Applied Music is a theoretical-practical subject, divided into three main thematic blocks: 1) the elements of the Soundtrack; 2) the sound design of an audiovisual project; and 3) music applied to audiovisual fiction.

In turn, these three thematic blocks are developed inside and outside the classroom thanks to a series of diverse learning methodologies adapted to the type of content being developed. Thus, the same learning activity is not applied in the three thematic blocks. The change of methodology is not even made solely according to the nature of the subject matter __more theoretical or more applied__, but rather each activity is adapted to the nature of the content being dealt with, to the work dynamics required in the classroom and to a type of assessment that ensures the competence being worked on at that moment, in order to achieve greater performance both for the students and for the teacher.

Course syllabus

The programme of Applied Music is divided into 3 thematic blocks which, in turn, are organised into different conceptual themes:

Block 1: The elements of the Soundtrack

In the first three subjects of the course, the main theoretical foundations of the elements that make up the soundtrack of an audiovisual project are developed, as well as the main narrative concepts related to sound design.

1: General Fundamentals of the Sound Design of an audiovisual project

The first topic explains some of the principles of conventional sound in audiovisual productions. It starts from the act of audiovisual listening in relation to the sensory perception of the human being, the phenomenon of sound, and explains the types of time that come into play in audiovisual fiction from the perspective of the spectator. It also provides a general glossary of the speciality area, explaining concepts such as internal rhythm, the narrative direction and movement of sound, the cultural coding of sound meanings versus the natural coding of sound, frequencies, and the texture and components of sound, among others. This first topic also introduces the elements that make up classical soundtracks: dialogue and voice-overs, sound effects, audio-visual silence and noise as expressive elements, ambient sound and music.

2: Elements of the Soundtrack I: dialogues, voice-overs, silence and noise.

The second topic deals with some of the elements of the soundtrack of a fiction film: concept, characteristics and applications of dialogue and voice-over, as well as silence and noise as expressive elements in the sound design of a fiction project. Not only the most important concepts are taught, but also their practical applications, expressive uses and functions in conventional fiction, in order to understand the meaning of voices, dialogues and silences in the narrative universe of fiction. In relation to dialogue and voice-overs, special emphasis is placed on not only conceptual issues, but also technical ones to ensure the intelligibility of the film's message. The rules of international dubbing are also explained. With regard to silence and noise, the expressive possibilities that both elements have in temporal narration are explored in depth, as well as the functions that they can have within a story. Special space is devoted to the differentiation between real silence and the construction of audiovisual silence. Some of the concepts explained through practice are the rule of dialogue intelligibility, the narrative conventions of the use of voice-over, the treatment of frequencies in dubbing, and the assignment of symbolic meanings to instrumental noise in films.

3. Elements of Soundtrack II: sound effects, ambient sound and music

In the third theme, the basic principles of the elements of sound are further developed: sound effects and ambient sound are explained independently but within the same concept of the trans-sensoriality of sounds. Music is also introduced as the fifth element and means of expression of the Soundtrack. In relation to the theory of sound effects and ambient sound, it is essential that students understand the semantic unity of both elements when designing a story narratively, although with their own applications, uses and conventions. It is very important for students to understand that sound effects must be worked into the local colour environment of a scene in order to recreate the verisimilitude of the narrative universe. Concepts such as continuity, three-dimensionality, local colour or sound environment are dealt with in this subject. It is also one of the most important subjects in the subject when it comes to relating the creative treatment of sound with recording, post-production and mixing techniques, especially in terms of capturing and treating the ambient audio of their own projects. Music is introduced to its functions and the meanings it acquires on the screen, as a means of expressing emotion by definition. However, as the name of the subject itself indicates, it is explained in detail in the third block of the subject, which is entirely devoted to dealing with it as a subject applied to audiovisual recreation.

