. He did not compose like the other film composers of his time; he composed more like common rock bands of this time. His pieces were finished before the director started with the filming. The soundtrack was played on set while the actors played their roles. This had the consequence of the music influencing the film and not the other way around. Most composers wrote their soundtracks after the end of the film so that the sound matched the film sequences. Morricone did this the other way around; the film was influenced by the music and not the music by the film. This is why his soundtracks play such an enormous role in the films. Another point here is that his film music always has to have a memorable melody which runs through the whole soundtrack. His favourite instrument to transfer the melody was the human voice combined with electric guitars, strings and wind instruments like trumpets, harmonicas, recorders or Jew's harps. The voice did not sing actual words; it was more the expressions of feelings through screaming, whistling or humming (S. 12 a.f.u.t. 13). His most famous soundtracks using the human voice are " The Ecstasy of Gold" or "Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo theme" from the film "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" or the "Per qualche dollaro in più theme" from the film "For a Few Dollars More". Morricone also composed for non-western films like "Le Professionnel", "The Untouchables" or "Once Upon a Time in America". Most of these soundtracks do not have human voices; Morricone reserved these for western soundtracks. Although his favourite director was Sergio Leone, he was awarded his only Oscar for the Tarantino film "The Hateful Eight" (S. 14). Ennio Morricone was a true master, not only compared to other film composers, but also compared to all composers of his time. In fact, Quentin Tarantino described him as his favourite composer of all time. His iconic style of mixing voices with instruments is unique and his music can never be played too often.

As a film composer, Hans Zimmer's style changed a lot over time. His first big success was the film music for the film "Rain Man". With this he was awarded his first Oscar nomination for the best soundtrack. His next big success was his music for "The Lion King" and for this he was awarded the Oscar. These soundtracks have nearly nothing in common; the soundtrack for "Rain Man" was played with synthesisers and that of "The Lion King" was more in the style of an African musical with vocals, flutes and traditional African instruments. Zimmer experimented a lot with the combination of synthesisers and orchestral instruments. After an experimental time before 2000 he found his style of composing. With "Gladiator", "Pirates of the Caribbean" and especially with his soundtracks for the British director Christopher Nolan he created his own iconic style. Nolan was or is his "standard" director as Sergio Leone for Ennio Morricone. After 2005, Zimmer composed every soundtrack for Nolan accept for "Prestige" and "Tenet". He wrote soundtracks for the three Batman films, for "Inception", for "Interstellar" and for "Dunkirk". With these films he became one of Hollywood's best-known composers (S. 15). Zimmer's style changed a little during this time. With the Batman films and "Inception" he created an epicene that had not been heard before. The epic in these film scores is just a single heavy and deep note that appears a couple of times, with complete silence in between. A mix of French horns, electric bass and kettledrums plays it. With "Interstellar" and "Dunkirk" he experimented with types of tension. Zimmer created his epicenes there always with the same instruments. He starts with a piano. The piano plays a simple chord progression, then slowly some strings, perhaps a choir, then the drums fade in and overtake everything and then the finale follows with a mass of French horns combined with the strings. Sometimes there is a melody played by violins or a guitar, but normally just the chord progression from the horns with the strings and the drums is heard. This is how Zimmer made the soundtracks for the Batman films and for "Inception" (S. 16). The soundtracks for "Interstellar" and "Dunkirk" and I would also say for "Gladiator" followed different paths; with these Zimmer put the focus on the instruments or on some musical "tricks"; "Interstellar" for example has a short piano melody with the typical match of "Zimmer's French horns" with the strings, but then there is an organ that overwhelms everything and creates a new feeling that gives the viewer a new way to understand the film. Furthermore, in "Gladiator" Zimmer created a soundtrack with a lonely female voice in it. He said that this was the missing part of the film which is about gladiators fighting in an arena. Zimmer used these special instruments in the soundtrack because they gave the film an additional touch. The war film "Black Hawk Down" ends with an obvious happy ending in which the soldiers walk on a street with the freed children however, the music of Hans Zimmer does not let the viewer breathe a sigh of relief. The music shows the inside of the soldiers, their feelings and their memories of their actions and lets the viewer know that they will never forget what they did and what they saw (S. 17). "Dunkirk" is an exception to Zimmer's style. The film is about the French city Dunkirk which was attacked by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War. The film shows the rescue of the Allies with the help of English civilians. Before this Zimmer composed soundtracks for the war films: "Pearl Harbour", "The Thin Red Line" and "Black Hawk Down", however, this one was special. The characters in this film do not talk much, so Zimmer composed a soundtrack that had no melody or chord progressions. The soundtrack is marked more by a build up of tension with an alarm siren in the chorus. Zimmer created the tension with the ticking of a clock and a musical "trick". That trick is called the Shepard Tone. A Shepard Tone is normally not only one tone. The classical Shepard Tone is made up off three scales. The lowest scale starts very quietly and becomes loud, the middle scale stays loud and the highest scale goes from loud to quiet. This all together sounds like a piano scale going up to infinity and through the different volume, it sounds like it becomes faster and faster (S. 18). Zimmer used this in "Dunkirk", but not with three piano scales. He recorded the same ticking three times and played them like the three piano scales. This no longer sounds like a scale ascending into infinity, but like a repetition of a tick, which however, seems to get faster and faster over time due to the different levels of emphasis. The most current and most interesting score by Hans Zimmer is the soundtrack by Denis Villeneuve "Dune". It is a science fiction film set over 10,000 years in the future. Humanity does not have computers or artificial intelligence and survival depends on a raw material called "Spice" which allows them to travel through dimensions and find new planets. The film's story revolves around government intrigues over which Great House gets to control the planet the "Spice" originated from. The music Zimmer wrote for the film is so different, not just to his work up to this point, but also from every other music in other science fiction films. His music is made up of cellos with whispering of human voices through wooden tubes, bagpipes, electric guitars, kettledrums and a very strong female voice. Zimmer did not want to create the soundtrack for this film like other science fiction film composers with an orchestral sound. He analysed the time in which the film was set. Electronic objects did not survive. The only thing that will always survive as long as there are people is their voice. Zimmer decided to give every house and every planet its own theme. The occurrence of these themes when a house is on another planet or two houses meet each other is really interesting. To understand Zimmer's brilliance, I will give a concrete example of such a scene. The duke of the house "Atreides" has a wife of the order of the "Bene Gesserit". In one scene he asks her if she will protect their son. She answers that she will protect him with her life. Until then, the scene is accompanied by the "House Atreides" theme, but when the Duke says that he asks not the mother but the "Bene Gesserit", the "Bene Gesserit" theme overlaps with the "House Atreides" theme and the two sound together. This overlapping of themes beautifully depicts the woman's inner turmoil which is only revealed through the music. Other examples of such conflicts are the fight scenes between different houses. Depending on which military force is stronger at that moment, their theme is superimposed on that of the other house and tends to overwhelm them. This makes the film music in this film so good and so important for the characters. Zimmer rightly won the Oscar for best soundtrack for it. Hans Zimmer is a phenomenal composer who not only creates good music, but also connects this directly to the film. With his music, he always wants to tell the viewer a story that the film does not have, in order to make the cinema experience even better. For him film music is not just a background for the film. It provides a new dimension for it. (S. 18)

