Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games

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  Firefly Rescue Mission

  Caleb Staehr
  2024

  The primary objective of the culminating experience project addressed here is to provide an opportunity to exhibit one’s full capabilities as a film composition artist. This project not only displays creativity and direction as a writer, but also the propensity to compose effectively to picture, to utilize pre-existing scores and midi analyses to enhance personal writing, to draft and orchestrate ideas effectively, to implement artistry in designing sound effects for cinematic material, and to produce a professionally mixed and mastered final track with its corresponding scene. Through the culminating experience process, I experienced exponential growth as a musician, particularly as it relates to sound engineering and technical orchestration. In reviewing John Powell’s “Off to Valhalla” from How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Alan Menken’s “Transformations” from Beauty and the Beast, I experienced new and masterful uses of the orchestra that assisted me in my own score, “Firefly Rescue Mission,” to more fully realize my ideas in a more meaningful way.

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  Oben

  Crea Sullivan
  2024

  My aim for this project was to demonstrate and apply the knowledge and skills I have gained during my year at Berklee Valencia. This paper explores the process of writing a film score and documents my musical journey through the composition of Oben. The aims of my paper are to analyse the narrative inspiration, identify the musical choices, and discuss the recording process that took place at AIR Studios. The goal of this project was to create a composition that accurately reflected my style as a composer. After months of searching for a film to inspire my final piece, I choose to compose the score for the short animation “Oben”. The film's recurrent themes of hope, loss, endurance, and desperation resonated strongly with my initial objectives. This thesis marks the culmination of my extensive musical journey and acts as a stepping-stone toward professional practice.

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  VAST

  Nicholas Tannen
  2024

  This paper will discuss the process and creation of the musical score and essentially recreation of VAST, a three minute long short film by Maazin Kamal, of Pakistan, which is based on the above poem by William Blake. The film begins quietly with just these first four lines of Blake’s poem, “Augeries of Innocence”, displayed on screen, and is followed by a minimal story with no dialogue, only of a man pondering life on a beach, running suddenly into the ocean still wearing his complete outfit, coming up from under the water, suddenly appearing as an astronaut who is peering out at the grandeur of space. The main narrative of the piece is centered around peering out at the vastness of the word, and pondering the concept of infinity and existence, and time.

  In essence, the nature of my project has been characterized by my previous studies and interest in Philosophy prior to pursuing music. In life, we find ourselves asking- why are we here? How are we here? How is anything even possible? I enjoyed taking classes which delve into these questions, and studying the history of texts over the centuries written just about this. But eventually, I knew that of course, there are no sure answers to these questions, and all philosophical ponderings only lead to more questions without ever reaching an ultimate answer.

  That is life.. it remains to me an unexplained miracle. At the end of these ponderings all we are left with are feelings, that words cannot capture. And this is where music comes in. This music, for VAST, was written with the aim of capturing this feeling, of sitting on the precipice of existence. Looking out into the vastness which is on one side is: that which is, and on the other side: that which isn’t. Accepting that the answer is that there is no answer. In all aspects of analysis of the music and thoughts behind the project, this is the core idea behind every choice made throughout the process. I called it “the feeling of being”.

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  Poulette’s Chair

  Alex Zhang
  2024

  This thesis focuses on the process of composing, orchestrating, and recording a film score for the animated short film Poulette’s Chair. Before starting the work on the film score, the author had to find appropriate video material for scoring; the author chose this film due to its emotional impact and plot. The initial preparation process included careful examination of thematic aspects of the film and its visual imagery that was to be reflected in the musical score.

  The analysis section goes deeper into the work and process of composition in terms of creating and developing the main motif, harmonizing with the quartal and the extended chords, and orchestration of the work to support the telling of the story. The variations of the theme are discussed in depth, which shows how the motif changes as the hero’s feeling changes.

  The conducting and recording were done at London Air Studio and it was a very detailed process which included preparation of the Pro Tools session and equally a very fulfilling experience working with London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Orchestra. The Production and Post Production sections discussed include mockup creation, score finalization and mixing. The goal of mastering was to get the loudness level that would be kind of competitive to other tracks, at the same time losing minimal audio quality, basing upon reference tracks and using such tools as Ozone 11 and Insight 2.

