A very boring scene

Most people who look at this scene say it is very boring. Very little happens in this scene. It takes a long time for something to happen. There is too little dialog in the scene. And the scene has no emotion.

This is fantastic. You have lots of room to create the story and the emotion. You become the filmmaker.

Disk required for this lesson

Lesson requirements

You must purchase a disk from the Star Movie Shop. If you have enough points, the disk is free.

The disk is #6 - "Home Wrecker".

What did she do last night?

The story (background)

The young woman is a super hero. She protects the world from vampires. And she is super strong.

But after 6 seasons of slaying vampires on television, the young woman still cannot get a boyfriend (because of her super strength) and she cannot get a good job (because she is too busy killing evil monsters every night.)

He is one of he undead. But he is really, really cute.

What is a girl to do?

Now it is the morning after. Now she realizes what she has done. (And she wrecked the house doing it.)

The story of this scene

1. The young woman and the man are sleeping.
2. The young woman wakes up and is suprised... and maybe horrified or, perhaps, secretly happy.
3. When the young woman realizes that the house has been destroyed and she asks, "When did the house fall down?"
4. The man replies, "I don't know. It must have been between the first time and..."
5. The young woman (and the audience) thinks about this for a while.
6. Finally the young woman says, "Oh. Oh my Gosh!"

End of scene.

Your assignment

Compose and perform the film score for this scene:

Load the edited version of the scene with time code into your music program.

The music can start two seconds before the beginning of the scene. This creates continuity between scenes.

Timecode 01:00:00:00 to 01:00:21:00

1. Narrative music - the two people are asleep and it is now almost morning.

• With your music, you must explain that it is morning and these two are sleeping (or that all is peaceful.)

Timecode 01:00:21:00 to 01:00:36:00

2. Narrative music - the woman is surprised and even horrified.

• With your music, you must create the feeling of fear and surprise.

Timecode 01:00:36:00 to 01:00:39:00

3. Faint background music or absolutely no music - Perhaps add the emotion of astonishment when she asks, "When did the house fall down?"

• No music.

Timecode 01:00:39:00 to 01:00:46:00

4. Narrative music - the man looks around in wonderment.

• Your music must express is amazement or maybe his sinister delight at this amazing situation.

Timecode 01:00:46:00 to 01:00:51:00

5. Faint background music or absolutely no music - Perhaps add the emotion of surprise when the man replies, "It must have been between the first time and..."

• No music.

Timecode 01:00:51:00 to 01:01:06:00

6. Narrative music - Explain to the audience what the man and the young woman did last night to cause the house to fall down.

• I think it is called "Sex!"

Your music must explain what kind of sex would cause a house to fall down. (If you are under 18 years old, do not do this part of the assignments. You are not supposed to know about things like this.)

Timecode 01:01:06:00 to 01:01:07:00

7. Background music or no music - Perhaps add the emotion of surprise, horror, joy, or disgust when the young woman says, "Oh."

• Your music (or just one musical note) must explain how she feels.

Timecode 01:01:07:00 to 01:01:15:00

8. Foreground music - Drown her expletive with music when the young woman says, "Oh my Gosh!".

• Your music must express her anguish and at the same time, hide the fact she used bad words.

Note: The ending music can continue to 01:01:20:00 (which is into the next scene.)

This creates continuity between the scenes.

You must drown her words!

Here is the exception to the rule.

The rule

Previously, you learned that you never use foreground music (loud music) when there is dialog.

The exception to the rule

When you do not want the audience to hear the words of the actor, you can cover the words with loud music. The audience will still hear the words but because of the loud music, the audience will not understand the words or pay attention to the words.

Please cover her words

That is needed here. You must add music to prevent the audience from thinking about the words of the young woman. She was supposed to say, "Oh my Gosh!". She said something different.

The next page

I will point you to the next exercise when you are done.

Contact your instructor

Your instructor for this film scoring class is Robert Elliott.

You can email me by clicking here.