The differences between these two master composers are really fundamental. Morricone created his music with melodies and chord progressions while Zimmer prefers to compose a gigantic abundance of sound without a melody. These are two different composers with different styles and differing soundtracks to different types of films at different times.

• Creating a melody (19 a.f.u.t. 22)

Finely, here is the key point in this work: How does one create a melody? Here are thousands of possibilities to start with. Theoretically, every string of notes is a melody. There are of course some guidelines to follow, but if the musician only wants to write a melody and not for example a sonata or other official music pieces where a shape like the sonata-allegro form is present, then the musician is able to do what he or she wants within certain melodic boundaries. In this chapter I will describe how I would create a melody and I will give the reader some help to create his or her own melody.

The first thing I would start with is the key in which the song is written. The choice of the key depends on the feelings the song should express. As I wrote in the chapter about the differences between major and minor, with minor creating more negative emotions while major communicating happier and more relaxed emotions. So, to keep my example simple I have chosen the key of C major.

There are also types of songs where the key is not relevant for example, the dodecaphony, also known as the twelve-tone technique. This style is defined as compositions in which a note can only sound once before every other of the twelve notes is sounded. Every tone in the 12-tone row has equal weighting and value as opposed to the diatonic system where some tones e.g. the tonic or the dominant, are more important than others and can be expected to occur as particular places in a melody e.g. at the end. The Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg developed this style of music in the early 20 century and is it considered both intellectual and, because of a high degree of dissonance, difficult to listen to. Considering this, I anticipate that very few might read my work to learn how to write a melody written in accordance with the rules of dodecaphony. So, I will describe the creation of a melody in C major within the diatonic system. (S. 19).

After finding the right key, the first notes begin. For a song in C major it is common to start in the first part (voice) with a note of the C major chord. After the first tone the musician can decide whether it goes up or down. Up is a sign for a happy and joyful mood and down for sad or depressive mood. Personally, I would advise against making too large a leap in the notes, more than one octave is too great because in music with vocals, it is easier for the singer to make smaller steps than to make bigger ones. A common trick to find the next notes is the broken chord (arpeggio) (S. 20). This means that the musician plays the notes from a chord behind each other and not together. So, if the first note is a G, the next notes can be one of the notes of the G major chord (so a B or a D). It is also possible to take notes of other G chords for example G7 or Gadd9/11/13. Another possibility is to take the relative key or a cadence progression. If the musician now has a few notes, it is practical to put them into small motifs. Ideally, the motifs should be easy to play and to recognise. Then the musician can work with the motifs which should come up a few times in the piece to provide recognition value. The composer can vary the motif a little or start it one tone lower or write it backwards (it is called a cancrizans or a retrograde). Motifs can be found at the start of Beethoven's 5th symphony or his bagatelle "Für Elise", Deep Purple's guitar riff of "Smoke on the Water" or the "Dies irae". The "Dies irae" is especially interesting here because it is used in so many melodies. Another way to compose a melody is to take parts and tricks from other composers and match them together. The "Dies irae" here is a very good example of both types. It was used for the first time in a hymn from around the 14th century. The hymn was used for funerals in churches during these times. The notes are from F to E, back to F and then to D (S. 21).

The motif is used in a lot of songs and in even more soundtracks; it appears when a character dies or when it becomes threatening. It is used in "The Lion King" (when Mufasa dies), in "Star Wars the Force Awakens" (when Luke finds out his aunt and uncle are dead), "The Lord of the Rings" (when the Black Riders attack the Hobbits) and it is also in Mozart's "Requiem in D minor" or in Berlioz "Symphonie fantastique". However, the most obvious use is in the soundtrack of " The Shining". The whole theme consists of almost the same notes as in the "Dies irae". The musical trick that makes the motif so scary is based on two things: First, the melody becomes deeper and, second, the use of semitones. I have described this in the chapter about minor and major. Our ears are not used to hearing semitones. They sound unnatural for our ears and so they scare us. The melody that goes deeper and deeper is also an indicator for fear. It reminds us of the Christian image that heaven is above us and hell is below us. So the melody that goes deeper and deeper also makes our feelings go deeper and deeper. This interaction of two "tricks" creates a very scary motif (S. 22).

So to summarize, the melody depends on the key and the first note. Thenceforth, the following notes can be generated using arpeggios and including notes into a motif that will be used more often in the song in modified forms.

• Building chords (23 a.f.u.t. 25)

This is perhaps the most difficult part for a composer. The topic can be split into two parts, first, how to find the right chords for the melody, and second, how to take the right notes to compose a second and third part that does not become discordant with the first part. This is called harmony. I will not come up with every different rule for composing a fugue or a string quartet here. Rather, I will show how to find the right chords and parts for film, pop, rock or classical music.

