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Berklee College of Music
Woman of War
Scoring to Captain Marvel
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of
Master in Music in Scoring for Film, TV, and Videogames
Supervisor: Alfons Conde
By Julie McCarthy
Valencia Campus, Spain
July, 2019
Table of Contents
Abstract
iv
Acknowledgements
v
1. Introduction
vii
2. CE Selections:
ix
3. Composition: Woman of War
xi
3.1 Sources of Inspiration
xi
3.2 Similarity #1: Rising Ostinato with Melody
xii
3.3 Similarity #2: Rhythmic Ostinato
xiii
3.4 Similarity #3: Growing Motif
xiii
4. Film Analysis
xv
4.1 Visuals Corresponding to Music
xv
5. Edits/Drafts/Revisions
xix
5.1 Version I
xix
5.2 Version II
xix
5.3 Version III
xx
5.4 Version IV
xx
5.5 Version V
xx
6. Layered Orchestration Analysis
xxii
7. Recording
xxiv
8. Issues/Challenges:
xxvii
9. Sound Design
xxviii
10. Dialogue
xxx
11. Mixing
xxxii
12. Mastering
xxxiii
13. Conclusion
xxxiv
Appendix:
xxxv
Appendix A: Glossary of Terminology
xxxv
Appendix B: Version 1 Revision 3
xxxvi
Appendix C: Example 5.3
xxxvii
Appendix D: Air Studio Microphone Date List and Locations:
xxxviii
!ii
Appendix E: Air Studio Performers
xxxix
Discography: Sources and Motivations
xl
Bibliography
xli
!iii
Abstract
Woman of War is a final project that sought to reflect my challenges, dreams, as well as
establishing a sense of who I am as a composer. As an indecisive individual whom grew
from two different cultures, (American and Chinese) I wanted to find a piece that truly
identifies who I was. The project is a reflection of what I have learned from Berklee College
of Music in mixture with my childhood dreams of being able to write for Superheroes in the
near future. This thesis explains my entire process from inspiration, to theme, and finally to
screen. In addition, I included an analysis on the similarities between my source of
inspiration, how the music reflects through film, and an layered orchestration analysis.
Keywords: Composition, Film Scoring, Themes, Identity, Dreams, Orchestration.
!iv
Acknowledgements
I am extremely gracious to all those whom have supported my goals whether
it is: teaching me to learn the skills necessary to succeed, supporting my goals
financially, making me laugh when it seems as if all hope is lost (Joe) or even those
who wish to support me in spirit.
I would like to graciously thank my professors (Lucio Godoy, Sergio Lacima,
Vincente Ortiz Gimeno, Pablo Schuller, and Alfons Conde) for their patience, time,
and help in order for me to succeed. Thank you Lucio for always being an open
source of understanding and for that, I feel like I can confide in you with anything
good or bad and you can offer great advice.
Sergio, thank you for your compositional and orchestral advice, I learned so
much about orchestration and transcription and your conducting class really pushed
me to become a better transcriber as well as sight-reader. I look up to your work as
a conductor and now forevermore, I have a tendency to conduct almost every time I
listen to a piece with the score.
Thank you Vincente for answering my endless questions during direct studies
and your willingness to give great mockup advice. I hope to be as lucky as you to
go to LA for a week and get a job.
Thank you Pablo for your outstanding patience with my mixing and learning. I
have learned a great deal from you about mixing and (even though my ears are not
the best) I will continue to practice so that perhaps I can own my own home studio.
!v
I also want to say thank you for my colleagues for your help, even though I
am a GA, I learn so much more from talking to you from sharing a conversation with
coffee, to sharing each other’s works at the lab. All of you are very talented in
different ways, I have no doubt that you will succeed in wherever you may end up
doing. Thanks Laura for checking and constantly making me a better composer
(Eres mi buena amiga).
Captain Marvel is known as one of the first top-grossing, big budget film by a
female composer Pinar Toprak. 1 Her story paved a way for young composers like
myself to dream high regardless of how or what I may identify. I would like to
strongly acknowledge and thank Pinar for her efforts to accomplish her dreams so
that others (like myself) may follow.
Thank you to my wonderful partner-in-crime (not really), Joyce for supporting
me when I need it, being there when I need it most, and making me me feel better
when I feel down. Thank you Marcela for being a friend when I need one, someone
to laugh with when I need it, I know you might be worried about the next year to
come, but I know that whatever you may end up doing, you will continue to exceed
expectations beyond measure.
Also, I want to thank the librarians (Sol Vargas and Tsun-Ju Lin) for being so
supportive and informative especially in my exploration in new editions and new
books to add to the library.
1. Burlingame, J. “Another Record for ‘Captain Marvel’: It’s the Top-Grossing Movie Scored by a
Woman.” Captain Marvel Composer Pinar Toprak Top Grossing Movie Scored by a Woman. https://variety.com/
2019/film/news/captain-marvel-composer-pinar-toprak-top-grossing-movie-scored-by-woman-1203159811/
(retrieved 19 Jun. 2019).
!vi
1. Introduction
As a classically trained musician in the conservatory life of composition, I wanted to
branch myself further into the film industry because I did not find much joy in writing for the
concert setting. The compositional niche I realized did not reach a very large audience, and
the support for living composers in the concert settings was centered around academia.
After I attended the Palomar Film Scoring Workshop, I felt like writing music to a multitude
of other media enhanced the audiences understanding of the environment in conjunction
with the music.
Because of this fascination and the lack of experience in this area thereof, I decided
to approach this CE project differently than most of my usual assignments. Meaning, I
started writing with the mockup first, and then notation second. I really wanted to start
writing in a way where I was able to practice un-learning my classical background in order
to expand my horizons to something different. Although I may or may not start this way in
the future, I want to be open to the possibility that I can focus purely on the absolute music
and not so much on the little notational details.
I am a HUGE superhero fanatic and because of that, I have always wanted to write
large orchestral arrangements with themes that demonstrate a certain character resembling
empowerment. Part of why I became a huge superhero fan, was because of my absence of
control in my life. As someone who was adopted from China due to the one-child-policy, I
felt a majority of my life was based on my worth. Therefore, I was always constantly doing
something productive to makeup for the lack thereof in order to prove that I was worth
something to someone or somebody. Perhaps this explains my workaholic tendencies, my
!vii
difficulties in relaxing, but now in this CE project, I wanted to focus on what I wanted to do
and do this for me, and nobody else. As I am writing this introduction now, this feeling still
gives me the shivers as I am not accustomed to putting my wants above others.
!viii
2. CE Selections:
After many e-mails to my director contacts over winter break, the first selection I
wanted to use was for my C.E. was for a Dungeons and Dragons webinar series for
LiquidLuck Productions. Before I came to Berklee, I managed to network with the lead
producers of this production company in Denver. However, there were a few issues which
came with this project (Please see issues pg. 24).
As an emergency alternative, I found a chicken animation that I wanted to re-sound
design and score for over spring break.2 It was, in Alfons Conde’s words “Perfect” in the
ways that it was exactly three minutes long (which fit the maximum C.E. length). I started
writing to this film with the intent of trying to make the music sound Disney-like. After a
score reduction, temp track, and many score analysis, I realized that this film did not require
many instruments. As it is a cartoon-like comedy, the whole film could be done with a
simple woodwind quartet. When I started writing, Conde commented that it harmonically
did not make much sense. Either way, I gave up on this scene because I felt I would not be
able to fully utilize the fifty-one full orchestra in Air Studios for my final project.
