Helllooo
I have to create a thirty second score for a film in Composition class. I have not had much experience in this sort of thing, or rather i'm not very good at it LOL. I have no idea where to start with a film theme, whether it be writing the bass line, rhythm first?
Does anyone have any suggestions at all LOL?
Thanks
PSL

I would start with the film.. What is happening, what does your music need to reflect? Then you can choose a key and tempo to suit, suitable instruments and so on. Write a timeline, see what is happening at different points, then your music can build up to a climax in the appropriate places.

I'm afraid you seem to be a bit clueless. Hopefully Rosemary's advice will give you a good start. Has your tutor not given you any advice at all? You don't seem to have any idea where to start, and that's a criticism of your teacher, not of you. Personally I think it's much better to be asking your course leader for advice, rather than a forum, but if you do want advice from contributors here how about giving us some vague idea of what the film is about?!

But no, you probably don't want to start with either a bass line or a rhythm (unless, perhaps, you're composing in a minimalist style), as the whole point of film composition is that the subject or atmosphere that the music is portraying changes from scene to scene so you probably won't want a continuous bass line or rhythm.

And at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old woman, what exactly is laugh-out-loud funny about asking for suggestions or not being very good at something you've chosen for a degree? Sorry, but people seem to just stick 'LOL' in everywhere these days as if it's some sort of punctuation!

The film is about 4 girls in Scotland who each have their own problems and stuff like that, it's a pretty much a female version of Trainspotting (drugs, crime) Nice film really LOL. I've not chosen a specific scene yet. I was just looking for idea's on how to start writing, like where you start first, key, tempo. I was just basically looking for some pointers to get started which you have given me Czerny and Rosemary Thanks.

The reason I put "lol" at the end of something is because i'm embarrassed about asking for advice and not being very good at something. I suppose it's sort of a habit. I don't actually mean "laugh out loud" literally, it just means i'm a little embarrassed and just making it into a joke instead of being upset over it.
Thanks
PSL

Well don't be embarrassed! As a teacher (and I realise that this is going to make me sound like I'm about 105) we're used to pupils not knowing stuff - that's their job, and ours is to give them stuff to know. But - grrr! - inane textspeak just winds up anyone over the age of about 25!

OK, back to the music. Don't for goodness' sake use generic, watered-down Scottish-sounding trite - you have to be far more subtle than that. Perhaps the odd Scotch snap (no, that's not a biscuit, its a dotted rhythm with the short bit first, like semiquaver-dotted quaver) or pentatonic, but don't just cover the page with tartan cliches. There's no 'right' tempo or key - it depends exactly what's happening in the film at the time. As I said, that's the thing about film composition; that you're echoing in music what's happening on the screen (or sometimes juxtaposing a contrary style for special effect). So I think choosing your scene is probably the very first stage, before you do any of the actual writing.

But I still think you should be getting all this advice from your tutors! What have they told you to do? He/she shouldn't have left you all at sea to just get on with it.

To be fair that is exactly how composition is taught at my school - we get told to 'go compose'. Quite literally. Theres nothing embarrassing about asking for help when you need it - we aren't about to turn round and say 'you should know that!'

I agree with Czerny - you need to know what you are writing for before you write it! Music for a scene if they're generally having a good time is going to be very different to music where they're chased by some mad guy. It might help you to look at what comes after your scene as well - is there anything there you want to anticipate? eg. they're at a party but just after your scene it all goes wrong because of something they did in that scene - you can highlight that in the music.

If that makes no sense please ignore it - I'm good at rambling along making no sense at all