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  From Darkness to Light: Inspired by The Allegory of the Cave by Plato

  Eli Ben Avi
  2023

  My goal in this project was to expose and use what I have learned and gained as a composer during the year at Berklee Valencia. “From Darkness to Light” is my composition that represents and reflects the Allegory of the Cave by Plato from my point of view. The experience this year was beyond what I expected and had imagined, I have learned so many things from so many people and learned about myself. I want to present in this paper my whole process that led me to compose “From Darkness to Light.” I will talk about my first ideas, such as creating 3 different paintings and how it has converted to a video that I have been editing with my interpretation of the allegory. I will talk about my first thoughts, about the “color” of the composition, music and visual inspiration and the unforgettable experience of recording in Air Studios while conducting an orchestra for the first time in my life.

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  The Finnisters: Scoring a Fantasy Script

  Julián José Barbieri
  2023

  A most adequate term, culminating experience, is used to refer to the final project developed herein. Throughout the duration of the Scoring for Film, Television and Video Games program; technical, analytical, practical and theoretical resources were established in order to achieve full independence in the creation of the whole musical chain1. This means that the composition, production, editing, mixing and mastering of the piece are all taken care by the student, especially so at the end of the course, where the general syllabus has been already taught. This reflective paper will attempt to explain how this process took place from the beginning to the end.

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  The Silver Streaks

  Nathan Bieber
  2023

  In this paper I will describe the many roads that led me to the completion of my Culminating Experience as a student at Berklee Valencia. I will also discuss the confluence of factors that led me to study here in the first place, from my first experiences with composition, through my classical training, and finally, to the shift in outlook I experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper includes details about my background, both personal and musical, as well as an exploration of my goals for the future. It also includes the process by which I came to settle on composing The Silver Streaks for my C.E. as well as how I came up with the title of the piece. The paper also provides a detailed musical analysis of The Silver Streaks; in the analysis I discuss the formal construction of the piece, trace its harmonic development, and elaborate themes I composed, and how I developed those themes throughout the piece. Finally, I will discuss the process of preparing for a major recording session with top level musicians in a world-class studio and reflect on what the experience has taught me about music, myself, and life more broadly.

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  THE LOST MIND

  Sophia Calder
  2023

  In this paper, I will describe the story my score was written to accompany: a fantasy novel I have been writing for the last few years. I will delineate some of the key sources of inspiration that influenced my work - both musically and thematically - as well as my approach towards composing my piece. This conceptualization process was largely rooted in the visual - creating drawings, paintings, and mood boards to get a better sense of the look and feel of the scene I had only written about - but also included further clarification of the pacing of the protagonist’s actions as well as the camera movements capturing them. I will then analyze both the music and narrative I have written - and their crucial interplay - before outlining some of the notable challenges I navigated throughout this process, from conceiving to realizing to recording. The appendix includes the full script - including the timestamps I scored in alignment with - I adapted the opening of my book to.

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  AS THE CREST VIEWS THE TROUGH

  Matt Carson
  2023

  My project is an orchestral piece based on the poem Fear by Khalil Gibran. The poem describes fear by using the image of a river, which has flown beside mountains and valleys its entire existence, being afraid of merging with the vast ocean because it does not want to lose its sense of self. My piece attempts to convey the same emotions as the poem (nostalgia, anxiety, and eventually transcendence) and eventually will be dubbed to a video using nature shots in Valencia and Los Angeles and a VoiceOver reading of the poem by a male voice actor.