Finally, the last C.E. which was brought to my attention by my colleague Cordane
Richardson, was Captain Marvel. As I scoured through the entire movie looking for a three
minute scene with few dialogues and the need for dramatic music, I eventually found my
C.E. during the scene when Captain Marvel swoops up to defend earth from an alien
species with a foreign nuclear missile. In the film, there were many examples of the heroic
Captain Marvel rising above the challenges and standing up to what she knew was morally
2 TheCGBros, "CGI 3D Animated Short "Scrambled" - by Rubberbrain | TheCGBros," YouTube,
September 20, 2016, accessed June 23, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDDF0pWYo8Q&t=3s.
!ix
right. What attracted me to this scene was that it was constantly building like bricks one on
top of the other. Therefore it was a challenge to the composer musically to accommodate
these building blocks with small changes and to convey and repeat the theme in a
multitude of ways without losing the attention of the listener.
!x
3. Composition: Woman of War
The Cue “Woman of War” was actually chosen by a quote from Captain Marvel.
Previously, I had a temporary placeholder “Reaching for the Stars” which I found to be too
clichés. The quote from the comic book goes:
My name is Captain Marvel... I am an Earthling and an Avenger. But today I
stand as one with the settlers of Torfa, who clam this planet and its
resources as they were freely given in the aftermath of the Behemoth
disaster... They are a peaceful people, but I am a woman of war. If you move
against them, you move against me. I am willing to die here today, for this
cause. I have made my choice... Now you make yours.3
I used this quote in the title of the score along with a visual. I felt it gave more
context to the character in writing than just the music itself.
As mentioned in my introduction, this was the first time that I started by D.A.W.
(Digital Audio Interface) instead of writing by hand with my conservatory training. This
method opened my mind a bit more, but also complicated my notation more than I had
anticipated (See Issues pg. 24). Despite these issues, I did come up with probably my best
mockup that I have made thus far with a score (See Appendix A).
3.1 Sources of Inspiration
What influenced my first draft was first Rupert Gregson William’s Score for Wonder
Woman.4 Although I did not intentionally mimic this arrangement, (as it was meant to be a
reference) there are a numerous amount of coincidental similarities.
3
Moore, Alan, Earth 616, UK, Captain Marvel, (Earth 616)
4 Orchestra, Alfred Music. “Wonder Woman, Arr. Victor López – Score & Sound.” YouTube, YouTube, 30
Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcYG4RBdKNI.
!xi
3.2 Similarity #1: Rising Ostinato with Melody
The staccato texture in measure 22 in the woodwinds and violas reflected the
ostinatio on top of the long melodic brass line reflect similarly to my piece. Like William’s
Wonder Woman, his cue is a piece which continues to build (see figure 1).
Figure 1. Wonder Woman composed by Rupert Gregson Williams Arr. Victor Lopez (m.
1-8)5
Figure 2. Captain Marvel Rescore Version 9 Revision 5: Woodwinds (m. 14-16) 6
However, instead of having the a single woodwind player repeat the 8th note
pattern, I exchanged the one measure ostinato between many instruments in order to let
each of the performers breathe and expand my orchestral color palette. I intentionally let
the performer continue one note into the next measure in order to create continuity
between the instruments instead of creating a sudden change between different
Orchestra, Alfred Music. “Wonder Woman, Arr. Victor López – Score & Sound.” YouTube, YouTube, 30
Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcYG4RBdKNI.
5
6
Ibid
!xii
instruments. As I am a visual learner, I think about this effect like a sine wave vs. a square
wave (See Figure 3.)
Figure 3: Sine vs. Square Wave Visual7
3.3 Similarity #2: Rhythmic Ostinato
Another similarity would be the percussive example in measure 56 with the rhythmic
ostinato in the strings (Appendix C). The main differences between the ostinati’s would be
the time signatures changes in William’s Score between 3/4 to 4/4 while I maintained the
4/4 throughout. Next, my ostinato is four bars while William’s Wonder Woman contains two.
3.4 Similarity #3: Growing Motif
The next resemblance I would like to mention is the growing motif in William’s cue
(below) as well as mine (pg 12). Another unusual coincidence is that we both doubled the
Strings and Horns on this particular motif. In page 12, each repetition of the motif is:
1
3
2
Figure 4: William’s Growing Motif: Measure 96-103
7
Shareef, Umar. "Zelect." Home Appliance, Electronics Selectors, Buying Guides in
India. January 09, 2017. Accessed June 23, 2019. http://www.zelect.in/inverter/square-wave-invertervs-sine-wave-inverter.
!xiii
represented by each number. Each box indicates the “growing motif” and finally the blue
box demonstrates the desired destination note.
As each of the repetitions of the growing motif happen, the destination note
(indicated by the blue box) grows higher. For example on the second staff, the destination
note G3 and then reiterated in the next growing motif as G5, next as B5. To continue this
pattern, it is also represented in my cue as indicated below.
2
Figure 5: Captain Marvel measure 54-60
Although my destination notes and growing motif is drastically different, the outcome is
very parallel between one and another.
!xiv
4. Film Analysis
4.1 Visuals Corresponding to Music
The first two seconds appear as an immediate swoosh as Captain Marvel flies
through the air. In order to accommodate those “swoosh” moments before the change to a
new area, I wrote a very quick run in the orchestra to not only depict the visuals in a diagetic
manner but also in a musical sense as well.
When Captain Marvel first appears (below), the first two notes of the Captain Marvel
theme appear as well as she abruptly turns to realize that the aliens have come to invade.
Figure 6: Captain Marvel: (0:20) 8
Figure 7: Swoosh Run Figure (m.1) as indicated (left)
8
Captain Marvel. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Performed by Brie Larson. Captain Marvel.
!xv
As the alien ships appear in a flickering ball of light, the snare comes in with the string
ostinato. The snare, is intentionally military-like as demonstrated by an example below.
Figure 8: Army Beat Example: Online Drummer9
I particularly chose this mood to not only represent the war-like battle between
Captain Marvel and the aliens, but also to reflect on Captain Marvel’s background alias
Carol Danvers. Carol Danvers (or Captain Marvel) is in the US Air Force. Although it is a bit
of an old fashioned musical cliché to reflect, it does work when put in the right epic context
such as film score.
Figure 9: Captain Marvel (m. 14-16)
The next part of the musical score alongside the film, would be the sense of
hopelessness when the alien race shoots the (what I think is) nuclear bombs to destroy
9
Brown, Nate “Online Drummer: Army Military Marching Beat”, 2008.
!xvi
earth. The tempo musically maintains consistent, but the rhythm of the notes are
augmented to make the listener seem like the music is slowing down. I also purposefully
chose this moment to make the viewer seem like time is slowing down.
Figure 10: Captain Marvel 0:4910
As it seems all hope is lost, there is a stream that appears in the sky which is Captain
Marvel rising to defend Earth. The taiko comes in when this stream appears and the
growing motif (as mentioned previously) comes out of the String and Brass section to
emulate the struggle Captain Marvel has to push the bomb towards the enemies in mid-air.
As the single bomb knocks the others into a dramatic explosion, Captain Marvel flies once
more with the musical swoosh through the fire and flames without a scratch.
