Finale Film Scoring

Dear Student: We are pleased to offer the new 1-hour series classes. Based on student’s comments, suggestions, and frequently addressed software concerns, we have expanded the Learning Center’s course curriculum. These classes are more focused and not as broad, covering less material in greater depth. The 1-hour series are all more advanced classes, so if you are unfamiliar with the software, we suggest you take the basics classes first. Thank you, and as always we welcome your questions, comments and concerns. Ricardo Poza Chris Fitzgerald

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Finale: Film Scoring will cover some of the notational conventions in the industry, and how to apply them in your scores. We will address click tracks, punches and streamers, over-sized time signatures and measure numbers, harp pedaling and more. Visit us at learningcenter.berklee.edu (617) 747-2669 (150 Massachusetts Avenue Building) Learning Center Staff

Table of Contents Introduction Click Track Punches and Streamers Big Measure Numbers Big Time Signatures Harp Pedaling

3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6 7 Revision: Summer 2006

- 3 – Introduction

& Click Track

Introduction The art of creating a good film score is relatively new. Certainly there has been film music for the greater part of a century, but compared to the history of notation and orchestral scores, film scores are the new kid on the block. There is quite a bit of information that a film score needs to portray, that you would never find on a traditional score. Items like SMPTE time code for sync points, punches and streamers if conducting to picture, click tracks, and cue, production, episode, and film title information. Also, film production schedules move fast, and film composers do whatever they can to make things easier. They may only get a few takes when conducting a 90-piece orchestra, so a score that’s easy to follow is crucial. Modern conventions have sprung up, such as oversized measure numbers and time signatures.

Creating a click track

1

Add a new staff at the top, and in the Staff Attributes dialog box, hide everything except barlines, and measure expressions (to add sync points and punches and streamers later).

Change the staff to 1-line with short barline

2

Put in your notes on pitch B4 (as Finale considers this the middle line of a treble clef staff), and change them to X noteheads by highlighting with the Mass Edit tool, and using the Change Noteheads plug-in.

3

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(Click Track cont.)

4

Punches and Streamers - 4 -

Type in the numbers with the lyrics tool. Drag them above the staff if you prefer. SHORTCUT: With an already setup Word file, you can copy and paste in the numbers and add them with the Lyrics Tool Click Assignment option.

5

Now use the Expression Tool to add any textual or numerical sync point information. This works the same way for adding punches and streamers.

Creating Punches and Streamers A video is treated to have punches and streamers that correspond with the score, with the idea that it will allow a conductor to interpret the music more freely, with rubato, rather than being locked in to a metronome click. You can place these on your click track as well, however you generally won’t use clicks and punches and streamers simultaneously.

1

In the Expression Selection window change to Shape and click Create

2

Choose Select next to the shape ID number, and then choose Create again to get the Shape Designer window.

3

In this window you can draw any shape you want. Keep in mind that the center circle is where the center of the shape expression will be when you click to place it in your score. Also keep in mind the view percentage. Viewing your shape at 100% will show you the actual size, and then you can zoom in to refine details.

When you are finished drawing the punch, choose OK in the Shape Designer window. Now you can choose Create again to draw the streamer.

4

- 5 – (Punches and Streamers cont.)

5

Big Measure Numbers

After you create the shape, choose Select in the Shape Selection window. Now, in the Expression Designer window you have positioning, playback, and appearance options. Uncheck Horizontal Stretching for the punch, but leave it on for the streamer. It will distort the way the punch looks, but is necessary for the streamer to be different lengths.

Because streamers are generally the length of a measure, they will all be different lengths in your score. Because of this, you will need to duplicate the shape for each new streamer in your score, and then stretch it accordingly to your music.

Creating Big Measure Numbers

1

We are going to dedicate a staff for the measure numbers, to be placed in the middle of the score. Choose the Staff tool, and select the staff under where you want to have your measure numbers. Choose New Staves from the Staff menu and add one new staff.

2 Now double-click in the top left corner to get the Staff Attributes window.

3 Uncheck everything except measure numbers and barlines. Then go to the Staff selection menu and choose Other. Choose Custom Staff in the top left, uncheck the middle lines on the staff, and then click OK.

4

Next, in the Staff Attributes window, go through the rest of the staves and deselect measure numbers, so that they will only be on your measure staff.

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(Big Measure Numbers cont.)

Big Time Signatures - 6 -

5 Now switch over to the Measure tool, go to the Measure menu, and select Measure numbers and Edit Regions.

6

Here you can change the measure font. Try size 18 with no italics. Then choose “Show every 1 measure beginning with measure 1”, in order to have every measure number show. Uncheck Hide first measure number in region, and Always show on top staff.

7 Lastly, click Position, set to center, and drag the measure number down into the middle of the staff.

Creating Big Time Signatures

1

Setting up big time signatures is a little different. First, determine which staves you will have the time signatures on (three or four is fine for an orchestral score) and then hide the rest in the Staff Attributes window.

Now, open the Document Options from the Options menu. To adjust the size of the time signatures, go to Font and select Time from the Notation menu. Click Set Font, and then adjust the size and font until you are satisfied. To be really big, the font size should be above 200.

3

To adjust the spacing, go to Time Signatures in the Document Options. Change the Top Symbol and Bottom Symbol Vertical Adjustment. Again, you’ll have to manipulate it until you are satisfied, but try .7 for the top and -.7 for the bottom.

2

- 7 – Harp

Pedaling Harp Pedaling Harpists must press pedals to create accidentals, and therefore cannot play heavily chromatic passages rapidly. At the beginning of the score, and anytime they have an accidental, they need to be notified in the score. Their pedals, from left to right, are D, C, B, E, F, G, A, the first three on the left side, and last four on the right. An easy way to indicate pedaling is just to create a text expression from the measure expression menu. To indicate the key of D the pedaling would simply read D C# B E F# G A. Another way is to represent the pedals pictorially. A pedal in the middle is natural, above is flat, and below is sharp; therefore the key of D would be

OpOPOpOO Left

Right

Upper Position

A

D G C

First Notch

Second Notch

F B

E

To create this, use the Measure Expression tool, double-click, and create a new text expression. Change the font in the Text menu to Engraver TextH. o=o

shift-o = O

p=p

shift-p = P

This way you can type them in, in whatever order you like.

Note: One thing to keep in mind is to have a separate parts score. On the original score we have hidden the measure numbers, and some of the time signatures, but of course when you extract your parts you will want them back in. Because of this, it’s a good idea to have a separate score that you will extract your parts from. This we will address in Finale: Orchestral Scores 1 hour class. Also, we have added shapes and expressions, and while these will available in this Finale file, you must save the expressions library to make them available in all Finale files. We will cover libraries in greater depth in the Finale: Plug-ins and Time Savers 1 hour class.

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