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  The Making of Beautiful Life

  Marcel Castillo
  2023

  Beautiful Life is a deeply personal and introspective piece that represents a year’s worth of hard work, growth, and education gained during my pursuit of a Masters in Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games from Berklee Valencia. My aim with this project was to create something that represented me as an individual and drew from my perspective on life as well as included many of the feelings that we, as humans experience, in our life. The piece follows the journey of a woman’s life from birth to death and serves as a means through which we can observe life from a holistic perspective. Throughout this year I learned a lot about myself and experienced many of the same feelings of fear, doubt, happiness, and fulfillment as my protagonist faces in Beautiful Life. I arrived in Valencia with a background in Jazz having never written for orchestra before, unlike many of my classmates who came from the classical tradition. I was concerned that my background and approach might prove to become an obstacle so made sure to immerse myself in the world of orchestration and concert music during my time at Berklee. During the process of educating myself in orchestration and concert music, I learned how to merge my musical sensibilities with what I had learned at Berklee and develop on my foundation rather than change it. The process of creating the script, writing the piece, preparing a mockup, orchestrating it, printing the score and parts, and finally conducting the whole thing at Air Studios was truly instrumental in my development both musically and personally. Pausing to appreciate life is a core principle found in Beautiful Life so, in homage to this, the following paper aims to reflect on the process of my culminating experience and take time to document and appreciate the journey.

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  Casa Tomada

  Fernando de la Barreda
  2023

  The present study focuses on all the different stages (both creative and technical), that were addressed by the student in the process of preparing his final composition for the Culminating Experience at the Master’s Degree in Scoring for Film, Television & Video Games, at Berklee College of Music, Valencia Campus.

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  The Approach of Storytelling Through The Use of Orchestral Music

  Ahmad Farhan Sarasin
  2023

  As one might already know, music has been heavily utilised to accompany various media such as film, videos, video games, and all sorts of visual media content. In this opportunity of the Culminating Experience project, the capstone project to complete the writer’s master’s degree requirement, the author attempted to explore the means of orchestral music as a storytelling medium based on an original storyline. The project utilised a number of tools and resources that are very similar to the ones that are used in a professional music production/film scoring environment, albeit the absence of a video material and having to do multi-task several aspects of the production due to the relatively short amount of music needed to be written. This paper will get through the writer’s process, thoughts, and hurdles in producing an orchestral storytelling piece “The Golden Carrot”.

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  The Quest of Everlight

  Yi Cong Gao
  2023

  The Quest of Everlight, is a CE project that explores the symbiotic relationship between film scoring and storytelling, and its potential to enhance cinematic experiences and captivate wider audiences of film music.

  Through an in-depth examination of the function and impact of musical narratives in film, the study uncovers the transformative role of film scoring as a language of emotional enhancement.

  The research reveals the potential of effective orchestration in rendering film music a more universal and profound medium, emphasizing the capacity of music to accentuate and elevate the emotional landscape of cinema. As such, the paper calls for greater focus on music as a powerful tool in filmmaking, positing it as more than an accessory but as an essential component of the narrative's pulse and breath.

  The goal of the study is to encourage a deeper connection with the audience and promote the universality of cinematic narratives through the prism of musical storytelling.

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  Composition and Recording: The Eaglet in Vast Sky

  Chenghong Jin
  2023

  The main body of this thesis consists of a comprehensive and profound account, exposition, and analysis of my graduation work, "The Eaglet in Vast Sky," at the Berklee College of Music. It explores my understanding of the film, the conceptualization and composition of the musical motives, the utilization of harmony and instrumentation, as well as the documentation of the recording and conducting process. By presenting the entire creative journey, it exemplifies my comprehension of the field of film scoring throughout my graduate studies, delving into the potential of film scoring, and unearthing the techniques of film music as a comprehensive culmination of this learning phase.

  Through this CE paper, the author, as a composer, conductor, and sound engineer, comprehensively examines the entire production process of the work with meticulous attention and creative thinking. The paper serves as an excellent model for anyone seeking reference and guidance in film music production. For music directors or film directors who are interested in engaging young composers and conductors in their film music production teams, reading this thesis also provides an opportunity to discover talented individuals.

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  Nothing Is Silent

  April Kerr
  2023

  “Nothing is Silent”, as you will hear much more about in the Development part of this paper, comes from a story about Henrietta Leavitt, a female american astronomer who had a big discovery. It took a lot of time to get to the final decision of this topic for the project, but I feel I have grown and learned new things through each idea I tried to make happen. The general idea I wanted to create here was a project that represented me in the best way possible. It has a mix of vocal, almost musical theatre kind of feel, but still has the aspects of cinema. The song has the ability to play on its own or with the vocals. I love when music can be used in diverse ways and I am proud I was able to accomplish it in my own way.

