Year 6 - Music
Film music: atmosphere
Compose and create: nature documentary inspired film scores
Study Hub
Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this optional unit, pupils are introduced to the term, film music. They study many examples of film music composed for the BBC nature documentaries Planet Earth II and Planet Earth III and use these as their inspiration for composing their own film scores.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to create atmosphere in your film score, considering effective ways to build on your motif to create feelings of tension and danger.
Key Notes
- Music can effectively create a sense of atmosphere, for example, creating feelings of tension, danger or drama.
- Repeating and adapting a motif throughout a film score can help us to follow a narrative.
- We need to think about the structure of the music when scoring so that the music clearly enhances the visual narrative.
Vocabulary To Learn
- film score: on original piece of music composed to accompany a film or television programme that contributes to the narrative by adding emotion, tension or drama
- scoring: creating original music for film or television that enhances the narrative
- atmosphere: using music to create the emotional mood or tone of the narrative
- motif: a short recurring musical idea in a film score that represents a place, character, emotion or idea
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- We all respond in the same way to a piece of music.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Music can effectively create a sense of atmosphere, for example, creating feelings of tension, danger or drama. Repeating and adapting a motif throughout a film score can help us to follow a narrative.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'film score'
on original piece of music composed to accompany a film or television programme that contributes to the narrative by adding emotion, tension or drama.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: We all respond in the same way to a piece of music. Correction: Our response to music is personal. We may agree or disagree with others on the feelings and atmosphere we sense in a piece of music. We can have interesting discussions around our personal responses to music.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 6 Music guide library.