Finding the right chords for the melody is not too difficult, but then finding the second and third parts is much more complicated. The procession of matching the right chord to the right note can be done basically by matching the same chord to the note, so for example, if the first note in the melody is a C and the song is in C major, the first chord can also be a C major chord. Of course this is super basic and does not sound very special. Therefore, the musician can also take a chord which has the first note in it. So if the first note is a C, the chords could be a C major, an A minor or an F major. There are many more chords than just these three that can be used for example, the whole mass of jazz-chords like the 7, the b5, the 7b5, the 6 or all add chords like add 9 or add 11. But in order not to make it even more complicated, I will stick with the most common ones (the triads) for now.

Here we are at a crossroads. Some melodies might be finished at this point but most melodies have accompanying harmony for further instruments. If arranging the chords throughout the song has worked, then the hard part begins. The melody with the chord progression needs a second, a third and perhaps a fourth part also known as alto, tenor and bass or as Violin II, Viola and Bassi. A special form here is the piano version. It is kind of a match of two parts together, but I will go into this after the description of the simple songs form. (S. 23)

The chords just found are now relevant for the next parts of the song. The notes from the chords are used to build up the second part. So if the first chord is an F major the first note of the second part can be an F, an A or a C. A good way to learn how to pick the right notes from the chords, or find the right chords yourself, is to pick a popular tune that is not that difficult (e.g. "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven), and giving it new chords and a new second part. For the start it might be good to take the same reverse tone four times for the first bar. Taking for example, Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" without any key signatures, the melody starts in the first bar with E twice then F and ends with a G. So, I take two chords for the first bar. Therefore, I take for the E a C major and for the F a B dim (or Bb5). I take from the first chord the first note and from the second too and so I have in the first bar for the progression E E F G in the first part and the notes C C B B in the second part. While this is super basic, it helps to get a feeling for how the harmony works. I will later talk about some changes in the rhythm that will make it a little more complex. The next part (the tenor) can for example, be based on the last notes from the chords that are not already in use. An ordinary trick to make it sound better is to transpose the tenor part one octave down. This is helpful for instruments that cannot play the notes if they are written too high. Now there is a problem, because the "normal" chords (triad) like C major or B dim just have three different tones. Therefore, the last part (bass) has to double one note.

This is an example that I created. It sounds acceptable but not good or very special. It just sounds like a basic form of "Ode to Joy", but not in the slightest like Beethoven's masterpiece. A more special way to compose the three parts under the melody is to change the triads into tetrads. These chords are made of four different tones: the first, the third, the fifth and the seventh. The tetrads are most often used in jazz music and are not so popular in modern pop. (S. 24)

Another way to make it sound more unique is to make changes in the three parts under the melody. To begin with, I prefer to stay in the chords and not make big jumps. Another thing that could be changed is the rhythm of the alto, tenor and bass line, but that is really difficult and needs a lot of exact theory. I will come back to this later. Another good way to make the other parts different is to give them different instruments or play them in another way; so for example in a cresc. (increasingly loud), decresc. (decreasing loud), f (loud), p (quiet) or rit. (delaying/slowing down). This gives the song more character and is a lot more fun to play because there is more variety. (S. 25)

While the parts are based on the chords they can also use notes that are not in them. A common method is to take the seventh or even the major seventh of the fifth chord to resolve on the first note or to add a nine or an eleven. This will let the other parts sound more independent and not just as a support for the melody. But this way can also have some traps in it. The most common problem is that the sound of melody goes under the sound of the other parts and is no longer clearly visible. To make sure that the melody is still in focus it is helpful to let different instruments play this part or to double the instruments on the melody. (S. 26)

This is another example of a possible version of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"; now with more flexible parts. They are now not direct replicas of the chords, but more pliable, with the addition of the 7th, 9th and 11th. This is now more complex than that before, but is defiantly not suitable as a method for a piano piece. Therefore, the first version would be better for the piano, because they are more similar and simpler, even if four different parts are not so common for the piano. A piano piece needs divided chords (arpeggios) for the left hand and a melody, which could be

made up of more than one tone simultaneously, for the right hand; like Beethoven's bagatelle "Für Elise" or Chopin's "Marche funèbre".

• Song structure (27 a.f.u.t. 33)

How to create a song and how to find the right chords and the other parts has now been clarified. It is now also important to know how to build the musical piece so it does not sound boring. Firstly, there are many ways of creating the structure of a song and the key point here is knowing what kind of song it is going to be. A modern pop ballad with vocals is structured differently to a classical sonata. Another important point is to know how long the song should be because a three-minute song is not as complicated to structure as one that is over half an hour. So, I will do an overview first and then introduce some types that I will explore it a little more deeply. (S. 27)

Three to six minute:

This is the ordinary form of a pop or rock song. Most of these songs use vocals and mostly a small group of three or four instruments. A modern song of this length should have two or three verses and around two or three choruses. In some songs it is also good to have an intro, which could be the chorus, a bridge, a solo and an outro.

Eight to thirty minutes:

This length is unusual for modern songs, but it could come up in some classical rock ballads or in film music. It is or was a common length for classical sonatas, string quartets or short symphonies. A song of this length can use classical forms like the sonata form or a play between two motifs in different movements with a change of key.

Over half an hour:

This length is very unusual for modern songs. It is used for operas, symphonies or even for some piano concertos or sonatas. To structure this, it is really important to tell a story with the music to get the full attention of the listeners. So different movements are here really important and also a change in instruments and in mediation of feelings.