Block 2: Creativity in sound design

In the second major block of the subject, the whole dialectic is constructed in relation to how to orientate oneself in the narrative universe of films. Once the basic principles of each of the 5 elements that make up the sound design of a film have been explained separately, this second section explores the main narrative possibilities that a conventional Soundtrack __integrated by one, several or all the elements that make it up__, can provide in the recreation of a fictional universe full of senses and conceived in an entirely artistic way. This second block is also subdivided into three academic subjects.

4. The narrative universe of sound I: principles of conventional diegesis

The fourth theme unifies the vision of all the elements and explains the conception of the Soundtrack as an equally creative and necessary means of expression as the moving image, when it comes to constructing narrative universes full of meaning and with a creative mentality. Thus, the explanation of the Soundtrack, in this subject, is already integrated and becomes composed of dialogue, voices, silences, effects, ambience and music. The use and arrangement of all these elements by sound planes will depend, mainly, on the sense that we want to give to the audiovisual narration in each situation. The mixture of all of them serves to create the sound narrative universe of the films. In this first topic dedicated to diegesis, general concepts are explained in relation to spatial diegesis and its limits, such as intra and extradiegetic sounds, the functions and typologies of sounds depending on the variables such as montage, time and space recreated, as well as more specialised concepts related to the intentionality of the narration and the structure of the story in time, such as sound transitions, sound flashbacks or sound ellipses.

This first topic already focuses attention on music within this diegetic construction, in order to understand the contribution it makes to conventional diegesis and to understand that its creative use depends indisputably on all the other elements that construct audiovisual fiction, as well as on whether the viewer's perspective is internal and immersive or external.

5. The Sound Narrative Universe II: Beyond Conventional Diegesis

The continuation of the fourth theme is the non-conventional sound diegesis. In theme 5 of the course, students explore the creative possibilities that the Soundtrack offers to go beyond the diegesis and create new meanings, which sophisticate the meaning of the narration. Specifically, they work on two processes, metadiegetic sound and oneiric sound as ways of narrative expression that allow, in a subtle way, to mark changes in the focus of the story, offer another perspective, bring us as spectators closer to the psychology of the characters, indicate a significant turning point, resolve a plot or point out the evolution of one of the protagonists, among others.  

Non-conventional diegesis is a very sophisticated and complex creative resource that provides students with tools for narrative construction and modification according to their intention as authors. Metadiegesis and dreamlike sound are worked on from an overview of all the elements of the soundtrack, and the conventional diegesis is used to create a distortion, disorder or modulation of some of these elements, from which new sound meanings are constructed in relation to the image. This is an advanced language, but it allows the audiovisual creator to direct the spectator's attention in a more intimate and less evident way than the possibilities that the moving image itself offers to create all these new meanings. Also in non-conventional diegesis, special attention is paid to the use of music for psychological purposes.

6. Relations between sound and image: the rule of 3 +1

The last section of this thematic block is intended to explore, in a very practical way, the main relations that have traditionally existed between the image and the soundtrack of an audiovisual construction. The evolution and development of these typologies of relationship correspond to the aesthetic evolution of most American and European cinema from the 1950s to the 21st century.  Thus, the 3+1 rule is explained in the context of the aesthetics of cinema and the different forms that the construction of the narrative story in an auditory and visual form has acquired throughout history. This section explains, therefore, the more transparent construction of the most classical cinema, in which the rule of superimposition is imposed and in which sound reinforces the aesthetic unity of the story by providing meanings in the same conceptual line as the image. On the other hand, it also delves into the avant-garde currents in which the story began to be constructed thanks, among other processes, to the technique of contraposition, by means of which sound pointed to an emotion or a concept contrary to the discourse of the image in order to generate ambiguity in the spectator. The use and functions of union, the third rule by which sound contributes a new and different concept __not necessarily its opposite__ to that offered by the image and, as a result of the union of the two, a new meaning is generated in the perception of the spectator, is also made explicit. The use and functions of union are also made explicit, the third rule by which sound contributes a new and different concept - not necessarily its opposite - to that offered by the image and, as a result of the union of the two, a new meaning is generated in the perception of the spectator. In this theme, much space is given to the exploration of conceptual unions thanks to music, since, if it is pre-existing, it has traditionally constituted a very creative process capable of generating intertextualities with other arts and thus multiplying the readings of the work, raising its intellectual and cultural height. Musical intertextuality, in the audiovisual narrative, is explained in the context of the union as the most complete and enriched relationship that can exist between the image and the sound of a film destined for a specific culture. Finally, in this subject, a brief note is made on non-relation, that is, those audiovisual expressions __whether spots, commercial videos, short films, documentaries or films__ in which one of the languages of communication is annulled, either the visual or the sound one, so that the whole narrative load is provided by only one of the ways.

