Using film music to establish mood
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain the purposes of film music and create a simple piece of music to establish an appropriate mood.
Key learning points
- Film music is used in a variety of ways to support the action on screen.
- These include establishing the mood, setting the scene and creating tension and excitement.
- Using leitmotif to represent particular characters or ideas is another effective technique.
- Composers use the musical elements to create appropriate atmospheres, including careful use of tonality.
- We have composed a short piece of film music using a repeated ostinato.
Keywords
Leitmotif - a recurring musical idea that represents a specific character, place or idea
Tonality - the key that the music is in, such as major or minor
Ostinato - a repeated pattern that forms the basis of a composition
Common misconception
Using chords from within a minor key creates a dark mood.
It's more complex than that - it is important to carefully choose which chords within the key you emphasise to create a dark mood. Emphasising chord i and other minor chords helps to make it feel dark and ominous, rather than any chords from the key.
Teacher tip
Extension tasks involving analysing use of rhythm, harmony and timbre would help to deepen pupils' understanding of the genre and how these features set an appropriate mood.
Equipment
DAW, keyboard or other suitable instrument as a composition tool.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is one of the main purposes of film music?
Q2.__________ tonality is generally felt to sound most positive.
Q3.The 19th-century genre that most influenced film music was .
Q4.Put these tempi in order from slowest to fastest.
Q5.Match the musical element to its description.
how sounds are organised in time
how loud or soft the music is
the unique quality of a sound
how sections are arranged
Q6.A synthesiser is a type of .
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.A leitmotif is a recurring .
Q2.Which of these can a leitmotif represent?
Q3.What is diegetic music?
Q4.Mickey-mousing is ...
Q5.Which would NOT be an example of mickey-mousing?
Q6.Which of these is not a role of film music?
To help you plan your 10 music lesson on: Using film music to establish mood, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 music lesson on: Using film music to establish mood, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 music lessons from the Introduction to film music unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.