The theme of Captain Marvel appears in the horns (See Figure 11 Below):
Figure 11: Captain Marvel: Rehearsal F
As this theme is elaborated, it grows with more intensity as the blue alien species send in
reinforcements to take Captain Marvel down. The rhythmic section, (See Section 3.3)
10
Captain Marvel. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Performed by Brie Larson. Captain Marvel.
!xvii
features a melodic iteration of the theme. As Brie Larson (Captain Marvel) smashes through
the spaceships with her bare hands, the heroic Captain Marvel grows along with more
orchestration till she smashes through one or the larger alien ships to a 6/8 section.
Finally, the musical swoosh comes back in a grand finale with a monophonic tutti as
she uses her power to explode in a big ball of light. This is represented in the presented
timeline below:
Timeline 1: Brief Scene with Emotional Musical Analysis
!xviii
5. Edits/Drafts/Revisions
5.1 Version I
My first version of Captain Marvel took the most time. As mentioned previously, I
worked from DAW to Sibelius, mockup to notation; but the main issue for me as the
classical composer was: this was not my process. One of the main benefits of writing the
mockup was to be focused purely on absolute music in the means of not being obsessed
with the theoretical aspect. However, there were a series of issues in this draft because I
tried to make it sound bigger and doubled many instruments in unison in order to maintain
a “big Hollywood” sound (See Appendix B).
5.2 Version II
After meeting with Alfons during direct study, there were sections which appeared
as 5/8 and even 7/8 which concerned him. He told me to change these immediately to a
simple meter such as 3/4 and 4/4. At first, I was a little hesitant, but then I proceeded to
think about the overall piece. I thought that I would just like the greatest possible outcome
of this eighteen minute recording, so I reflected his change.
In the second version of the score, there were various moments of unusual sharps
that I changed in this piece. The G# was quite a prominent error throughout the cue but
was changed in a latter version. Since the 7/8 was then transformed later to a 4/4, Alfons
also suggested that it would be in my best interest to make the section only with eight
notes and eight-note rests in order to avoid confusion in the orchestra (See Appendix D).
The next change, would be make the runs easier. This also was brought up once
more in the third version but in a different context.
!xix
5.3 Version III
The next revision was the final direct study. Alfons mentioned that the run should
lead up to the B instead of going from the A to the B. When I thought about the run and
how it is meant to fluctuate as a scale from one note to another, I could see where he was
coming from. I also made the runs a bit easier on the orchestra instead of ten tuplets to a
simple straight sixteenth notes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much time during this section
as I did in previous revisions, but I was able to get Sergio’s input during my conducting
practice (See Appendix E).
5.4 Version IV
During my time conducting in office hours with Sergio, he was able to distinguish
that the mockup was different than the notation. This was somewhat intentional as I felt as if
the piece constantly needed more revisions particularly within the realm of arrangement
and orchestration, and I did not want to continue to write many mockups for each revision
until it is finalized.
Sergio responded to my piece as it being hard to read and too many divisions in the
strings. Therefore in the next updated cue, I eliminated the two staves and moved them all
into one. There was still some divisi, but it definitely was not divided into four different
violin I’s. As per Sergio’s comment, I turned to my good friend Laura for advice.
5.5 Version V
Laura looked over the score, and she also agreed with Sergio’s comment about the
score being too hard to read. She recommended I “duck tail” or move around the melody
in the woodwinds so that they would have time to breathe. In addition, the main comment
to which she mentioned in this revision was “Less is more” or “simple is better”. She also
!xx
recommended that the unison should not be performed by all the performers and that
doubling more than one instrument does not always mean a bigger sound.
I took these thoughts and rearranged the entire score once more and talked to her
the next day in order to see if I followed her instructions. During this period of last minute
rearrangement (as the deadline was the next day for all projects), I quickly rushed and
worked all day at the lab once more to strive for the final push before the deadline. This
final version ended up being the last and final draft for my C.E. This was about the time
period where I found my finalized title “Woman of War”.
!xxi
6. Layered Orchestration Analysis
As per the layered concept of foreground, middle, and background, I would say that
the final version contained more brass in the foreground, strings in the middle, and the
woodwinds in the background (See Table 1).
Table 1: Layered Analysis
Layered
Orchestral Analysis
Rehearsal Letter
Foreground
Middle
Background
A -> B
Horns (m. 2-9)
Strings (m.2-9)
Woodwinds (m.2-9)
B -> C
Horns (m. 11-13)
Trumpets (m.11-13)
Tuba (m.11-13)
C->D
Woodwinds (m. 14-22)
Strings (m. 14-22)
n/a
D-> E
Horns (m. 22-19)
Strings (m. 22-29)
WW (m. 22-29)
E->F
Horns (m. 30-44)
Strings (m. 30-44)
WW (m. 30-44)
F -> G
Horns (m.44-53)
Strings (m.44-53)
n/a
G->H
Horns (54-70)
Strings (m.54-70)
WW (m. 54-70)
H -> I
Strings (71-74)
Strings (m.75-77)
n/a
Strings (m.83-91)
n/a
Woodwinds (74-77)
I -> End
Woodwinds, Brass (m.
83-end)
Strings are added (m.
91-end)
I primarily wanted to focus on having the brass or the Horn section as being the
prominent area of melody because it is a super heroic scene and the cliché of a Horn
playing the melody works in this context. Since staccatos are well used in the Woodwinds,
strings are better in runs, I decided to use these families as more of my middle and
background to complement the melodic content in the brass.
!xxii
Although there were moments where I felt the melody needed a more softer touch,
I sometimes doubled the strings with the brass in order to create a softer timbre mixture
between the two.
!xxiii
7. Recording
During the recording process, I was completely nervous. Because of all the versions
as well as changes arrangement-wise changes, I was checking everything many times. I
entered a strong score-paranoia where I was constantly trying to fix whatever I could before
the recording time.
Because I was so obsessed and focused on the score, I failed to notice that the click
was playing in quarters instead of dotted quarters in the 6/8 measure in measure 71 in letter
H. This was also mentioned in the recording notes from Air Studios (below).
Figure 12: Recording Notes from Air Studios
During the 5/8 measure, it was recommended that instead of having all five clicks of
the measure that I have only: quarter (2) + eighth (1) + quarter (2). I think even though I told
the players in advance, this change was still too difficult for them. This was changed in the
eighteen minutes to be divided into eighths. One brief issue that I realized with the suscymbal is that I had the percussionist was playing the full two bars instead of just ending on
one and letting ring. This was changed by the percussionist on the second time around.
When I re-read my score once more, I then saw the confusion (Figure 13).
Figure 13: Captain Marvel (m.1) Percussion
!xxiv
I realized that it was because the whole note in bar two that was present, therefore it
was easily mistaken that he would play through the whole two bars instead of letting ring
on the second. I now know for future to end on the second bar in a quarter note with a slur
and a note that says “let ring” to avoid this confusion.
There were quite a bit of questions in the end which I should have mentioned to the
orchestra first. I think I was just so nervous that I might have just forgotten. The ending is on
a fermata being the largest note I should have mentioned. The intent was not to end on
that measure, but for the orchestra to watch me to cut them off in the end. This did not
happen the first take however for obvious reasons.
Before I went up on the podium, I had a big plan where I would focus on in the
orchestra, particularly in the 7/8 against the melodic 4/4. But in an instant, this fifty-one
piece orchestra’s eight notes was already so tight by the first take. I was stumped in a way, I
thought we would have more to work on but there weren’t any major issues that I found.
