Film music is a popular secondary music topic because it can be used as a vehicle for teaching many different concepts: melody-writing, developing a leitmotif, harmonic devices, synchronising music with onscreen action, creating an emotional response / atmosphere through music…the list goes on!
If you have a DAW that enables film clips to be imported (e.g. GarageBand, Logic, Cubase), students can practically compose music for the screen. This post will share 6 film clips to compose to and some handy hacks for video editing (removing the audio, creating a shorter clip and downloading the video to use offline).
1. Skeleton Dance
One of Walt Disney’s oldest animations but a brilliant one to get students synchronising sound and action. For example, the cats jumping out of their skins (literally!); the skeleton taking exaggerated steps and the skull bouncing along the floor.
You could create a shorter clip of this video for students to work with as a short project – scroll down to the bottom of this post for suggestions of free video editing tools.
2. Monsters Inc Scare Floor
My students had a lot of fun creating music for Monsters Inc. This clip has a number of key moments that they can work with including: the doors sliding up and down from the rail, the big monsters marching in and then preparing themselves for scaring.
3. Wallace & Gromit A Close Shave Chase Scene
As we eagerly anticipate the release of the latest Wallace and Gromit film – Vengeance Most Fowl, why not use a scene from A Close Shave? The truck chase scene has Wallace riding a motorcycle, Gromit plummeting down the cliff in the side car and then shooting porridge at evil dog Preston…
4. Porcelain Unicorn
This film clip is rather poignant and can work well with slightly older students if you’re looking for something that isn’t animated. From a cross-curricular perspective it ties in well with work on World War II and the Holocaust.
5. Black Panther Car Chase
If your students are creating music for a chase scene, do have a look at the Marvel Black Panther car chase and #6 Casino Royale airport chase.
Black Panther is rated 12A.
6. James Bond Casino Royale Airport Chase
As well as the airport truck chase, the parkour chase at the building site is also full of action.
Please be aware that this film does contain some violence and is rated PG-13.
Handy Video Editing Tools & Resources
- Tips and tricks for using Garageband: The Garageband Guide on YouTube
- ClipGrab – download YouTube videos to use offline. Simply type in the URL and download.
- ClipChamp – you can remove the audio from a film clip and edit to create a shorter section.
