Undergraduate Course: Soundtracks for Screen (UG) (MUSI10112)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces concepts and techniques relevant to the analysis and creation of soundtracks in visual media. On this course you will learn to examine examples of audiovisual media and develop ways of explaining how sound and music are treated in these contexts. These studies subsequently inform your own design and compositional work in this area as you realise sonic responses to various visual media.
Those of you who identify as sound artists and sound designers, composers, composers for screen, film makers or animators will benefit from what it offers. |
| Course description |
In a media context such as film, animation, TV-short, radio play or documentary, what does the soundtrack actually do? How is it used to tell stories, interpret the image, connect with characters, traverse international boundaries, and what is sound and music's role in conjuring simultaneity between aspects of narrative, character, image, voice, place and space? What is sound doing that we find hard to put into words?
This course encourages you to reflect on these concepts - and many others - in order to better understand your own craft in composing and designing soundtracks for visual media. The course will evolve from exploring existing media works towards the development of your own practice, therefore as the semester develops, focus will shift from analysis and exploration towards points relating to craft and skill, often at an advanced level.
For the purposes of this course, the term soundtrack refers to all sounding elements in a work of media and can span dialogue, narration, music, Foley and other sound effects. Learning on this course comes via lectures, workshops and tutorials.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 4,
Formative Assessment Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
161 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Component 1 (30% of course mark): Analysis/Resynthesis - A submission involving an analysis of the role sound and music plays in a short segment of film and the re-composition of that analysis into a new sound-piece. The submission will require a visual analysis, a short explanatory text and a completed sound-piece lasting no more 2.5 minutes.
Component 2 (70% of course mark): Completed soundtrack(s) involving sound design and/or composition developed in response to fixed visual or textual material. This may be part of a collaboration and may be a single significant piece of work, or could be comprised of smaller pieces of work lasting up to a maximum of 8 minutes in total. The submission will require a short programme note explaining the motivation, approach and techniques used in each portfolio entry. In collaborative work, your role will be assessed and given individual credit. |
| Feedback |
Summative feedback on the assessment components will attend to the aesthetic, conceptual and interpretive approach, the level of risk/imagination applied to solving the brief, as well as comment on the appropriateness of the sound quality, instrumentation, mixing etc. to realising the main ideas in the submissions. This will be in either video or written form or a combination of both.
There will be opportunities to show work and to receive formative feedback before it is submitted for examination. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Analyse and explain the role of sound and music in visual media contexts
- Apply skills in the creation of new, original works of sound and/or composition
- Utilise appropriate (or industry standard) tools and techniques involved in soundtrack design in the production of their own works
- Enrich their own creative work through an awareness of the wider context of soundtrack design
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Learning Resources
Chion, Michel. 2009. 'Film, a Sound Art.' New York: Columbia University Press.
Fox, Albertine. 2017. 'Godard and Sound: Acoustic Innovation in the Late Films of Jean-Luc Godard.' London New York: I.B.Tauris.
Hibberd, Sarah. 2015. 'Immersion and Proximity: Music, Sound, and Subjectivity in The Memory Dealer.' J. Sonic Stud., no. 9 (May). https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/148488/148489.
Lanthimos, Yorgos, Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz. 2019. 'The Favourite.' Biography, Comedy, Drama. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Film4, Waypoint Entertainment.
Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese. 2019. 'This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection' (2019) | MUBI. {Feature Film}. MUBI. https://mubi.com/films/this-is-not-a-burial-it-s-a-resurrection.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Ability to analyse and evaluate works of audiovisual media and invent new work in response to what has been learned
- Skill in adapting soundtrack concepts into creative work
- Ability to interpret media forms in order to make good judgements about the role sound and music play in these
- Ability to organise time amidst competing constraints
- Ability to work autonomously solving technical and aesthetic challenges as they relate to sound and composition work
- A well-developed appreciation for the value of deeply engaging with existing canonical work in order to better understand your own craft
- Skill in communicating sound and music-related issues to a non-specialist audience (such as other media collaborators) |
| Keywords | soundtrack design,live performance to film,experimental sound,sound design,collaborative music |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Martin Parker
Tel: (0131 6)50 2333
Email: martin.parker@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Dr Ellen Jeffrey
Tel: (0131 6)50 2430
Email: ellen.jeffrey@ed.ac.uk |
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