Even if there were issues, as the one of the younger composers in the room, I would have
felt awkward telling a professional musician how to “do their job”.
I was also terrified to work with the first time with large industry professionals. I was
also unaware that Jill (the score preparation professional for Hans Zimmer) would be in
attendance. I was scared to have my parts being read by the main score preparation. All I
could think in my head was: “I am not worthy!” But of course I kept my mouth shut and let
her decide for herself. For the first time in a recording session this year at Berklee, all of us
had absolutely zero complaints.
After the sessions, the players mentioned all the issues that they encountered with
our pieces. The flautist was enthusiastic to mention the instrument changes… no surprise
!xxv
there! They also mentioned to have a plan before the recording and to not be so shy to get
what you want out of your music. Air Studios also provided all of the students with notes as
well as a microphone list (see Appendix D) and a list of all the performers (Appendix E).
Overall, I think the session went better than expected, and I gained a lot of experience as
well as growth working and composing in a professional environment.
!xxvi
8. Issues/Challenges:
The first issue with the project about the Dungeons and Dragons project, was that
they haven’t shot it yet. Even though they added temp tracks to the project and will edit to
my music, I needed visuals in order to complete my final C.E. I unfortunately never received
the footage till this day and I guess in this case I am glad I found another project to
substitute.
The difficulty of working from a MIDI to a notation software is that the music looks
like a new foreign dialect with a lot of black ink on paper. For two days, I practically lived in
the lab in order to clean up this notation as best as possible with the “clean up” section in
Sibeilus X. But I could only “fix” each section two bars at a time. This was a disaster! Even
though all of what I had was quantized, many of the musical notes did not look professional.
I felt like I created a big mess without intending on it to happen. Many other composers did
the notation first which was unusual for them. But I cannot even imagine how anyone can
work with the mockup first and them move to notation. Just looking at bad musical
grammar in general made my head hurt. The classical voice in my head was screaming for
breaks from all the black ink which laid on the page. This is probably why the first draft took
the most time than the others.
Despite all these difficulties, I learned what I can or cannot do or tolerate.
Furthermore, I will keep these lessons in mind as I proceed to the future and hope that I do
not repeat them.
!xxvii
9. Sound Design
In the post production stages, I listened to the reference film11 and I felt as though
the sounds that they had were not quite as cinematic and large as they could be,
particularly the explosions. Another aspect in the sound design section would be the “alien
tech” I felt as if the sounds for the alien tech could sound a little more foreign to the
earthling ear. I described this to the sound designer who needed more examples for her
sound design reel.
In the sound design stages, I wanted to be sure that the “good side” sounds were
transposed a little higher than the “bad guy” sounds. During this process, I worked
alongside my sound-designer Joyce within Ableton (a D.A.W. that I have not used before)
to create many sounds. In order to create these unusual sounds, we layered many different
sounds on top of one another keeping in mind the high, mid and low end.
During this process, we created a few sounds that we re-used frequently. Primarily,
the sound for Captain Marvel’s “boost” of energy when she flies faster, her pulsating
energy, and her lazer beams that she shoots with her arms. In order to create her “boost”
sound, we used: a lazer-beam sound, transposed growl, and a swoosh in order to create
this effect. For a pulsating energy (as energy in the film is being radiated off her) she
synthesized a pulsating synth. Finally with her lazer beams, I combined the lazer sound with
an explosion to make the sound have more impact.
The difficulty, however, in this section, was to create sounds to distinguish between
the evil and the good. Both sides used similar alien technology, but Captain Marvel
repurposed that technology towards good. To create this distinction, I chose to make the
11
Captain Marvel. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Performed by Brie Larson. Captain Marvel.
!xxviii
sounds more lower in transposition when the bad side uses this technology. When the good
side approaches, I use the same sounds but transposed to a higher pitch to make the
sound “brighter”.
The two timing devices that I learned in this sound design process were impacts,
and shots. Explosions or punches, were timed based on impact, meaning you time the
sounds to when they happen. However, with lazer beam sections I noticed that each sound
was late using this method. As soon as I saw the first frame of the “bullet” or flow of energy
in Captain Marvel’s case, I added the sound in this place to make the shot on time.
Learning Ableton was a new challenge in and of itself, but I benefited highly from
learning the transpose, gain stage, and crossfade in this software. If I were to do this kind of
audio manipulation in pro tools, it would have taken more time to process and find the
correct plug-in to do the same manipulation I did in Ableton instead of just clicking on the
clip and moving a fader or a knob. Learning the timing and distinguishing the “good” from
the “bad” the impact or shot improved my sound design knowledge highly.
!xxix
10. Dialogue
As mentioned previously, I did not have much dialogue which was intentional
because I wanted to purely focus on the music. There are a few lines however, that I needed
to record as per (See table 2 Below).
Table 2: Dialogue
Time
(approx)
Name
Line
00:20
Nick Fury
What the hell was that?
00:24
Ronan
Deploy Ballistic Warheads
00:34
Other Bad
Guy
Thats Impossible
00:35
Ronan
C3 Doesn’t have a defense system advanced enough to
defend itself
00:48
Ronan
Take her Down
1:02
Captain
Marvel
Ugh
1:07
Captain
Marvel
Woo
2:01
Ronan
Return to the jump point, we will be back for the weapon….
The woman
For this section, I also was the role of a voice director. For the cast, I remembered
my fellow colleagues as well as the ones that I talked to as a GA at the lab to create a cast
list (Table 3 on pg. 31).
!xxx
Table 3: Voice-Over Actors
Character
Name
Nick Fury
Stephen Baynes
Ronan
Simon Tomas
Other Bad Guy
Joe Pietro
Captain Marvel
Elena Diaz Mateo
After meeting with Pablo, I realized that the best way to mix dialogue with film is to
keep the sound dry, compress, and keep the total mix under -14 Dbs. I applied this
dialogue mixing technique to my final mix but now on three separate busses: Dialogue,
Music, and Sound Effects.
!xxxi
11. Mixing
In an unusual way, the mixing was much simpler than usual. Since the room was so
well treated, I did not have very much mixing to do. During the mixing process I felt that all
I needed to add was EQ on the submixes and automate the volume. However, the difficulty
was adding in the stems and trying to get the stems to mix well with the orchestra. I also
wondered if it would be better to use another form of percussion instead particularly
towards the form of electronics in order to convey a science fiction film.
In order to make the stem: Taiko’s in Action Strikes (by Kontact) sound as if they
were in the same space, we had to add a long dark reverb from altiverb (by AudioEase) to
make the space sound similar to Air Studios.
After meeting with Pablo, most of the changes during my mixing session were very
small. He showed me that one of the stems was clipping and to reprint the same one at a
lower volume. After a few minutes, he applied very light EQ to the entire mix and
mentioned that I could add a bit more reverb if needed. Probably the most difficult part of
the mixing process was mixing all the music, dialogue, and sound effects at the same time.
!xxxii
12. Mastering
The first time I started mastering, it was in Studio B05. That was probably my first
mistake because when I mixed in the other studios it did not have as many changes to the
sound as they did in the speakers in this studio. The low end was completely out of control
and I felt as if I had to compress so much in order to gain the same mix that I had before.
Even then, the processing in O-zone 8 was already so much. Despite my lack of experience
as a mixer, even I thought this was too much.
