Composing Music for Animation

MUSC X 485

Learn the aspects of scoring for animation including musical jokes, quick changes in style, and mood in wall-to-wall score by following broad schools of animation: story driven, action-oriented animation, and hip and quirky.

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What you can learn.

Understand the traditional and new approaches to composing for animation and how to build tempo maps
Analyze the differences between composing for animated films and TV shows
Compose your own cues for peer discussion and instructor critique every week

About this course:

Composing music for animation places special demands on the composer. Musical jokes are more prevalent, there are quicker changes in style and mood, and the music is often "wall-to-wall." This course addresses each of these characteristics in the following broad schools of animation: story-driven, action oriented animation, and hip and quirky. You learn about the traditional and new approaches to composing for animation and how to build tempo maps, which in many cases is half the job. The differences and similarities between scoring an animated movie and scoring an animated TV show also are discussed. You compose, arrange, and orchestrate cues in your home studio for scenes every week. Both peers and instructor critique each cue in class.

Prerequisites

One course in or demonstrated competence in harmony, composition, standard orchestration techniques, and proficiency in MIDI/sequencing. Students should have access to sequencing software (e.g., Logic, Cakewalk, Pro Tools) and a project studio to create cues.