These are three main differences of types of songs in their structure. But that does not have to mean that songs that are structured differently are wrong or malformed. The different structures of songs have changed throughout the history of music just like the different tastes in music. While in the Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras, musicians played their songs by sight, reading directly from the page, in the jazz and blues eras musicians improvised. Today performers perform their songs as they are rehearsed however, not using the written notes on stage. This also shows the structure or the length of the songs. To know a whole symphony by heart is much difficult to learning a song of three or four minutes. In addition, only the four or five artists have to be able to perform their rock song, in the case of a symphony the whole orchestra has to be able to do it. (S. 28 a.f.u.t. 29)

A song of a length of three to six minutes starts with an intro, which usually contains no vocals but only an instrumental theme. The intro theme should be easily recognizable as it's the first thing heard; so many musicians use the same theme as in the chorus to make a connection here. Classic examples for this are the Deep Purple song "Smoke on the Water" or the Scorpions song "Rock You Like a Hurricane". These songs have a high recognition value because they use their very simple guitar riff both in the intro and in the chorus, and this does not just work in the rock genre. It is also the case in other genres not so popular like for example, techno music where most of the song is based on one motif like the Kraftwerk song "Radioactivity" or the Neophyte song "Anybody out there". A more recent example of a song which uses the same motif in the intro as in the chorus, is the Weeknd song "Blinding Lights", with its iconic synthesizer motif. The intro is followed by the verse which has vocals and an instrumental accompaniment that is kept more in the background. The vocals should tell a story, and everything about the music in the verse should make everything ready for the chorus. The chorus itself is, like the verse, a recurring motif however, it is much shorter. It actually comprises only one central statement, which is usually accompanied by the same motif as in the intro. The chorus is following by another verse which uses the same instrumental accompaniment but different vocals. After the following chorus', which should stay the same as the first one both instrumental and vocal, the bridge comes, which is neither the chorus nor the verse, but the structure is like the chorus with a strong instrumental impact. The name says it all because the bridge is there to build a bridge from the chorus to the solo. It could also be used between the verse and the chorus, but this is not as common. The bridge is used less and less in modern music, much like the solo that follows. The solo is, not surprisingly, made up of the instruments without the vocals. However, there are also some songs which use just vocals as their solo but this is unusual. The classic rock solo is made up of drums, a bass and two guitars, one of which plays the rhythm and the other the melody. In modern pop music the solo is based on a piano or a synthesiser part. What the soloists play is different and usually has no connection with the song itself however, some musicians play the melody of the verse that the singer usually performs. A famous example is Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" where the solo is identical to the verse. After the solo the chorus comes again, usually played twice. At the end there are two possibilities, either an outro, or a repeat of the first verse. The outro is actually a repeat of the intro, with the difference that the outro tries to let the emotion of the song fade away and the intro does exactly the opposite. So instead of getting louder, it continues becoming quieter. (S. 30)

I will put songs with a length of eight minutes and over half an hour into one section because they are or can be quite identical or similar. Pieces of this length do not have usually have singing. In them there are some exceptions like Pink Floyd's "Shine On Your Crazy Diamond" or Kraftwerk's original version of "Autobahn", but these songs are very rare and are becoming less and less frequent. Operas are another art form that use vocals and are very long, but I would say that an opera is more like an album than a song because there are very different sections in it and they all have a beginning and an end. A classic example would be Mozart's opera "Die Zauberflöte" or Wagner's " Die Walküre". There are parts like "Königin der Nacht" ("Queen of the Night") or "Ritt der Walküren" ("Ride of the Valkyries") that can be separate songs. But other pieces like symphonies or sonatas cannot be separated as easily. Therefore, I will describe how to create a symphony and a sonata, because they have a lot in common. In musical theory of form, sonata form describes a design principle that is used to describe the form of the first movement of a sonata or symphony. The last movement is also often in sonata form, while it is rarely found in middle movements. In the exposition, the two main themes appear one after the other. The first theme is in the basic key and is symmetrical in the number of bars. The second theme is in the dominant or major paired key. The whole thing is then repeated. After the exposition comes the development. The topics are freely processed and combined with each other. This creates a musical competition between individual parts of the themes. Furthermore, the key is often changed here (modulation). After the development comes the recapitulation. This is a repetition of the exposition, even if it is not played twice here the second theme is also played in the basic key. This ensures that the contrasts are resolved and the movement ends harmoniously. This thematic dualism makes these songs more interesting and allows them to be of this length. This applies to almost every piece of this length, without thematic dualism the music becomes boring because it has to be repeated. A piece with ten choruses and twenty verses has nothing left to surprise the listener. Therefore, it needs the sonata form as a symphony or sonata. (S. 31 a.f.u.t. 33)

• Practical part

In my practical part, I composed a soundtrack for my brother's film. It was a completely new experience for me because I have never composed a theme for anything before. I have composed a few songs for piano or for guitar, bass and drums, but they were just for me and not particularly good. What attracted me to composing a soundtrack was the possibility of trying out different styles of music and not having to stick to one as with other types of music. In film scoring I could compose classical music, rock music, techno music and so on. If I had chosen to compose classical music, for example, I could have composed a sonata or a symphony, but I didn't have that mass of options that I have in film scoring. Furthermore, the film music also has a very close connection to the characters and gives them new dimensions which I find very interesting to explore especially with regard to how the bond between them works.

• Composing a soundtrack

Before I started composing, I had to clarify: firstly, how long the film would be, what it is about, which main characters there are and what the film looks like. These are some key points that helped me compose and made it clear that the soundtrack was on point. The most important thing to know was the style. Film music composers can decide for which part of the film they compose their soundtrack. They can choose characters, places, scenes, actions etc. Examples include French composer Alexandre Desplat's "Battle of Hogwarts" theme for the film "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II", Hans Zimmer's "Time" from the film "Inception" or Ennio Morricone's "The man with the Harmonica" from "Once upon a time in the West". These different examples show the different types of soundtracks, for places (the Hogwarts castle), scenes (the parallel dream areas) or people (the man with the harmonica). Every film needs its own analysis of which soundtrack is suitable and it provides the basis for these necessary questions: Are there important and striking places? Does the film have a clear message? Are there interesting characters with profound backstories? At least one of these questions should be answered with yes. In my case, I decided to focus on the interesting characters and also after I read the script to some degree on the clear message of the film. After this decision, I read the whole script again and outlined the important characters and their motivations.