I had to go back to previous versions in order to find my last saved version and
decided to wait until the mixing section with Pablo in order to understand my mix before I
even attempted to master. Instead of using one of my frequencies that I boosted in the EQ
as an expander, he recommended I use a high shelf to make the other part of the mix
sound more balanced instead of just one frequency itself. I brought the previous version,
and overall the mixing session went way better than I thought originally. This was reflected
in my mastering session with very light EQ processing and dynamic EQ but the musical
outcome itself was fantastic.
!xxxiii
13. Conclusion
Overall, I have learned so much in the process despite the issues and difficulties that
I had experienced in order to get the final product that I have now. A lot of what I had was
by myself, but much of it was a group effort. I now understand the turmoils of being a film
composer in the industry and the lengths we have to go to make things happen.
In this process, I also learned how to not focus so much on what the world wanted
me to do but to focus on what I wanted to do. This was also a challenge in many ways
because I am a very indecisive individual with the willingness to grow. Although I had a few
different projects in mind I was put in a position where I had to be the one making
decisions.
Despite the fact that I am one of the younger composers of the group, I think I still
have time to practice and grow to the level that many of my colleagues are. My C.E. served
as a stepping stone towards my own goals of self-improvement both as a composer, voice
director, mixer, attempted-mastering engineer, somewhat sound-designer, and as an overall
character. I hope to continue the work that I have started here at Berklee and make the
most out of this composer life to the fullest and continue to self-improve day-by-day and be
that woman of war who fights for what she believes in.
!xxxiv
Appendix:
Appendix A: Glossary of Terminology
Name
Definition
D.A.W.
Digital Audio Workstation - A software to work
on audio (Logic Pro)
Temp
A track that is a placeholder before the real
music
Motif
A small musical gesture that usually is around a
beat
Destination Note
A note that the motif lands on
C.E.
Culminating Experience, a Berklee Graduate
Project which includes a paper
Mixing
A post-production process of balancing the
audio with many tracks
Conductor
Someone who waves a stick around in hopes
that the musicians will understand
MIDI
Musical data which contains: How long a note is
pressed, when it will stop, how hard you press
said note, what note it is, etc.
Notation
The act of putting dots and lines on paper to
compose in a musical language
Notation Software (Sibelius)
A software that does this notation for you (see
notation)
O-Zone 8
An Isotope Mastering Plugin
Plugin
An external window that usually connects to a
DAW (See DAW) and provides an external outlet
for more sound manipulation
Mastering
The process of mixing audio with a single track
and deals particularly with loudness
Slur
A round line which indicates phrasing or bowing
(strings), breath (instruments that need to
breathe), and for percussionists to let ring.
Duck Tail
Alfons’s way of describing a moving melody
!xxxv
Appendix B: Version 1 Revision 3
!xxxvi
Appendix C: Example 5.3
Wonder Woman Rhythmic Ostinato Measure 56-57
Captain Marvel Rhythmic Ostinato 14-17
!xxxvii
Appendix D: Air Studio Microphone Date List and
Locations:
!xxxviii
Appendix E: Air Studio Performers
!xxxix
Discography: Sources and Motivations
Orchestra, Alfred Music. “Wonder Woman, Arr. Victor López – Score & Sound.”
YouTube, YouTube, 30 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcYG4RBdKNI
Brown, Nate “Online Drummer: Army Military Marching Beat”, 2008.
!xl
Bibliography
Brown, Nate “Online Drummer: Army Military Marching Beat”, 2008.
Burlingame, J. (2019). Another Record for ‘Captain Marvel’: It’s the Top-Grossing
Movie Scored by a Woman. [online] Variety. Available at: https://variety.com/2019/
film/news/captain-marvel-composer-pinar-toprak-top-grossing-movie-scoredby-woman-1203159811/ [Accessed 19 Jun. 2019].
Captain Marvel. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Performed by Brie Larson.
Captain Marvel.
Orchestra, Alfred Music. “Wonder Woman, Arr. Victor López – Score & Sound.”
YouTube, YouTube, 30 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?
v=CcYG4RBdKNI.
Shareef, Umar. "Zelect." Home Appliance, Electronics Selectors, Buying Guides in
India. January 09, 2017. Accessed June 23, 2019. http://www.zelect.in/
inverter/square-wave-inverter-vs-sine-wave-inverter.
TheCGBros. "CGI 3D Animated Short "Scrambled" - by Rubberbrain | TheCGBros."
YouTube. September 20, 2016. Accessed June 23, 2019. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDDF0pWYo8Q&t=3s.
!xli
Woman of War
Scoring to Captain Marvel
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of
Master in Music in Scoring for Film, TV, and Videogames
Supervisor: Alfons Conde
By Julie McCarthy
Valencia Campus, Spain
July, 2019
Table of Contents
Abstract
iv
Acknowledgements
v
1. Introduction
vii
2. CE Selections:
ix
3. Composition: Woman of War
xi
3.1 Sources of Inspiration
xi
3.2 Similarity #1: Rising Ostinato with Melody
xii
3.3 Similarity #2: Rhythmic Ostinato
xiii
3.4 Similarity #3: Growing Motif
xiii
4. Film Analysis
xv
4.1 Visuals Corresponding to Music
xv
5. Edits/Drafts/Revisions
xix
5.1 Version I
xix
5.2 Version II
xix
5.3 Version III
xx
5.4 Version IV
xx
5.5 Version V
xx
6. Layered Orchestration Analysis
xxii
7. Recording
xxiv
8. Issues/Challenges:
xxvii
9. Sound Design
xxviii
10. Dialogue
xxx
11. Mixing
xxxii
12. Mastering
xxxiii
13. Conclusion
xxxiv
Appendix:
xxxv
Appendix A: Glossary of Terminology
xxxv
Appendix B: Version 1 Revision 3
xxxvi
Appendix C: Example 5.3
xxxvii
Appendix D: Air Studio Microphone Date List and Locations:
xxxviii
!ii
Appendix E: Air Studio Performers
xxxix
Discography: Sources and Motivations
xl
Bibliography
xli
!iii
Abstract
Woman of War is a final project that sought to reflect my challenges, dreams, as well as
establishing a sense of who I am as a composer. As an indecisive individual whom grew
from two different cultures, (American and Chinese) I wanted to find a piece that truly
identifies who I was. The project is a reflection of what I have learned from Berklee College
of Music in mixture with my childhood dreams of being able to write for Superheroes in the
near future. This thesis explains my entire process from inspiration, to theme, and finally to
screen. In addition, I included an analysis on the similarities between my source of
inspiration, how the music reflects through film, and an layered orchestration analysis.
Keywords: Composition, Film Scoring, Themes, Identity, Dreams, Orchestration.
!iv
Acknowledgements
I am extremely gracious to all those whom have supported my goals whether
it is: teaching me to learn the skills necessary to succeed, supporting my goals
financially, making me laugh when it seems as if all hope is lost (Joe) or even those
who wish to support me in spirit.
I would like to graciously thank my professors (Lucio Godoy, Sergio Lacima,
Vincente Ortiz Gimeno, Pablo Schuller, and Alfons Conde) for their patience, time,
and help in order for me to succeed. Thank you Lucio for always being an open
source of understanding and for that, I feel like I can confide in you with anything
good or bad and you can offer great advice.
Sergio, thank you for your compositional and orchestral advice, I learned so
much about orchestration and transcription and your conducting class really pushed
me to become a better transcriber as well as sight-reader. I look up to your work as
a conductor and now forevermore, I have a tendency to conduct almost every time I
listen to a piece with the score.
