FInished Learning Contract

The following is a completed version of my learning contract:

Learning Contract

Module Code: AG1084A

Module Title: Honours Project

Student Name: Philip Morton

Student Number: 1102730

Telephone Number: 07534749678

Email Address: 1102730@live.abertay.ac.uk

Project Title: Character Building: Musical Theme and Perception in Film

Project Aim:

• Using quantitative and practice based research analyse musical themes as a narrative device in film and investigate through the use of demonstrated compositional technique, musical themes and professional practice whether a viewer’s perception of a character can change over the course of a film.

Objectives:

1.     Understand how character themes can be used effectively, an understanding and investigation of historic background of film music and character themes is necessary and determine how they may be established and manipulated.

2.     Examine the use of compositional technique and theory of music in film and produce practical evidence that these techniques can be replicated through examples of moving image.

3.     Explore the psychological and emotional impact that music can have on a listener and understand how music can create and develop a perception of an image.

4.     Create multiple musical theme variations for a short film clip that establishes a character before manipulating the viewer’s perception of that character. Using appropriate methodology, analyse how efficient music is in changing perception and whether music alone can change how an audience responds to that character.

Major Tasks:

Objective 1: Tasks

• Investigate the history of music in opera, theatre, silent cinema and sound film.

• Explore Wagnerian principles in musical theme development.

• Identify key composers in film music and their influence on film music today.

• Explore western musical conventions in film.

• Define the functions of film music.

Objective 2: Tasks

• Analyse how musical themes are constructed.

• Examine how a musical theme may be manipulated through use of music theory and compositional technique.

• Determine instrumental conventions and identify how they may be used efficiently.

• Produce evidence of understanding as to how compositional technique may manipulate a short musical theme.

Objective 3: Tasks

• Analyse the cognitive effects a listener applies when listening to music.

• Explore how music may be used as a narrative device in film.

• Identify how music heightens the reality of film. 

Objective 4: Tasks

• Compose and establish a short musical theme to a film excerpt.

• Manipulate this established musical theme over the course of said film excerpt.

• Test an audience’s perception on emotional feelings towards the character within the film excerpt from start to finish.

• Re-orchestrate and reverse the original musical theme for a second excerpt and test.

Submission Deliverables:

Objective 1: Deliverables

• Written historical review of musical theme from opera to modern film music, examining the development in compositional technique from then to now.

• Highlight key composers in film music, their previous work and its relation to the research study within the dissertation.

• Examine the eight functions of film music established by Annabel J. Cohen (1998) and their relevance to modern film music within the written dissertation.

Objective 2: Deliverables

• Explore the practical use of compositional technique through written research within the dissertation.

• Create a list of known western musical film conventions that may be added to the production blog.

• Produce a musical theme for a short film excerpt demonstrating the explored compositional techniques researched.

• Written evaluation of how an established musical theme may be manipulated with scored examples of change.

Objective 3: Deliverables

• Written evaluation in dissertation on cognitive psychology and music and the effect that music has on a listener.

• Referenced film examples of musical theme used as a narrative film.

Objective 4: Deliverables

• Two video excerpts of musical themes composed to film that are manipulated from start to finish.

• Audio evidence of the composition of said musical themes.

• Score analysis of change in melodic patterns of the established musical theme.

• Evidence of testing feedback using graphical and tabled evidence of an audience’s perceptive response to both film excerpts.

Resources:

Hardware: Apple Macbook Pro, M-Audio M-box 2, Oxygen Midi Keyboard, Apple iPad.

Software: Logic Pro 9, Ableton Live 8, Pro Tools 10, Sibelius 7, PDF Manager, Native 

               Instruments Kontakt.    

Signature of Student                                                                             Date                           

NB The assessment of the Honours Project module AG1084A will be based on the material stated and agreed with your supervisor in the submission deliverables section of the Honours Project Learning Contract, which must incorporate the mandatory submission requirements stated in the brief. You must ensure that any changes to your Learning Contract are agreed by your supervisor. You must ensure that the latest signed-off copy of your Learning Contract is handed in, together with the appropriate submission deliverables as listed on the Contract, by the due hand-in time and date. Failure to do so will mean that the last submitted Learning Contract will be the definitive agreement upon which assessment of the handed-in deliverables will be based