Advanced Concepts for Dealing with Timing in Film Music

In Chapter 11, we discussed how to enhance and shape blended sounds together and export the final score to video. Since we’ve explored synchronization aspects and dealing with timings specific to film scoring in Logic Pro, we are now going to look at some advanced concepts in general, and how to deal with timing in film music.

It’s not an easy task to get film and music synchronized and if you’re working with a complex music cue, it may require more elaborate timing calculations. The more complex the timings of the film, the more challenging it will be to synchronize the music to the picture.

In this chapter, we will look at how to manually calculate bars and beats based on the length of the film and find the most suitable tempo with the most compelling form and structure. We will compare the old methods of synchronization to picture and what’s applicable today. We will also look at additional...

Technical requirements

To follow along with this chapter, you will need a Mac computer with Logic Pro and QuickTime software installed.

Outlining structure and timings

Film composers score countless projects during their career journeys, including short films, documentaries, infomercials, commercials, feature films, et cetera. Often, they will first sit at the piano with a blank sheet of music and a pencil, trying to figure out timings, meter, tempo, bars, melodies, and harmonies. Others may go straight to Logic Pro and use the software to do this. The main objective in film music is to figure out the appropriate tempo so that the specific events (hit points) fall on the downbeat of a bar and complement the scene.

If a film composer has to write a short piece of music, let’s say, if a film director requests 30 seconds of music for a commercial, the question now becomes: how can I fit and format music in those 30 seconds? Calculating the music timing can be challenging because most want to get straight to writing the music. But to know what to write, and in what format to write it, you have to go through some...

Calculating timings using a DAW

As mentioned earlier, in general, many film composers sketch their ideas on sheet music at a piano before scoring in Logic Pro. The main challenge is to outline the length of music needed that will fit the timing desired. So, before deciding what the music needs to be doing, the goal is to figure out how many bars and what meter the length of the project can fit.

In this section, we will continue working with a 30-second commercial, exploring new ways of calculating timings in Logic Pro. Since we’re dealing with calculating timings, keep in mind that a beat is the steady pulse, a tempo is the rate per second of that pulse, and the time signature is the meter of the pulse.

Suppose you have a cue (music for a scene) that lasts exactly 30 seconds. If you know you want the tempo to be approximately 192 bpm, you could use different methods and formulas to calculate the length of the cue. In the following examples, we will review these different...

Synchronizing music to picture during the Golden Age of Hollywood

In the 1930s, one of the main challenges for a film composer was the process of synchronizing music to picture. A film is made of still photos that occur at a steady rate of 24 frames per second (fps), no matter how fast any of the events happen. Since the images per second appeared at a fast pace, it gave the eyes the sensation of images being blended together while watching, hence films were referred to as “moving pictures.”

Before a film composer began working on a film, the film editor created the cue sheet to list the important events (hit points) that would need to be acknowledged by the music. Music is different from film in that it is adaptable and flexible when it comes to timing and tempo, and when music merged with film, the important question was how to find the best, most suitable tempo for the important events so that the music and the picture were effectively synchronized.

The solution...

Exploring visual synchronization methods used today

When we speak about visual synchronization methods, we’re talking about using picture cueing accompanied by the metronome click. Since the Golden Age of Hollywood, visual synchronization methods have been used to record live orchestra music to picture. In this section, we will look closer at picture cueing in the olden days and how it’s used today.

Picture cueing

Picture cueing is a visual synchronization method that uses superimposed punches and streamers to assist the conductor, during a live orchestra recording session, to synchronize the music to the picture. Punches and streamers are used especially when the music needs to flow, or have a “rubato” feel, and doesn’t need to follow strict rhythmic pulses.

In the past, a streamer was created by etching a marker line in the celluloid film. This appeared as a diagonal line, superimposed over the movie, flowing from the left to the right...

Summary

In this chapter, we explored techniques of advanced timings in film scoring. We reviewed how to calculate timings and how to structure a 30-second commercial. Additionally, we explored different methods and concepts to calculate tempo and how to synchronize music to picture.

Since the first chapter, we’ve learned how to score to picture in Logic Pro as well as gained a broader understanding of film music. Certainly, there’s a lot to process and digest throughout all 12 chapters, but as you practice and implement the content that’s been covered, you will gain the confidence and experience needed in your projects to reach the technical skill level required of a working Hollywood composer.

Studying film scoring and learning further how to use Logic Pro is a lifelong learning experience that takes time and practice, but it comes with many rewards and blessings. I hope that you’ve learned a lot and this textbook will continue equipping you and helping...