The composer has to know everything exactly before he or she starts to compose so that everything fits together. Therefore, I spoke to the film's director about the characters I had chosen, to see and understand their character development. After this, I researched the aspects of the key characters that the film does not represent clearly, and I started composing the soundtrack for the part of them that the film's story does not show. In doing so the music itself tells a story of these characters which the story does not. This gives them physical depth and makes them feel like real characters to the viewer. I chose three different characters:

Firstly: Alex is the main character. He is a street fighter, a little undecided and does not have a lot of plans for the future. His family situation is not so good; he lives alone with his friends in a hut. His life changes completely when he meets Jenny, is introduced to her way of life, and to her family situation and her status.

Secondly: Jenny is the love interest of Alex and comes from a wealthy family. Her mother is dead. When she meets Alex, her life changes; she now lives between two different worlds, the high society of her brother and the street fighter of Alex. Her brother is an alcoholic and has a difficult relationship with her.

Thirdly: Jenny's brother tends towards out-dated values, is an alcoholic and anti-Semite. He attaches great importance to appearances and good manners. Everything collapses for him when he finds out who his sister's boyfriend is.

So, I started thinking about their life and their character development thereby attempting to create their personal characters. I will start demonstrating what I mean with Jenny's theme. She is the key point of the story and has the greatest burden to bear. Her soundtrack is in B minor (parallel key to D major), so there are two key signatures F sharp and C sharp. The minor key gives the soundtrack a rather calm and tragic note and that matches the personality of Jenny. The tempo is 90 bpm and it is divided into a four-four time. This 'slow' tempo gives the music a mournful yet unwavering touch. In the film she stands between two worlds, that of her family portrayed by her brother, and Alex's and this is what the first few notes show.

The first chord is a Bm where the base note is played four times. The next could be a G with a B in the bass, but it should be a Bmb6 (without the fifth) and that is the key point of the whole soundtrack. Each chord in these opening eight bars is first the classical triad and then the triad without the fifth, but instead of this with the sixth or sixth flat. This sixth gives the soundtrack a more tragic feel and a greater depth than before. This is what the character shows. The position between the two worlds is equal to the standing between the classic triad and the seventh. The sixth is not commonly used; it shows Jenny's point of view, her fragile situation, like the mostly unused sixth which appears between the very frequently used fifth and the seventh which is also not so rarely used.

The music itself starts slowly and quietly progressing deeper and deeper in pitch. It begins slowly and quietly and becomes deeper and deeper with every classic triad. It also gives the soundtrack a sadness that suits her character perfectly. The sixth shows her fragile situation. It works here like a wounded animal falling down a cliff but still trying to get up. These first eight bars are played by a piano alone, with no other musical accompaniment. I will describe later why I chose this instrument to represent the life and character development of Jenny and did not use others. The piano is supported by a classical female choir ensemble, a string ensemble and a kettledrum (timpani) that sounds once per bar. The choir and the strings, only violins, play the same chord progression as the piano. The piano itself becomes a little louder at one point while the strings and the choir become progressively louder and louder. After four bars, the kettledrum no longer plays once at the beginning of every bar, but rather like the metronome at 90 bpm at every quarter note.

The next part comes up again and again in this piece. It is the main motive and gives the listener a recognition value by reappearing. This part is an interplay of a piano, a classical female choir ensemble, two string ensembles, two French horns, a marimba (percussion instrument) and a upright studio bass. The French horns, the classical female choir ensemble and one string ensemble perform the same chord progression as before except they do not use the sixth note in the second chord and hold the triad for two bars. This gives the melody played at the same time a foundation on which it can build and it presents the same world for Jenny, emphasizing the diversity of her location with the newcomers of the other world (the melody in the soundtrack). The other string ensemble plays a variation on an arpeggio from the previous chords, starts with the root of the chord, goes up to the third, then to the fifth, back to the third, to the sixth, then back to the fifth, then to the third and at the end again to the fifth. In the next bar the same process occurs, but without the last step back to the fifth. This shows in a harmonic way the ups and downs of Jenny's feelings, with the game pivoting on the sixth. The marimba and the upright studio bass play a bass line for the melody (the arpeggio) of the strings, based on the three main notes of the chords with the sixth in it, so first to third to sixth. The notes of the bass line are played in octaves, i.e. always the same two pitches played an octave apart at the same time. This gives them a clearer gravitas.

The piano plays the parts of the bass and the strings together. So, it is the combination of the two parts like in Jenny's world that represents the "combination" of the two worlds. The notes themselves show the difference of these worlds. The bass line is very straight, it moves higher and higher in every bar however, the upper voices themselves become deeper and deeper. This shows the world of her brother, who gives her stability at this point, but with time rejects his sister. The melody is not straightforward; it goes up and down alternately, ending on a high note in one bar and on a low note in another bar. The pacey melody expresses the risky life she could have with Alex in contrast to her brother's rather boring life.