Thank you Vincente for answering my endless questions during direct studies
and your willingness to give great mockup advice. I hope to be as lucky as you to
go to LA for a week and get a job.
Thank you Pablo for your outstanding patience with my mixing and learning. I
have learned a great deal from you about mixing and (even though my ears are not
the best) I will continue to practice so that perhaps I can own my own home studio.
!v
I also want to say thank you for my colleagues for your help, even though I
am a GA, I learn so much more from talking to you from sharing a conversation with
coffee, to sharing each other’s works at the lab. All of you are very talented in
different ways, I have no doubt that you will succeed in wherever you may end up
doing. Thanks Laura for checking and constantly making me a better composer
(Eres mi buena amiga).
Captain Marvel is known as one of the first top-grossing, big budget film by a
female composer Pinar Toprak. 1 Her story paved a way for young composers like
myself to dream high regardless of how or what I may identify. I would like to
strongly acknowledge and thank Pinar for her efforts to accomplish her dreams so
that others (like myself) may follow.
Thank you to my wonderful partner-in-crime (not really), Joyce for supporting
me when I need it, being there when I need it most, and making me me feel better
when I feel down. Thank you Marcela for being a friend when I need one, someone
to laugh with when I need it, I know you might be worried about the next year to
come, but I know that whatever you may end up doing, you will continue to exceed
expectations beyond measure.
Also, I want to thank the librarians (Sol Vargas and Tsun-Ju Lin) for being so
supportive and informative especially in my exploration in new editions and new
books to add to the library.
1. Burlingame, J. “Another Record for ‘Captain Marvel’: It’s the Top-Grossing Movie Scored by a
Woman.” Captain Marvel Composer Pinar Toprak Top Grossing Movie Scored by a Woman. https://variety.com/
2019/film/news/captain-marvel-composer-pinar-toprak-top-grossing-movie-scored-by-woman-1203159811/
(retrieved 19 Jun. 2019).
!vi
1. Introduction
As a classically trained musician in the conservatory life of composition, I wanted to
branch myself further into the film industry because I did not find much joy in writing for the
concert setting. The compositional niche I realized did not reach a very large audience, and
the support for living composers in the concert settings was centered around academia.
After I attended the Palomar Film Scoring Workshop, I felt like writing music to a multitude
of other media enhanced the audiences understanding of the environment in conjunction
with the music.
Because of this fascination and the lack of experience in this area thereof, I decided
to approach this CE project differently than most of my usual assignments. Meaning, I
started writing with the mockup first, and then notation second. I really wanted to start
writing in a way where I was able to practice un-learning my classical background in order
to expand my horizons to something different. Although I may or may not start this way in
the future, I want to be open to the possibility that I can focus purely on the absolute music
and not so much on the little notational details.
I am a HUGE superhero fanatic and because of that, I have always wanted to write
large orchestral arrangements with themes that demonstrate a certain character resembling
empowerment. Part of why I became a huge superhero fan, was because of my absence of
control in my life. As someone who was adopted from China due to the one-child-policy, I
felt a majority of my life was based on my worth. Therefore, I was always constantly doing
something productive to makeup for the lack thereof in order to prove that I was worth
something to someone or somebody. Perhaps this explains my workaholic tendencies, my
!vii
difficulties in relaxing, but now in this CE project, I wanted to focus on what I wanted to do
and do this for me, and nobody else. As I am writing this introduction now, this feeling still
gives me the shivers as I am not accustomed to putting my wants above others.
!viii
2. CE Selections:
After many e-mails to my director contacts over winter break, the first selection I
wanted to use was for my C.E. was for a Dungeons and Dragons webinar series for
LiquidLuck Productions. Before I came to Berklee, I managed to network with the lead
producers of this production company in Denver. However, there were a few issues which
came with this project (Please see issues pg. 24).
As an emergency alternative, I found a chicken animation that I wanted to re-sound
design and score for over spring break.2 It was, in Alfons Conde’s words “Perfect” in the
ways that it was exactly three minutes long (which fit the maximum C.E. length). I started
writing to this film with the intent of trying to make the music sound Disney-like. After a
score reduction, temp track, and many score analysis, I realized that this film did not require
many instruments. As it is a cartoon-like comedy, the whole film could be done with a
simple woodwind quartet. When I started writing, Conde commented that it harmonically
did not make much sense. Either way, I gave up on this scene because I felt I would not be
able to fully utilize the fifty-one full orchestra in Air Studios for my final project.
Finally, the last C.E. which was brought to my attention by my colleague Cordane
Richardson, was Captain Marvel. As I scoured through the entire movie looking for a three
minute scene with few dialogues and the need for dramatic music, I eventually found my
C.E. during the scene when Captain Marvel swoops up to defend earth from an alien
species with a foreign nuclear missile. In the film, there were many examples of the heroic
Captain Marvel rising above the challenges and standing up to what she knew was morally
2 TheCGBros, "CGI 3D Animated Short "Scrambled" - by Rubberbrain | TheCGBros," YouTube,
September 20, 2016, accessed June 23, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDDF0pWYo8Q&t=3s.
!ix
right. What attracted me to this scene was that it was constantly building like bricks one on
top of the other. Therefore it was a challenge to the composer musically to accommodate
these building blocks with small changes and to convey and repeat the theme in a
multitude of ways without losing the attention of the listener.
!x
3. Composition: Woman of War
The Cue “Woman of War” was actually chosen by a quote from Captain Marvel.
Previously, I had a temporary placeholder “Reaching for the Stars” which I found to be too
clichés. The quote from the comic book goes:
My name is Captain Marvel... I am an Earthling and an Avenger. But today I
stand as one with the settlers of Torfa, who clam this planet and its
resources as they were freely given in the aftermath of the Behemoth
disaster... They are a peaceful people, but I am a woman of war. If you move
against them, you move against me. I am willing to die here today, for this
cause. I have made my choice... Now you make yours.3
I used this quote in the title of the score along with a visual. I felt it gave more
context to the character in writing than just the music itself.
As mentioned in my introduction, this was the first time that I started by D.A.W.
(Digital Audio Interface) instead of writing by hand with my conservatory training. This
method opened my mind a bit more, but also complicated my notation more than I had
anticipated (See Issues pg. 24). Despite these issues, I did come up with probably my best
mockup that I have made thus far with a score (See Appendix A).
3.1 Sources of Inspiration
What influenced my first draft was first Rupert Gregson William’s Score for Wonder
Woman.4 Although I did not intentionally mimic this arrangement, (as it was meant to be a
reference) there are a numerous amount of coincidental similarities.
3
Moore, Alan, Earth 616, UK, Captain Marvel, (Earth 616)
4 Orchestra, Alfred Music. “Wonder Woman, Arr. Victor López – Score & Sound.” YouTube, YouTube, 30
Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcYG4RBdKNI.
!xi
3.2 Similarity #1: Rising Ostinato with Melody
The staccato texture in measure 22 in the woodwinds and violas reflected the
ostinatio on top of the long melodic brass line reflect similarly to my piece. Like William’s
Wonder Woman, his cue is a piece which continues to build (see figure 1).
Figure 1. Wonder Woman composed by Rupert Gregson Williams Arr. Victor Lopez (m.
