The Four Main Elements of Film Score

​What is a film score?

Film Score

Film scores are music written specifically for a movie. It's usually orchestral or instrumental in nature (doesn't have singing or voices). In contrast, a soundtrack is a list of songs that were already written that are added to a movie.

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• Tempo

• Rhythm

• Melody

• Texture

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​Four Main Elements of Film Score

​While there are other elements in scores and music in general, the following four are widely considered the four biggest elements and are the easiest to use to categorize or classify movie scores.

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Element #1: Tempo

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Tempo is essentially how fast or how slow music is being played or sung. Some common tempo markings are:

• Allegro (fast)

• Andante (walking)

• Largo (slow)​

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Tempo

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​In the context of film scores:

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• slow down time

• used in conjunction with slow motion shots

• can add suspense​

Slower Tempos

• get your heart racing

• convey action

• show intensity​

• used in conjunction

Faster Tempos​

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Element #2: Rhythm

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Rhythm is the patterns of long and short notes and rest throughout a song. Different lengths of rhythms and different patterns of rhythms can evoke different feelings and show us different moods and genres of movies.​

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Rhythm

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Simple Rhythmic Patterns

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Longer more sustained notes also can relax us, lower our heart rates, and put us at ease. They can also give us a sense of comfort and calm, and once again stability.

Shorter notes but in a stable and predicatble pattern (think a steady beat of quarter notes, or clapping on two and four) give us a sense of stability and put us at ease.

​Complex Rhythmic Patterns

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Longer more sustained notes but in unpredictable patterns can be used for situations where things are unknown and unpredictable (such as exploring new lands or planets)

Rhythic patterns that involve a lot of notes and are not predictable create sensations of tension and uneasiness and is often found during unstable and tense moments in movies.​

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Element #3: ​Melody

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Melody

A melody is defined simply as "a pleasing arrangement of sounds". More complexly, it is "a series of musical notes or tones arranged in a definite pattern of pitch and rhythm". Moreover, they are not always "pleasing" to the ear as the first definition suggests. They usually recur throughout a piece of music, or even throughout and entire movie.

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Not easily recalled or sung back at the end of the movie. They usually have a lot of notes, and are often rhythmically complex.​

​Not Singable

Singable melodies are most often very beautiful, easy to sing back or recall after hearing it once or twice and come back more than once in a piece of music or come back several times throughout a film.​ Often have long sustained notes and simple rhythmic patterns.

​Singable

​Categorizing Melodies

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​Element #4: Texture

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​Texture

In music, texture refers to the "thickness" of the music. Is it really thick and rich and full of many different instruments or voices playing or singing ​independent lines of music (not all the same) similarly, music can also be thin and only have one or two instruments or voices playing or singing one or two lines.

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MANY instrument or voices (four or more) playing or singing several DISTINCT lines of music that aren't all the same notes. Thicker, louder in sound.​

​Polyphony

Fewer instruments or voices (think three or less) playing ​or singing mainly the same notes. Thinner, softer in sound.

Monophony

Two Main Textures

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