The next part is the heart of the song. It shows her inevitable end or in other words as with every life, death. I chose to present this by using a common theme for funerals; not the funeral march by Chopin, but instead of the "Dies irae". This is the piece I described in the chapter about the creation of a melody. It is very often used in films to punctuate a death or a tragic scene. I did not write it exactly as it is. I first transposed it from A minor to B minor and then changed the order of the notes so that while it is still recognizable, it does not sound like a direct copy. It is played with trumpets, a tuba, the French horns and a grand organ. In the film the "Dies irae" shows the result of her decision in which her brother kills her because she wants to stay with Alex. The organ passage that follows, also adding to the funeral feel, plays the chords from the start with the choir and the strings joining. The following interplay of all instruments together, which have played combined before, also shows the increasingly urgent problem that Jenny has. It is a coming together of an increasing level of tension which then drains away again. Between this part and a repetition of it comes an interlude which transposes the key from B minor to E minor. Here the transposition gives a feeling of change in the music which fits perfectly to the character development of Jenny and her own change. The chords are played by the piano, French horns, string ensemble and classical female choir ensemble. The chord progression starts with an Am followed by an Em, an F#m7/b5, an Emadd9, another F#m7/b5, than an F#7/b9/b13, no3 and finally another Emadd9 as resolution. These chords are a premonition of the theme of Jenny's brother with other instruments. In the end, there is another repetition of the main theme now in E minor instead of of B minor played by the piano, French horns, string ensemble and classical female choir ensemble. It all comes to an end with the same chords from the beginning now played in E minor. This gives the whole theme a closure which again transposes the meaning from the start. This is also set in the film's script when the main character wakes up at the end and realizes that it was all just an illusion. After this the character is in the same scene in which the film started.

With regard to the theme of Jenny's brother, it is important to break it down and do a thorough analysis. The song is not very long, about 02:46 minutes (Jenny's theme, on the other hand, is about 05:01 minutes) because the brother does not have as much screen time as his sister. The theme also starts with a piano to create a connection between these two soundtracks, but this piano does not play a chord progression, it plays a very deep melody. The melody is a gradual descent beginning from D to A, to C and to G. This is played in a quiet tempo of half notes at a bpm number of 120. The slow descent with the rather high bpm number gives an uncomfortable feeling of the advance to increasing tension. This melody is repeated with an octave adjustment of one octave up and one down. This amplifies the pressure and the feelings of unease in the music. After this melody comes an arpeggio of the chords for the melody before; so an arpeggio of a Dmadd11, an Amadd11, a Cadd11 and a Gadd11. This arpeggio is very deep and with a slight reverb. This gives the whole melody a certain heavy and subliminal authority, which suits the brother quite well. The sadness that can also be found in the piece also shows the brother's fear of losing something, in the film it is his sister. The brother's soundtrack is in A minor and in four-four time.

The eleven is equal to the fourth here which is technically "in", or better "between" the triad. This shows that Jenny's brother is not willing to develop further, unlike his sister. In Jenny's theme the triad spreads to the sixth, in her brother's theme the triad contracts. So Jenny is open for new things, her brother is more conservative and traditional. After those eight bars, the piano is supported by a string ensemble and a hi-hat. The strings play the chords and the hi-hat plays a ticking sound at every half note. The symbol of the half note ticking of the hi-hat is easily recognisable as a clock, because of its speed. Every hit is exactly one second apart. This ticking clock gives the soundtrack a feeling of losing time which is clearly a characteristic of Jenny's brother, who fears his sister could be taken from him. In the melody indicates a change when the strings and the hi-hat come in; the chords change to a Dm9/11, an Fmaj7/#11/13, a C9/11 and a G9/11. These small changes in the melody ensure that it does not become boring, but still does not lose its basic structure. After this the melody starts again from the beginning, but now with an added classic female choir ensemble which plays the same chords as the strings and a synth e-bass playing a C four times faster than the hi-hat. This musical growth slowly increases the tension of the soundtrack which finally ends in a finale. After the repetition of the melody, all instruments with the exception of the synth e-bass stop playing and a kettledrum, which becomes louder and louder, beats half as fast as the bass beats the beat; a prelude to the finale. Four bars later, a string ensemble joins them, playing the same as the bass but twice as fast. After this, a snare drum also joins and plays a classic drum roll. This gives the song a militaristic touch which matches the personality of Jenny's brother. After that the finale based on French horns, string ensembles and a choir start. They all perform the chord progression but this time without the melody. This soundtrack has an exact opposite construction as Jenny's theme. Jenny's theme starts with the chord progression and has an arpeggio-melody as a "finale" and this one starts with the melody and has the chord progression as the finale. So, while there are many similarities in the song, like the choice of instruments, or the tragic mood that shows that the two are brother and sister, there is also the big difference that shows their fundamentally opposite view of the world. And, while Jenny's finale comes more often, her brother's finale is a clear, unavoidable end.

Finally there is Alex's theme. His score depends more than all the others on the story of the film. At the end of the film, the viewer not only finds out that the whole film was just a dream of Alex, but also that several of the characters appearing there are versions of Alex himself (as in "Fight Club" by David Fincher or in "Demian" by Hermann Hesse). This is most prominently shown in Alex's first fight, in which he unwittingly battles himself. The viewer then finds out that this serves to "remove" that part of the character. Writing a score for a character that is so special was the hardest part of the practical part. Consequently, I spit his soundtrack into two songs to have more possibilities. They are both simple in their structure, but meaningful in their message. The first one is in C minor, so three flats: E flat, B flat and A flat are in the key signature. C minor is a more "gentle" and sad key, which fits to the fundamental mood of the film and of the character. The song is in four-four time, with a tempo of 110 bpm and there are only two instruments in the whole theme. The first is an electric piano and the second is an electric bass. The bass line is interesting here, because it plays the exact same note throughout the whole theme except for eight bars. It uses a trick that ensures that it does not become boring. On the contrary, the excitement increases continuously. As I mentioned this trick earlier; it is called the "Shepard Tone". The e-bass plays three notes a C, a D, and an E, but with increasing and falling volume. The exact explanation of this is in the chapter about famous film composers. This increasing tension has as a soft e-piano melody. These two instruments show the different sides of Alex. He is a street fighter but also a gentle young man. This conflict is shown in his dream with the different versions of himself. The two electronic instruments merge this: the deep, monotonous, constant and the high or clear which plays different melodies. The song starts softly with both instruments. The e-bass plays the three notes as "Shepard Tones" and the e-piano plays in the bass line an arpeggio of a C sus2 for four bars and then an arpeggio of a Bb sus2. The sus2 shows here an interesting part of the film. The second is normally "in" or between the triad, but here it is the exact opposite to the brother's theme. There the eleventh is played as a four and here the second is played as an eight. After these eight bars the melody starts. It is not a "real" melody it is just a "scattering" of notes, while the C sus2 the melody plays three notes C, D and Eb. During the Bb sus 2 the melody plays F, G and Ab. The really interesting part of the song comes after this.