1-8)5
Figure 2. Captain Marvel Rescore Version 9 Revision 5: Woodwinds (m. 14-16) 6
However, instead of having the a single woodwind player repeat the 8th note
pattern, I exchanged the one measure ostinato between many instruments in order to let
each of the performers breathe and expand my orchestral color palette. I intentionally let
the performer continue one note into the next measure in order to create continuity
between the instruments instead of creating a sudden change between different
Orchestra, Alfred Music. “Wonder Woman, Arr. Victor López – Score & Sound.” YouTube, YouTube, 30
Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcYG4RBdKNI.
5
6
Ibid
!xii
instruments. As I am a visual learner, I think about this effect like a sine wave vs. a square
wave (See Figure 3.)
Figure 3: Sine vs. Square Wave Visual7
3.3 Similarity #2: Rhythmic Ostinato
Another similarity would be the percussive example in measure 56 with the rhythmic
ostinato in the strings (Appendix C). The main differences between the ostinati’s would be
the time signatures changes in William’s Score between 3/4 to 4/4 while I maintained the
4/4 throughout. Next, my ostinato is four bars while William’s Wonder Woman contains two.
3.4 Similarity #3: Growing Motif
The next resemblance I would like to mention is the growing motif in William’s cue
(below) as well as mine (pg 12). Another unusual coincidence is that we both doubled the
Strings and Horns on this particular motif. In page 12, each repetition of the motif is:
1
3
2
Figure 4: William’s Growing Motif: Measure 96-103
7
Shareef, Umar. "Zelect." Home Appliance, Electronics Selectors, Buying Guides in
India. January 09, 2017. Accessed June 23, 2019. http://www.zelect.in/inverter/square-wave-invertervs-sine-wave-inverter.
!xiii
represented by each number. Each box indicates the “growing motif” and finally the blue
box demonstrates the desired destination note.
As each of the repetitions of the growing motif happen, the destination note
(indicated by the blue box) grows higher. For example on the second staff, the destination
note G3 and then reiterated in the next growing motif as G5, next as B5. To continue this
pattern, it is also represented in my cue as indicated below.
2
Figure 5: Captain Marvel measure 54-60
Although my destination notes and growing motif is drastically different, the outcome is
very parallel between one and another.
!xiv
4. Film Analysis
4.1 Visuals Corresponding to Music
The first two seconds appear as an immediate swoosh as Captain Marvel flies
through the air. In order to accommodate those “swoosh” moments before the change to a
new area, I wrote a very quick run in the orchestra to not only depict the visuals in a diagetic
manner but also in a musical sense as well.
When Captain Marvel first appears (below), the first two notes of the Captain Marvel
theme appear as well as she abruptly turns to realize that the aliens have come to invade.
Figure 6: Captain Marvel: (0:20) 8
Figure 7: Swoosh Run Figure (m.1) as indicated (left)
8
Captain Marvel. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Performed by Brie Larson. Captain Marvel.
!xv
As the alien ships appear in a flickering ball of light, the snare comes in with the string
ostinato. The snare, is intentionally military-like as demonstrated by an example below.
Figure 8: Army Beat Example: Online Drummer9
I particularly chose this mood to not only represent the war-like battle between
Captain Marvel and the aliens, but also to reflect on Captain Marvel’s background alias
Carol Danvers. Carol Danvers (or Captain Marvel) is in the US Air Force. Although it is a bit
of an old fashioned musical cliché to reflect, it does work when put in the right epic context
such as film score.
Figure 9: Captain Marvel (m. 14-16)
The next part of the musical score alongside the film, would be the sense of
hopelessness when the alien race shoots the (what I think is) nuclear bombs to destroy
9
Brown, Nate “Online Drummer: Army Military Marching Beat”, 2008.
!xvi
earth. The tempo musically maintains consistent, but the rhythm of the notes are
augmented to make the listener seem like the music is slowing down. I also purposefully
chose this moment to make the viewer seem like time is slowing down.
Figure 10: Captain Marvel 0:4910
As it seems all hope is lost, there is a stream that appears in the sky which is Captain
Marvel rising to defend Earth. The taiko comes in when this stream appears and the
growing motif (as mentioned previously) comes out of the String and Brass section to
emulate the struggle Captain Marvel has to push the bomb towards the enemies in mid-air.
As the single bomb knocks the others into a dramatic explosion, Captain Marvel flies once
more with the musical swoosh through the fire and flames without a scratch.
The theme of Captain Marvel appears in the horns (See Figure 11 Below):
Figure 11: Captain Marvel: Rehearsal F
As this theme is elaborated, it grows with more intensity as the blue alien species send in
reinforcements to take Captain Marvel down. The rhythmic section, (See Section 3.3)
10
Captain Marvel. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Performed by Brie Larson. Captain Marvel.
!xvii
features a melodic iteration of the theme. As Brie Larson (Captain Marvel) smashes through
the spaceships with her bare hands, the heroic Captain Marvel grows along with more
orchestration till she smashes through one or the larger alien ships to a 6/8 section.
Finally, the musical swoosh comes back in a grand finale with a monophonic tutti as
she uses her power to explode in a big ball of light. This is represented in the presented
timeline below:
Timeline 1: Brief Scene with Emotional Musical Analysis
!xviii
5. Edits/Drafts/Revisions
5.1 Version I
My first version of Captain Marvel took the most time. As mentioned previously, I
worked from DAW to Sibelius, mockup to notation; but the main issue for me as the
classical composer was: this was not my process. One of the main benefits of writing the
mockup was to be focused purely on absolute music in the means of not being obsessed
with the theoretical aspect. However, there were a series of issues in this draft because I
tried to make it sound bigger and doubled many instruments in unison in order to maintain
a “big Hollywood” sound (See Appendix B).
5.2 Version II
After meeting with Alfons during direct study, there were sections which appeared
as 5/8 and even 7/8 which concerned him. He told me to change these immediately to a
simple meter such as 3/4 and 4/4. At first, I was a little hesitant, but then I proceeded to
think about the overall piece. I thought that I would just like the greatest possible outcome
of this eighteen minute recording, so I reflected his change.
In the second version of the score, there were various moments of unusual sharps
that I changed in this piece. The G# was quite a prominent error throughout the cue but
was changed in a latter version. Since the 7/8 was then transformed later to a 4/4, Alfons
also suggested that it would be in my best interest to make the section only with eight
notes and eight-note rests in order to avoid confusion in the orchestra (See Appendix D).
The next change, would be make the runs easier. This also was brought up once
more in the third version but in a different context.
!xix
5.3 Version III
The next revision was the final direct study. Alfons mentioned that the run should
lead up to the B instead of going from the A to the B. When I thought about the run and
how it is meant to fluctuate as a scale from one note to another, I could see where he was
coming from. I also made the runs a bit easier on the orchestra instead of ten tuplets to a
simple straight sixteenth notes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much time during this section
as I did in previous revisions, but I was able to get Sergio’s input during my conducting
practice (See Appendix E).
5.4 Version IV
During my time conducting in office hours with Sergio, he was able to distinguish
that the mockup was different than the notation. This was somewhat intentional as I felt as if
the piece constantly needed more revisions particularly within the realm of arrangement
and orchestration, and I did not want to continue to write many mockups for each revision
until it is finalized.
Sergio responded to my piece as it being hard to read and too many divisions in the
strings. Therefore in the next updated cue, I eliminated the two staves and moved them all
into one. There was still some divisi, but it definitely was not divided into four different
violin I’s. As per Sergio’s comment, I turned to my good friend Laura for advice.
