From sweet oboe solos that swell above romantic moments, to stingers that enhance shocks, to blaring brass that raise the stakes of war, the musical soundtrack has become essential to storytelling in narrative film. As an introduction, this workshop will cover basic concepts in music for film, as well as the various roles music can play. Key ideas like the audiovisual contract, diegetic vs. non-diegetic music, and the leitmotif will be covered, as will music’s ability to affect audience interpretation. The workshop will culminate in a re-scoring project, in which participants will transform the emotional and narrative impact of a film scene by setting it to a new musical soundtrack. Bring a charged-up laptop with your preferred film editing software!

Jessica Getman is an Associate Professor of Music at California State University, San Bernardino, and a film musicologist focusing on music in television and science fiction media. Her research interests also include popular music, amateur music, critical editing, historically informed performance practice, and twentieth-century American music. She holds a PhD in Historical Musicology from the University of Michigan. Formerly the Managing Editor for The George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition, she also co-edited the collections Music in Star Trek: Sound, Utopia, and the Future and is co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Music and Television. Her book, Tomorrow is Yesterday: Music and Social Discourse in the Original Series of Star Trek, is under contract with Oxford University Press’s Music/Media series.