There is a resemblance, or rather an out-of-key similarity, between this song and the other for Alex that emerges as a recurring theme. This depicts the external differences between the various versions of Alex during his dream however, at the same time also shows that all versions have a common core and are therefore all musically proclaimed with Alex. The meaning of the motive itself is relatively clear. It is a variation of an arpeggio based on a Cmb6, transitioning into a Bb-Sus4 chord. The sixth is a reference to Jenny. It is the "red line" through her whole soundtrack and can be found in most of the chords. However, the sus4 is used to describe Jenny's brother and is clearly in his score. So the motive is a coming together of Jenny's and her brother's themes and it shows that Alex and all of his dream versions are the reason for all their feelings and troubles throughout the whole film. He is the main character where all paths converge and the motive depicts all this.

The other theme for Alex is a piano piece. It is in C major with a four-four time and a tempo of 120 bpm. Because it is in C major I transposed the chords from Cmb6 and Bb sus4 to an Emb6 and a D sus4. This theme itself is based on the Emb6. It starts with an arpeggio of an E5, than with another of an Em11/b6 and then the finale with the same as the other theme of Alex's. This shows his connectedness with Jenny and his dedication to changing everything for her, to be a part of her life.

I composed more than these three or four themes, but the other pieces serve more to create atmosphere in the scenes rather than to reflect a character. An example of this could be another version of the themes just played by strings, piano or synthesizer. This can happen in scenes where the characters are vulnerable or during a conversation when the music needs to take a back seat to let the characters speak for themselves. This atmosphere part becomes interesting when two versions of Alex coincide each other. In these parts, there is a variation of the motive which I described before. The film is about 20 to 30 minutes long so these are the main themes that can be used in it. If I had created more, it would have could not been be used in the film due to its length. I composed altogether 22 to 25 minutes of music. The director is able to choose not to use music at all or to use some music twice. There are also a few parts in the film where no music can be heard or just a single beep or a white noise can be heard. This is relevant for the overall sound. If there were always music in the background of the film, the viewers would be annoyed because everything would sound more like lift music or a continuous playlist rather than a real film soundtrack which describes the characters.

• Working with a DAW

In this chapter I will break down how I notated the composed music. I composed the songs on the piano and the guitar because these are the instruments I am familiar with and after that I recorded some pieces to see whether they fit. Then, after the first recordings I started to programme the songs. I did this using Apple's digital audio workstation (DAW) GarageBand. The best way to create a soundtrack would be to record it with a live orchestra. However, there are some issues like finding the right musicians or even the right instruments for the songs. A DAW is the significantly cheaper option, which at the same time only requires on one person and not on an entire orchestra. The disadvantage of course, is that the relevant musicians cannot help with the setting and their musical expertise, especially with their own instrument, and cannot contribute to the overall concept. As a result, the composer has to be clear about all the instruments, their musical and physical characteristics and what would sound unnatural on them.

Apple's DAW GarageBand is a free app for musicians to use to record, compose, or mix music. While getting started is relatively easy, it is not a simple process to get the best result with a good post-processing. There are a few different modes to choose from and the instrument files can be downloaded. To upload notes is as far as I know not possible, so every tone has to be "programmed". The possible connection with an electric piano is a very useful tool. After a connection with a USB cable from the computer to the e-piano, each note played on the piano can be transferred to the computer and does not have to be programmed. So I personally played my composed version for each instrument from the soundtrack on the piano. The advantage of playing compared to programming is that all dynamics that contribute to the creation of emotions, i.e. Ritardando, Crescendo, etc., are automatically adopted, since the program notices how hard the keys of the piano are struck. This means all this does not have to be programmed additionally. Some issues also arose, such as the differences between the instruments described above. A piano can be played completely differently and has a completely different reverberation or intonation than violins or horns. While on the piano a note only sounds once when the key is hit, it is possible to sustain the notes longer with strings or wind instruments however, in the program it is not possible to play several notes at the same time, as a piano can do very well. Another problem is the volume at which something is played or more specific the differences between different instruments and there natural sound. Normally, some instruments are quieter than others, but if they are all played on a piano, they will need volume adjustments in post-processing to match the natural sound of the instruments in relation to the other instruments. In this editing step it is also possible to change the mood of the song in other directions or to make their sound more natural. Strings usually sound better and more authentic with a little more reverb than the natural piano without the pedal. It is also a good idea to give them a little echo (delay) to make them sound wider.

After playing comes post-production, where each track needs to be cut to the right length, to the right volume or speed, and placed where it's supposed to be. In post-processing, it is also possible to put individual notes that have not been played accurately back into the correct order or to change the delay or the ambiance. The variety of instruments is quite impressive, even if some are missing. In the program there are mainly electronic instruments such as synthesizers, electronic drum kits or e-pianos. In fact there are more than 100 different ones. There are only a few truly orchestral instruments, around 20.

After recording the songs on the e-piano, it is possible to allocate the different tracks to the instruments. It is also possible to duplicate or delete a track if it later appears to be distracting. With the help of automation curves or effects such as reverb, delay or pitch, it is possible to adapt the tracks to the instruments. In post-processing, it is easier to work on several tracks than when everything is recorded at once and runs over one track. The post-processing of the individual soundtracks is very fragile, since even a small change is able to lead to over- or under-saturation in the entire song. It takes a lot of practice and a good ear to see if the overall effect is good or not. A good way to classify whether the song has the right volume or not, or the right height or depth is to use different audio systems to check. So if the song sounds good through headphones, it would be good to see if the song also sounds good through regular speakers or through a jukebox.