Block 3: Music Applied to the Audiovisual Project and the Filmscoring Process

The third and last major block of the course is devoted exclusively to music as a creative and meaning-creating element in audiovisual projects. Music constitutes, as we have seen, a language capable of directing the emotions of the spectators and, as such, its weight in the sound design of the projects is highly significant. Even if the audiovisual project responds to more contemporary demands and acquires a format closer to the transparency of the story, such as a documentary, report or news item, the use of a musical setting can be decisive in creating the aesthetic and conceptual meaning of the piece. The importance of music in audiovisual discourse also highlights the need to train students of Audiovisual Communication in its professional application, with a much more rigorous and extensive criterion than the strictly aesthetic one that students have as consumers of music. Therefore, music constitutes a definitive tool for creating meaning in stories, but it also constitutes a risky element in audiovisual discourse if its uses, rules, conventions, possible abuses and effects for the project are unknown. In short, music adds information for good and for bad in a story (Nieto, 2010). This last block is structured in the three final themes that close the programme of the subject. Although some of these topics deal with music as an artistic fact in itself, its application on screens is always contextualised in order to understand the effect it has on the viewer's perception.

7. Constituent elements of music. Types of music according to its composition

Topic 7 of the subject focuses on the study of the compositional elements of all music, in order to understand that all music in the world, regardless of the style to which it belongs, tends towards one of its essential notes: rhythm, melody and harmony. These three elements are explained from a purely musical point of view. Once they have been understood and the pupils are able to discriminate between them in the auditions, the subject focuses on the possibilities offered, on the screen, by the different types of music according to whether they tend to be eminently rhythmic, melodic or harmonic. Thanks to this discrimination, pupils study the positive and negative effects that music has on the viewer's perception and concentration, depending on its compositional nature: it is not the same to use rhythmic music as melodic music, the consequences on the image are very different, depending on the narrative or emotional intention to be achieved.

The second part of theme 7 focuses on the type of on-screen music that can be used according to its compositional nature, whether it is linear music, whose narrative construction based on games of tensions and rests is evident, or whether, on the other hand, the music has a more vertical and static construction, ideal for generating climates, emotional atmospheres or characterisation of characters. Thus, in this last part of the subject, the potential of narrative music as opposed to static music is presented.

8. Applied music I: characteristics of music on screen. Functions of music in audiovisual fiction

Once the effects that music, according to its nature, produces in the perception of the audiovisual spectator are known, the content of the subject focuses on the speciality of music applied to narrative fiction. Firstly, the different types of music on screen are studied, according to whether the music is original and pre-existing, as well as diegetic or incidental. Also in this first section, a musical glossary is developed, which is used in the professional terminology of film music composers and supervisors. [1] The second part of the subject is aimed at analysing the different functions that music can perform in an audiovisual fiction project, whether in film, television or the Internet. Some of these functions have to do with the effect of their use in a specific sequence, such as preparatory or respiratory. Others, however, affect the overall structure of the project, such as the structural, aesthetic or emotional function itself. This subject also includes a brief introduction to music applied according to the professional sectors of fiction, differentiating between the conventions required by music in audiovisual advertising, music in television series, in mockumentaries and in entertainment programmes.

