Year 6 - Music
Film music: characters
Compose and create: nature documentary inspired film scores
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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 develop a motif for a film score that represents a character and setting.
Key Notes
- An effective film score will help us understand and deepen connections with a character.
- Using a motif in a film score helps to strengthen the understanding of the narrative through the music.
- The motifs in film scores from the Planet Earth series help bring the characters in the documentaries to life.
- A motif can be developed and built on to create a bigger piece.
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
- characterisation: using music to reveal a character's personality, traits, emotions and motivations
- motif: a short recurring musical idea in a film score that represents a place, character, emotion or idea
- elements of music: the building blocks or key ingredients needed to create a piece of music e.g. pitch, rhythm or structure
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Texture and structure are the same thing.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
An effective film score will help us understand and deepen connections with a character. Using a motif in a film score helps to strengthen the understanding of the narrative through the music.
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: Texture and structure are the same thing. Correction: Texture and structure are easily confused. Think of texture as vertical and structure as horizontal. Texture is what is happening at the same time - the layers of sound. Structure is what happens in order - what happens first, then what happens next.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 6 Music guide library.