An easier style of music than the orchestral sound to compose with a DAW is techno or generally electric music with instruments like synthesizers or electric drums. They have a lot of different styles and different editing options much more than classical instruments like pianos or strings. These instruments can be processed with volume, reverb, delay, or compression, while synthesizers can be processed with such things, but they can also be processed with cut-off, distortion, and much more. Therefore, it is possible to create different feelings with just one note of a synthesiser. The key point here is automation curves. With them it is possible to change the compression, the distortion and every other audio track editing option while the note is still played. This can create an increase of tension or may lead to an alienation. It depends on which parameter is open how wide, or with which it has been mixed.

I put these into the score for the film as well, to create exactly this increase in tension. I used the cut-off to give a piece the right mood. A cut-off is a filter control that determines the point at which frequencies begin to roll off. So, it cuts off frequencies that are high or low depending on the chosen setting. The interesting thing about the piece is that it consists of only one note. The synthesisers are there to underlay a film scene. I layered a synth bass there with bright synth strings to get a more homogeneous filling. Both synthesisers play the same note the whole time. It starts with the tone without a cut-off, after eight bars the cut-off starts slowly to increase until bar number 24. This creates the increasing tension. After these 24 bars the cut-off moves alternately up and down. This makes the song sound more alive and gives it a variety that makes it more exciting to listen to and better suited as a background for conversations. (S. 34)

I had to learn a lot to understand how the DAW works however, my competence improved over time especially since I noticed that it is possible to play several tracks at the same time and to hear whether they fit or not. After the post-processing a song can easy be uploaded onto iTunes. All in all, I am glad I discovered GarageBand. Without this program I would not have been able to do the practical part of my project work, or would have found it very difficult because of the hurdles and problems when recording or editing without a DAW. Just the possibility that the program is compatible with the editing program of the film where it is going to be used helps a lot.

• Conclusion

At the end of the work, several questions arise about the final value of what I created, what I learned and much more. I would say that what I liked the most was definitely the practical part. The composing of the individual soundtracks, the digital post-processing and above all the recording as well as learning how to play my own songs turned out to be a very interesting experience. In general, analysing the characters in the film, their motives and character traits, and the upcoming discussions about them were very helpful in gaining a comprehensive understanding. The resulting analysis of the characters was also helpful in understanding how to describe characters and their development using the music. In retrospect, the writing was not as difficult as I thought it would be. Getting into the flow of writing was always a bit difficult, but once I started it went really well. Even writing in English went better than expected. This is probably also due to the fact that the English language is very close to German and that comparatively I have a lot of contact with the English language through film, television and music. I do not think I could have written this work in French for example, or only with a lot of effort and the frequent use of a translator. But all in all, it was a very good and challenging experience for me to challenge myself with the English language and with composing for the first time, which I have never done before (composing not the English language).

However, there were also some issues during this work. One of the biggest problems was the continuous saving of the work already done, also when writing, but especially when composing. It is a longer story: One day I decided to record the soundtrack for Alex. I took my time all day, sat down at the piano and started to play the notes I had already composed and finally recorded them. After working for more than five hours I had the whole song finished in my program as a file. However, when I wanted to start editing the file the next morning, I couldn't find it because I hadn't saved it. So all the work was a waste of time. Otherwise, the work was completed without any major problems.

In conclusions, it was a very interesting experience to have just one topic to deal with for the year; I was already interested in music before, although more in jazz and classical music than in film music. This experience also helped me to write and to compose. I think the work helped me to get a deeper insight into music and to understand it better, both practically and theoretically. I now have a completely different idea of music and I also hear it in a completely different way.

• Acknowledgments

Now it is time to look behind the scenes of this work to acknowledge that not just one person was responsible for its creations. It is always a coalition of many different people who all contribute their own ideas and help to such a project. From help with the beginning of finding a topic, with proofreading, giving advice when preparing the work or teaching music theory and practice over many years, there are a few people whom I owe a debt of gratitude to and without whom this work would probably never have come into being. The first person I have to thank is my English teacher Ann O'Connor, who is my mentor for the project and who has helped me with structuring the topic, correcting the theoretical and practical parts and who was always there when I had questions. She stood by my side in everything. Thanks a lot for this. Two other people who deserve my thanks are, firstly, my German and history teacher Peter Kirschbaum, and also my biology teacher Katerina Kalinova-Decrusch for providing the framework for the work and for helping me to find a topic and a mentor. Both were always there to discuss not content, but rather formal things, such as the schedule or the length of the work and the practical part. So thank you very much for that. I also have to thank my computer science teacher Julia Böhnisch for the beginning of the work. She explained to the class how to deal with the online writing programs in more detail and forced us to automate the table of contents or learn how to insert pictures, format them correctly and also indicate Internet sources where the picture came from. I should also mention my music teachers, who sparked my enthusiasm for this subject and through whom I also learned a certain basic knowledge of music theory and practical playing. My former guitar teacher Caetano Dos Santos deserves a special mention here, from whom I mainly got my knowledge about improvisation and chord building, which helped me a lot when composing. I also have to thank my other teachers, with whom I had music lessons, both privately at the music school as guitar lessons and as normal music lessons at school, for imparting information and arousing my interest in this topic. Finally, I would like to thank my brother for giving me the opportunity to do the musical accompaniment for his film and for helping me with the final decisions about the choice of soundtrack which suits each character. I thank him too for discussions on the motivations and developments of the film characters. Now I can finally thank all those who have published information about this topic so that I could consume it and get a more comprehensive picture of the topic, the difficulties and the problems.

• List of abbreviations

S.

Source

Fig.

Figure

a.f.u.t.

And following up to

add

Added

e.g.

For example

cresc.

Crescendo

decresc.

Decrescendo

f

Forte

p

Piano

rit.

Ritardando

b

Flat

#

Sharp

bpm

Beats per minute

reverb

Reverberation/echo

Synth

Synthesiser

DAW

Digital audio workstation

"Dies irae"

The Day of Wrath

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