Scoring a Commercial

In this chapter, we will explore how to score a Mercedes commercial from scratch using all the techniques that have been covered in Chapters 1 to 9. This chapter will give you the experience of scoring a project from beginning to end, and walk through the steps it takes to score to picture – not to simply write music for the sake of music, but to write it to support a story.

You will work through the example of scoring a commercial, using basic film scoring steps and methods. There are countless ways to score a commercial and music choices are subjective. You can certainly use any additional instruments if you find them suitable. There’s no perfect number of instruments but simply what a film composer prefers and what is suitable for the project.

We will explore how to select the right sounds and instruments, looking at the form, mood, and style, as well as the tempo of the commercial. We will also go over how to find, edit, and select instruments...

Technical requirements

To follow along with this chapter, you will need a Mac computer with Logic Pro and QuickTime software installed. You will also need to be able to access the movie files and should have basic knowledge of Logic Pro software and film scoring.

To start scoring to picture, the first thing to do is open the movie file. Open Mercedes-Benz Cabrio C 300_BITC.mov, which was saved in Chapter 7, with the SMPTE locked scene markers. Make sure that the movie and Logic Pro are in sync, and that the fps is set correctly. Then, name and save the project (for example, I will name it Scoring Commercial_01).

Choosing a mood and style for the commercial

When scoring a commercial, the first thing to consider is what music, style, or mood will benefit or be suitable for the commercial. This is where knowledge of audio branding comes in handy. Audio branding is a process where a brand makes a product, and then a sound or tune that’s been specifically composed for the brand is merged with the product to represent the brand. It gives the brand a new, recognizable identity and connects the audience with the brand through sound on an emotional level.

When a car commercial is made, a lot of thought is given to the product that is going to be featured and also the audience that would buy the product. Knowing what the audience would be interested in, what type of sound they might like to listen to, and what would draw them into buying a car like this needs to be considered when choosing the music.

As a broader example, if you’re scoring for a specific brand that you can find at...

Structuring the cue

Structuring the cue is like creating a musical roadmap. It considers what the music should be doing during the beginning, middle, and end sections of the commercial. Before the composing process begins, it’s important to know the overall story of the commercial. You will want to look at the entire commercial and come up with a structure for the cue, which will involve looking at the scene cuts and determining what type of music needs to be there and when, or you may get a rhythmic idea. This will give you a general overview of what to do musically.

In general, we are going to create one continuous piece of music, or one cue. To outline the process of structuring the cue, we will start with the lo-fi piano to set the overall mood with a few ambient sounds in the background. At bar 11, TC 01:00:24:05 (Cut to the bridge car passing), we’ll start to bring in more sonic elements to start building toward the middle section. At bar 16, we will use the...

Choosing music choices over technical choices

Up until now, we’ve looked at everything from a technical point of view. In this section, we will look at how the music choices can become more important than the technical choices, with a focus on what will best serve the commercial. All the different technical skills that have been learned and acquired in the last chapters could be used and are important in any scoring, but we decided to take a simplified approach here.

In this example, even though we’re using the constant tempo of 99 bpm, we are still considering the hit points to make sure they fall on the downbeat of a bar, but without the use of beat mapping. Also, instead of using many time signatures, we will only use two time signatures for the entire commercial, 4/4 and 6/4. We will use the 4/4 time signature from the beginning to bar 16 and add a 6/4 time signature at bar 16 that will continue to bar 17. The 4/4 time signature will then continue from bar 17 to...

Reviewing the composing process and layering instruments

In this section, we will explore and practice the creative process of layering instruments of an already existing score for the commercial. We will not discuss how and why we’re using the specific chords or chord progressions because it is beyond the scope of this book. Instead, in the example, you will simply emulate the stages and the process of composition.

We will layer 37 different instruments and use them to complement one another, based on their sonic quality. We will explore creating and selecting different types of instruments and recordings from the provided notation examples. You will get an idea of how to use different preselected instruments and experience how they contribute to the specific mood of the commercial.

Since Logic Pro has countless options to assist you with selecting different sounds and instruments, finding the right one and blending it with other ones can be time consuming and challenging...

Summary

In this chapter, we explored how to choose the right mood and style for the commercial. We also looked at how to structure a cue before scoring begins and how to use musical choices versus technical choices. Finally, we reviewed the entire process of layering instruments and recording music from existing sheet music and created an entire arrangement.

In the next chapter, we will discuss the steps of shaping the sound and finalizing and exporting the entire score to a movie.