Understanding Film Scoring Terminology

To further prepare yourself for the challenging tasks of a film and multimedia composer, familiarizing yourself with film scoring terminology is vital. Not only do you need to know this terminology when you’re working in Logic Pro but you also need to be able to communicate clearly with the industry professionals that you’re going to be working with.

In this chapter, you will learn film scoring terminology that will help you to set up a movie file in a Logic Pro session.

We will cover the following topics:

• What is SMPTE timecode?
• What is BITC?
• What is the academy leader?
• Errors in drop frame and non-drop frame timecodes
• Exploring SMPTE and BITC errors
• Reviewing correct SMPTE timecodes in individual reels
• Reviewing dialogue and temp music

What is SMPTE timecode?

SMPTE stands for Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. This society created a timecode clock that allows both components of audio and video to synchronize with one another, referred to as SMPTE timecode.

SMPTE timecode is a format for labeling and identifying frames in a video and serves as a reference point for all involved in the post-production stage. It is referred to as absolute time because it has a constant, unchanging speed as compared to music where the speed can vary, referred to as relative time, when scoring to picture.

Here is an example: 01:03:07:15. This group of numbers gives each frame in a film a specific location. The first group of 2 numbers (01) are the hours, the second 2 numbers (03) are the minutes, the third 2 numbers (07) are the seconds, and the last 2 numbers (15) are the number of frames. So, this timecode represents 1 hour, 3 minutes, 7 seconds, and 15 frames into the film.

Note

In the United States, the...

What is BITC?

BITC stands for Burnt-In Timecode. It is also referred to as “burn,” “window burn,” “burn in,” or “burnt in,” depending on who you’re working with. BITC is the SMPTE timecode superimposed on top of a movie, which you can see in Figure 2.1:

Figure 2.1: Movie file with the BITC

The SMPTE timecode is the group of numbers on the clock; the BITC is the numbers superimposed on a movie file. The following figure shows how the SMPTE timecode becomes a BITC:

Figure 2.2: SMPTE timecode and BITC

SMPTE timecode and BITC are synchronization tools used to help sync your movie in Logic Pro, which will allow you to sync your music to the film accurately. We will discuss how to use these tools in Logic Pro from Chapter 4 onward.

Next, we will talk about the academy or universal leader, which is also a tool used for synchronization.

What is the academy leader...

Errors in drop frame and non-drop frame timecodes

Timecodes are a labeling system, and the frame rate is the speed of frames per second (fps). The speed of black and white TV broadcasting in the USA was originally 30 fps as a non-drop frame. When color TV was introduced in 1953, the speed of the frame rate was slowed down to a 29.97 fps drop frame, so that the millions of people who had black and white TVs could also receive color TV programs without any visible artifacts.

With the invention of electronic video tape editing in the 1960s, SMPTE timecode was introduced and allowed each individual frame to be labeled. The frame number of the timecode was dropped in the labeling system without any changes to the frames of the video itself. It was done by dropping 2 frames each minute, except every 10th minute, in the SMPTE timecode labeling.

For the film composer, it is important to identify and check with the film director/editor what the correct frame rate is. Let’s review...

Exploring SMPTE and BITC errors

As mentioned earlier, the countdown clock counts down 8 seconds as a pre-roll before the movie starts. Errors occur when the film director places the BITC in the “wrong” part of the film. This is the result of an incorrect SMPTE timecode. When the SMPTE timecode is incorrect, then the BITC will display the incorrect timecode and will be placed in the wrong part of the movie.

Note

Here, we’re assuming that the timecode is wrong as an example, but some composers don’t have a problem working with these errors and don’t consider them errors at all.

Figure 2.14 is an example of a window “burnt in” with the incorrect timecode of TC 01:00:00:00 (it should say TC 00:59:52:00):

Figure 2.14: BITC with incorrect timecode

As a result of this incorrect timecode placement, there will now no longer be a traditional pre-roll, with the 2-pop at TC 00:59:58:00. Instead, the 2-pop will...

Reviewing correct SMPTE timecodes in individual reels

In this section, we will review correct SMPTE timecodes in individual reels so that you know what they should look like and what you should ask for when working on multiple reels. Knowing this information will prepare you to score your film in Logic Pro more efficiently.

As mentioned previously, a feature film can be sliced into separate cuts or reels. Figure 2.22 shows five different reels with different timecodes:

Figure 2.22: Film reels

We will now examine each individual reel with its BITC timecode, so that you know how to request reels with the correct BITC placement and 2-pop.

Figure 2.23 shows a countdown of Reel 1. The image on the left side shows the movie at the beginning of the reel, starting at TC 00:59:52:00. The image on the right side shows the passing of the 8-second countdown and the first frame where the film begins, at TC 01:00:00:00. Therefore the 2-pop should occur at...

Reviewing dialogue and temp music

Occasionally, you may receive from the film director a countdown that looks slightly different from the previous examples.

After the film director provides the movie file with the countdown and correct BITC, it is recommended that the dialogue and temp music be added to the audio track as a split track, with the dialogue being placed in the left channel and the temp music placed in the right channel.

In Figure 2.30, you can see that the director indicated the dialogue and temp music placement, as well as the reel number, the length of the reel, the frame rate, and the small window countdown.

Figure 2.30: Movie file with additional info and split audio channels

Unless you request this format, the film director might send you the dialogue track and the music cues separate from the film, or send you the dialogue track and YouTube temp music links.

If the audio file included with the movie file is a stereo file and...

Summary

In this chapter, we discussed general film scoring terminologies. We also learned how to identify errors and how to communicate with the director to receive the correct file.

Understanding the terminology will help speed up the process of using Logic Pro and help you to communicate within the general film industry before starting your project. It will also help you to be more efficient when working on film projects.

All the tools covered in this chapter will equip you to do all tasks in Logic Pro – you may or may not use all of these tools; it’s up to each composer to use them as they see fit.

In the next chapter, we will discuss working with QuickTime Video.