Spring Break Immersive:
Composing for Film
Monday, March 3 – Friday, March 7, 2025
Applications due November 22, 2024
Students informed of application decision December 6, 2024
Have you ever wondered how a film soundtrack is created? Learn from instructors with Hollywood experience in a spring break intensive modeled on the renowned Sundance Institute Film Music Intensive. This exciting, immersive week—the first of its kind at The Prior—will deepen your understanding of both music and film and how they interact to create cinema magic. It will provide an eye-opening look at an exciting and expanding industry. And it will foster skills of creativity, analysis, and collaboration essential to success in any field.
Co-taught by Prior Composer-in-Residence Osvaldo Golijov and guest composer Jeremy Flower, whose respective film credits include multiple collaborations with legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, the Composing for Film Immersive will include a lively mix of screenings, discussion, analysis, guest artists, and lab time. Students will experiment with scoring clips in different genres (suspense, epic, drama, comedy, horror, etc.), with different kinds of constraints (dialogue, sound effects, etc.) and guidelines (traveling music, memory flashbacks, time lapse, etc.). Often, they will be given scenes as actual film composers get them: complete with all sounds except music. After receiving the same guidance the composer had from the director, students will then create their own soundtracks, analyze each others’ choices, and receive feedback from instructors.
The underlying idea of the Composing for Film Immersive is that the deepest learning comes from the hands-on work of making: experiencing the obstacles, risks, failures, and joy of creation.
Requirements
Students selected for the Film Composition Immersive will be interested in film composition; comfortable using Garage Band or any other music-writing software; invested in developing a creative community with peers; and able to work and troubleshoot independently. It is preferred that students have some experience playing an instrument.
Location
The Composing for Film Immersive will take place in various spaces in The Prior Performing Arts Center. Students will take lunch and dinner together with instructors in Kimball and occasionally in Worcester.
Cost
$125 activities fee (scholarships available upon request). If students do not already own a midi keyboard, they will be asked to purchase one (keyboard scholarships also available upon request).