Applications are open for max. 6 participants for a summer film music workshop intensive 3 day session, with optional prep day. The workshop takes place in Edinburgh at MSCN Film Music Festivals Academy studio.

The workshop is geared toward improving skills and knowledge for advanced film music composers. A short film is provided one week in advance for all participants to score and work on.

Topics of the workshop are following:

• Semiology (Semiotics) of music (Music, meaning and the principles on an underscore)

• Reading film (Understanding drama)

• Creativity under pressure (Process and method)

• Technical aspects of scoring to picture (Sync, Templates, Mockups, Delivering etc.)

• Communication (Working as part of a creative team)

• Business (Rights, Contracts, Negotiation, Marketing etc.)

• Development of interpersonal skills for networking

• Creativity and identifying your own distinctive style

• Improving professional presentation and image

The daily workshop 7th - 9th July structure is:

• 11am – 12:30pm Session 1

• 12:30pm – 1:30pm lunch (there are some little café’s down the street)

• 1:30pm – 3pm Session 2

• 3pm – 3:30 coffee and biscuits

• 3:30pm – 5pm Music Activity (ie. live scoring, improvisation, experimentation, recording and mixing, etc.)

The July 6th preparatory day is offered to introduce film music theory and technique and act as a kind of “refresher” for the more advanced topics we will be discussing the following days. The first part of the preparatory day is spent talking about synchronisation, DAW usage and synthesis, and studio setup. The second part of the preparatory day will be one-to-one evaluations and feedback of participant’s demo reels and project history, helping to generate goals for further study and identify strengths and weaknesses in their current skillsets.

If you are slightly less confident in certain skills and theories, it is highly recommended to take the preparatory day.