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  Scoring “The Old Man and the Sea”

  Shadan Kohboor
  2023

  “The Old Man and the Sea” is a project based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. This 3 - minute piece which is the culminating experience of one year of hard work as a masters student of Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games at Berklee College of Music. The piece was originally composed to stand without picture, however, after finishing the recording and mixing process, a video was added to the music.

  During the course, I gained the crucial skills, including writing idiomatically for instruments, orchestration, building mockups and creating score, conducting recording sessions, and mixing; all in order to complete the final thesis project, which is the most important music project that I have done so far.

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  Celestial Gateway: From Storyboard to Orchestra

  Jonathan Lapierre
  2023

  This paper reflects on the process of creating Celestial Gateway, my culminating experience project as a student at Berklee College of Music in the Master in Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games program. After looking for opportunities to score projects from film schools in France, I ended up decided to write my own script and draw a storyboard for a story I had in the back of my mind for a few years. After creating a mock- up for the music using Digital Performer 11, making the score and parts in Sibelius. I ultimately went to AIR Studios in London to record the music with some of the best musicians in the world in also one of the best studios in the world. This was a project I got very involved in as I wanted to create something special that was representative of my own musical voice and that I could be proud of for years to come.

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  Into the Deep: Exploring the Sea Through a Musical Lens

  Leigha Logan
  2023

  Into the Deep is a piece that I have written with an abundance of passion. It is based on the novel The Deep by Rivers Solomon and formerly the song The Deep by the rap band Clipping. The novel is about a society of underwater mermaids who are descendants of pregnant mothers thrown overboard into the sea during the Atlantic slave trade. My piece and script follows a young girl who finds one of these mermaids and is taken to see their underwater city. Though cultivated through many different inspirations, this entire process was fueled through my love of fantasy, romance, horror, afro- futurism,and the countless other genres these two title works find themselves in. I composed music to a 3-minute, self written script that was based on my own addition in perspective to the novel. The concept of the novel remains, but I add a main character who discovers the main narrative at the same time as the reader. Through this lens, I am able to have the reader introduced to this entire new world along with this character and have the music and visuals/ visual script work as a catalyst to help guide them through it. In this paper I will talk about my process writing the piece, along with how I came to choose my topic, score analysis, revisions, working with A.I., and other inspirations. I hope this paper can spark interest in those with a love of fantasy stories and urge to delve deeper into genre-fusion.

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  Rescoring Passengers: “Spacewalk”

  Giuseppe Mondini
  2023

  “Spacewalk” is taken from the movie Passengers (2016). Directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Jon Spaihts, with the original music composed by Thomas Newman, the film didn't receive significant critical acclaim or perform as well at the box office, which, in my opinion, didn't reflect the impact it deserved. Falling under the genres of romance, drama, and science fiction, these elements immediately pique my interest. I sought to not only create new music but also extract a concept from the film's storyline to express my personal musical ideas for the final project. The decision to record the music at London's AIR Studios with a full symphony orchestra greatly influenced the creation of the music. In my discussion, I will delve into the selection of the scene, musical ideas, and the compositional process, as well as the preparation of the score, the experience of recording and post-production. Finally, I will explore the art of self-compromise.

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  The Snail and the Whale

  Joëlle Nager
  2023

  This paper encompasses the compositional process to the animation-score “The Snail and the Whale” (Magic Light Productions, 2019) recorded at the Air Studios London in June 2023 within the scope of the Culminating Experience as part of the Master’s Program in Scoring for Film and TV at the Berklee College of Music. Exposed are the initial ideas, the actual compositional process, the recording session at the Air Studios including its preparation as well as the post-production covering the mixing and mastering of the recorded composition. In order to underscore the animation, different compositional devices were used, such as orchestration, texture, timbre, harmony, rhythm, and articulation, which are closely discussed in line with a detailed narrative analysis of the movie in order to manifest the possibilities of underscoring the animation with an orchestra.

