Written Film Score Analysis Webpages

Written by Joshua Iyer
Published: August 7, 2014 at 3:04 AM [UTC]

I thought a fun mini-project to both end the summer with and use as "musical breakfast" would be to complete an in-depth analysis of a film score. What better film score to start off with then the one for "Day of the Doctor"? I thought this would be the easiest one to begin with, as it makes use of leitmotifs in a very simple way. If this one goes well, I may try to do an analysis for one of the Star Wars films in a similar manner as this project.

Basically, I listen through an "episode of music" video on YouTube and find the timestamps and plot points within the actual episode. I'll describe the music (instrumentation, chord progressions, etc.) and how it relates to the scene, and include pictures. That way, if I (or someone like you!) were to go back, I would know exactly what is going on even if I wasn't watching. I think this is a very unique way to watch a Doctor Who episode and will be a slow and fun process. Check it out below! I'll update as often as I can until it's complete, and then hopefully have fun with another project.

Click here!

In other news, the six performances for Shrek the Musical last week went quite well, and I also just finished my violin concerto! I had added a lot to it, so it's ten minutes, and spent this last week polishing it up and working specifically on orchestration (and fixing some of the chords). I sent it to my teachers and a composition professor whom helped me with it in the past, so hopefully I'll get some good insight and advice on anything else I could do with the project. I played through the violin part this evening with the orchestra MIDI (it had been a few days since I'd last practiced because I was sore from the musical, and when I held my violin to play, it seemed incredibly small (and portable) for some reason... I mean smaller than usual.). So yeah! That's about it. I'm actually going on vacation tomorrow to Minneapolis, and I don't think I'm going to bring my violin, so that's more days without practice... However, by the time I get back school will be around the corner, so I'll be able to start a steady habit of practicing again. :)

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