9. Applied music II: creative musical setting. Filmscoring: composing, orchestrating, synchronising.

The last subject of the course focuses especially on the process of musical setting of a fictional sequence. It covers all phases of creation, from the conception of the narrative idea, the identification of the musical needs of the work and the adaptation of the script to the resulting musical expression, to the formal execution of the music and its synchronisation with the image. Students learn to plan a musical sound design in accordance with the real intention of the creators of the story and respecting each and every one of the elements that, together with the music, give life to the audiovisual fiction, so that it can enhance the story without abusing its presence. In this first phase of ideation and development of the musical design of a sequence, it is very necessary that the students understand the effects of musical abuse for the tone and the unitary structure of the work. It is also important that they learn to conceive music as the fifth element of the soundtrack, capable of embellishing the final result and of speaking of the real intention of the project, as well as of the emotional tone, but without being used as a tool to solve problems that have to do with other narrative aspects of the audiovisual creation, such as problems of structure, script or editing. In the musical setting, we work with pre-existing music as well as with original designs.

The second and last part of this subject delves into the process of Filmscoring or the original composition of music for a film sequence. In this part, pre-existing music is abandoned and students are taught how to create new music for a film, scene or short film. For the development of this part, every year we have the collaboration of a prestigious guest, an active composer of film music or fiction projects, who explains the theory based on his experience and his personal experience in the profession. [2]The Filmscoring process has three phases of musical creation: 1) composition of the original music according to the narrative needs of the story, the author's intention and the filmmaker's style; 2) composition of the original music according to the narrative needs of the story, the author's intention and the film's style, and 3) hard or soft synchronisation depending on the function of the music in the scene and the aesthetics pursued __depending, for example, on whether it is a Mickey Mouse Music or whether the music has a more psychological approach, whether the editing is musical or whether the aesthetics are more intimate and transparent__. The Filmscoring process in this subject focuses above all on orchestration and musical synchronisation, with less emphasis on the first phase of composition, bearing in mind that Audiovisual Communication students at the UIC are not musicians. [3] The textures that the instruments provoke in audiovisual perception and, above all, how to introduce music into the sequence to achieve the desired effects __provoke empathy or anempathy in the spectator, set the emotional tone of the story, underline a turning point in the plot, reinforce the genre to which the film belongs, slightly modify the narrative rhythm of the sequence or highlight the editing, among other possibilities__.

[1] The musical glossary explains the difference between different terms used in the profession, such as diegetic music, non-diegetic music, incidental music, nineteenth-century music, timeless music, anachronistic music, synchronic music, Mickey Mouse Music, psychological music, static music, narrative music, mood music, pit music, live music, over music, music, unattended music, or musical montage, among others.

[2] Each year a different specialist has been present. Among the public figures who have passed through the classroom to explain the Filmscoring process are names such as Arnau Bataller, Pepe Nieto, Fernando Velázquez and Oscar Araujo, among others.

[3] The aim of this subject is not to train students in music composition techniques, but rather, in their professional future, to enable them to be able to make strategic decisions in relation to the musical needs of an audiovisual fiction, as well as to be able to relate to composers, musical supervisors and performers in an efficient and professional way. The interesting thing, then, is that they learn how the process and the craft of music creation applied to the screen works, so that they can obtain better results when they relate to their specialists in the future. It should be added, in relation to this point, that one of the main difficulties of this subject is the very heterogeneous level of the starting students, in relation to their musical training and interests. Thus, some students have a knowledge of composition and are able to deal with the complexity of the whole Filmscoring process, while most approach the practical part of this subject from a less involved and complex perspective. What is of great interest for their learning in either case, is that they are finally able to identify and understand the complexity of the whole process of film scoring.although most approach the practical part of this subject from a less involved and complex perspective. What is of great interest for their learning, in either case, is that they are finally able to identify the needs of a musical sequence and that they are able to demand these needs with the appropriate terminology to the musicians. It is also important that they free themselves from prejudices when thinking about music applied to their projects and that they understand that, as audiovisual creators, it is not necessary to be a trained musician but to develop a musical sensitivity and intuition when conceiving and executing their proposals, in collaboration with other creators.