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  A MUSICAL RETHINKING OF THE HALF LIFE UNIVERSE: “Stories from City 17”

  Daniel Osiewala
  2023

  This paper focuses on the composition of a 3-minute orchestral piece inspired by the aesthetic and narrative universe of the acclaimed video game saga "Half-Life." The research aims to capture the essence and atmosphere of the saga by merging stylistic and orchestral influences from the video game composers who have significantly impacted my personal journey as a fan of this genre. Additionally, it explores the combination of these musical languages with my own musical language, emphasizing the use of vintage analog instruments.

  The creative process behind the composition of the piece is described, starting from the conception of musical ideas to its complete development. Specific compositional decisions are analyzed, such as the use of thematic motifs, formal structure, and manipulation of instrumentation, with the aim of establishing a deep emotional connection to the "Half-Life" universe.

  Through this research and creative endeavor, the thesis contributes to the understanding of the creative process in video game-inspired orchestral composition and highlights the importance of merging personal style and influences. The outcome is a composition that not only reflects my artistic vision but also pays homage to the immersive and captivating world of "Half-Life."

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  The Land Where the Sun Sets

  Jason Polychronakos
  2023

  For this project I edited together a 3-minute video from footage of nature that I shot in Morocco over the winter break, and then scored the video in an orchestral style. The music was recorded at AIR studios in London with a group of professional studio musicians, and then edited and mixed by me. Ultimately, this was a comfortable experience because I am very familiar with writing orchestral music, but also a challenge because I have never scored nature before, let alone a nature video that I shot myself. The paper outlines the whole process of creating and scoring the video, from traveling to Morocco to shoot the footage to recording the music in London and editing the resulting recording. I hope it is interesting and informative.

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  UN LUGAR AL QUE LLAMAR HOGAR (“A Place To Call Home”)

  Lidia Pozo Pérez
  2023

  This paper serves as a crucial component of my Culminating Experience project, aiming to shed light on the events that took place in Algeciras during the Spanish Civil War. Additionally, it delves into the background of my composition, titled "1936," and explores the influences and inspirations that shaped the decision-making and development of the written and recorded musical piece. At first glance, this project may appear similar to those undertaken by former students or my peers. Hence, throughout the project's development, I strived to maintain a personal perspective both in terms of the narrative storyline and the music. To achieve this, I drew upon the real-life experiences of my grandfather, his family, and the interplay between various musical genres, such as flamenco, which is deeply rooted in southern Spain. Undertaking this entire experience has proven to be a significant challenge, both academically and personally. While writing, I endeavored to capture the most relevant events related to the creation of this work, offering readers a glimpse into everything I have experienced during these past few months.

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  The “Pura Vida” Journey

  Daniel Quesada
  2023

  The “Pura Vida” Journey is a final musical project inspired on pictures from landscapes and cultural scenes of Costa Rica, in collaboration with the film maker Verny Argüello. This thesis goes through my musical inspiration process, the composition, the recording experience, the mixing and mastering process, and the ending experience that established a sense of who I am as a composer. Moreover, I created an orchestral analysis between my inspirational resources and the composition, and how the music reflects through the film. The entire work explains what I have learned from Berklee College of Music in mixture with the meaning of what being the first Costarican person on culminating this program means to me.

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  ETERNAL FLIGHT: The Willow Pattern Story

  Lara Simpson
  2023

  Eternal Flight is a 3-minute musical composition based on the ‘The Green Willow’ which is a traditional Japanese fairy-tale (it will also be the soundtrack to an original animation of the story). This piece of music is the culmination of an extremely rewarding year of hard work as a masters student on the ‘Scoring for Film, TV & Video Games’ programme at Berklee Valencia. Throughout the year, I have learnt important skills as a composer including screen-reading, creating a tempo map, advanced orchestration, creating professional mock ups, conducting & running a recording session and orchestral mixing and mastering. All these new skills I have acquired throughout my studies were essential in allowing me to create this final thesis project which I am very proud of, and I believe showcases all that I have learnt this year, whilst retaining my personal character and style. The following is a detailed analysis of the making of Eternal Flight; outlining the whole journey from initial conception to final realisation (and recording it at AIR Studios, London - one of the most iconic studios in the world, with a 51-piece orchestra made up of some of the best musicians working in the industry today).