MA Orchestration for Film, Games & Television

The final major project is an extensive piece of work that will take 12 weeks to complete. It represents the culmination of creative, technical and research skills acquired during the rest of the course. The challenge is to take a piece of music from conception through to final recording, performing all the creative and technical tasks required along the way.

This module introduces some essential in-depth technical skills and knowledge that a modern professional orchestrator or composer must possess. It will provide students with an introduction to sampled instruments, how they work, the numerous technical challenges they present, how to balance the demands of the instruments with the available resources and how to make virtual instruments sound more realistic.

The journey from finished orchestration to final recording is a complicated one involving a combination of musical and technological skills. This module takes students through the complex process of taking a finished arrangement and preparing for the live recording session. This includes producing musicians’ parts, conductor’s scores, preparing pre-records, click tracks and Pro Tools sessions. Students also learn about session planning and budgeting for live recordings.

Students are introduced to the practical skill of writing music in sync with a movie and establishing a strong understanding of the powerful and complex relationship between music and the moving image. In addition to this technical skill, students will be presented with the complex challenge of evoking complex emotions through music to enhance a narrative and contribute a deeper meaning to a given subject. This requires a strong understanding of musical theory alongside an ability to critically analyse both their own work and the work of others, articulating this and incorporating said research into their methodology.
 

Every great work begins with the creator being intimately familiar with the tools at their disposal and their capabilities. The session orchestra is made up of many individual instruments and musicians that come together to make a whole unit. True Masters of writing for the orchestra have an encyclopaedic knowledge of what each instrument is capable of, both as individual entities and when played as a part of a larger ensemble.
 

This module looks at the treatment of the whole orchestra by cinematic orchestrators and composers and the differences in approach between large and small ensembles. We also examine the different approaches to orchestration possible through specialised recording techniques such as split sessions and combining live and sampled instruments. We also deal with approaches to creating convincing mock-ups of large and small ensembles.