5.5 Version V
Laura looked over the score, and she also agreed with Sergio’s comment about the
score being too hard to read. She recommended I “duck tail” or move around the melody
in the woodwinds so that they would have time to breathe. In addition, the main comment
to which she mentioned in this revision was “Less is more” or “simple is better”. She also
!xx
recommended that the unison should not be performed by all the performers and that
doubling more than one instrument does not always mean a bigger sound.
I took these thoughts and rearranged the entire score once more and talked to her
the next day in order to see if I followed her instructions. During this period of last minute
rearrangement (as the deadline was the next day for all projects), I quickly rushed and
worked all day at the lab once more to strive for the final push before the deadline. This
final version ended up being the last and final draft for my C.E. This was about the time
period where I found my finalized title “Woman of War”.
!xxi
6. Layered Orchestration Analysis
As per the layered concept of foreground, middle, and background, I would say that
the final version contained more brass in the foreground, strings in the middle, and the
woodwinds in the background (See Table 1).
Table 1: Layered Analysis
Layered
Orchestral Analysis
Rehearsal Letter
Foreground
Middle
Background
A -> B
Horns (m. 2-9)
Strings (m.2-9)
Woodwinds (m.2-9)
B -> C
Horns (m. 11-13)
Trumpets (m.11-13)
Tuba (m.11-13)
C->D
Woodwinds (m. 14-22)
Strings (m. 14-22)
n/a
D-> E
Horns (m. 22-19)
Strings (m. 22-29)
WW (m. 22-29)
E->F
Horns (m. 30-44)
Strings (m. 30-44)
WW (m. 30-44)
F -> G
Horns (m.44-53)
Strings (m.44-53)
n/a
G->H
Horns (54-70)
Strings (m.54-70)
WW (m. 54-70)
H -> I
Strings (71-74)
Strings (m.75-77)
n/a
Strings (m.83-91)
n/a
Woodwinds (74-77)
I -> End
Woodwinds, Brass (m.
83-end)
Strings are added (m.
91-end)
I primarily wanted to focus on having the brass or the Horn section as being the
prominent area of melody because it is a super heroic scene and the cliché of a Horn
playing the melody works in this context. Since staccatos are well used in the Woodwinds,
strings are better in runs, I decided to use these families as more of my middle and
background to complement the melodic content in the brass.
!xxii
Although there were moments where I felt the melody needed a more softer touch,
I sometimes doubled the strings with the brass in order to create a softer timbre mixture
between the two.
!xxiii
7. Recording
During the recording process, I was completely nervous. Because of all the versions
as well as changes arrangement-wise changes, I was checking everything many times. I
entered a strong score-paranoia where I was constantly trying to fix whatever I could before
the recording time.
Because I was so obsessed and focused on the score, I failed to notice that the click
was playing in quarters instead of dotted quarters in the 6/8 measure in measure 71 in letter
H. This was also mentioned in the recording notes from Air Studios (below).
Figure 12: Recording Notes from Air Studios
During the 5/8 measure, it was recommended that instead of having all five clicks of
the measure that I have only: quarter (2) + eighth (1) + quarter (2). I think even though I told
the players in advance, this change was still too difficult for them. This was changed in the
eighteen minutes to be divided into eighths. One brief issue that I realized with the suscymbal is that I had the percussionist was playing the full two bars instead of just ending on
one and letting ring. This was changed by the percussionist on the second time around.
When I re-read my score once more, I then saw the confusion (Figure 13).
Figure 13: Captain Marvel (m.1) Percussion
!xxiv
I realized that it was because the whole note in bar two that was present, therefore it
was easily mistaken that he would play through the whole two bars instead of letting ring
on the second. I now know for future to end on the second bar in a quarter note with a slur
and a note that says “let ring” to avoid this confusion.
There were quite a bit of questions in the end which I should have mentioned to the
orchestra first. I think I was just so nervous that I might have just forgotten. The ending is on
a fermata being the largest note I should have mentioned. The intent was not to end on
that measure, but for the orchestra to watch me to cut them off in the end. This did not
happen the first take however for obvious reasons.
Before I went up on the podium, I had a big plan where I would focus on in the
orchestra, particularly in the 7/8 against the melodic 4/4. But in an instant, this fifty-one
piece orchestra’s eight notes was already so tight by the first take. I was stumped in a way, I
thought we would have more to work on but there weren’t any major issues that I found.
Even if there were issues, as the one of the younger composers in the room, I would have
felt awkward telling a professional musician how to “do their job”.
I was also terrified to work with the first time with large industry professionals. I was
also unaware that Jill (the score preparation professional for Hans Zimmer) would be in
attendance. I was scared to have my parts being read by the main score preparation. All I
could think in my head was: “I am not worthy!” But of course I kept my mouth shut and let
her decide for herself. For the first time in a recording session this year at Berklee, all of us
had absolutely zero complaints.
After the sessions, the players mentioned all the issues that they encountered with
our pieces. The flautist was enthusiastic to mention the instrument changes… no surprise
!xxv
there! They also mentioned to have a plan before the recording and to not be so shy to get
what you want out of your music. Air Studios also provided all of the students with notes as
well as a microphone list (see Appendix D) and a list of all the performers (Appendix E).
Overall, I think the session went better than expected, and I gained a lot of experience as
well as growth working and composing in a professional environment.
!xxvi
8. Issues/Challenges:
The first issue with the project about the Dungeons and Dragons project, was that
they haven’t shot it yet. Even though they added temp tracks to the project and will edit to
my music, I needed visuals in order to complete my final C.E. I unfortunately never received
the footage till this day and I guess in this case I am glad I found another project to
substitute.
The difficulty of working from a MIDI to a notation software is that the music looks
like a new foreign dialect with a lot of black ink on paper. For two days, I practically lived in
the lab in order to clean up this notation as best as possible with the “clean up” section in
Sibeilus X. But I could only “fix” each section two bars at a time. This was a disaster! Even
though all of what I had was quantized, many of the musical notes did not look professional.
I felt like I created a big mess without intending on it to happen. Many other composers did
the notation first which was unusual for them. But I cannot even imagine how anyone can
work with the mockup first and them move to notation. Just looking at bad musical
grammar in general made my head hurt. The classical voice in my head was screaming for
breaks from all the black ink which laid on the page. This is probably why the first draft took
the most time than the others.
Despite all these difficulties, I learned what I can or cannot do or tolerate.
Furthermore, I will keep these lessons in mind as I proceed to the future and hope that I do
not repeat them.
!xxvii
9. Sound Design
In the post production stages, I listened to the reference film11 and I felt as though
the sounds that they had were not quite as cinematic and large as they could be,
particularly the explosions. Another aspect in the sound design section would be the “alien
tech” I felt as if the sounds for the alien tech could sound a little more foreign to the
earthling ear. I described this to the sound designer who needed more examples for her
sound design reel.
In the sound design stages, I wanted to be sure that the “good side” sounds were
transposed a little higher than the “bad guy” sounds. During this process, I worked
alongside my sound-designer Joyce within Ableton (a D.A.W. that I have not used before)
to create many sounds. In order to create these unusual sounds, we layered many different
sounds on top of one another keeping in mind the high, mid and low end.
During this process, we created a few sounds that we re-used frequently. Primarily,
the sound for Captain Marvel’s “boost” of energy when she flies faster, her pulsating
energy, and her lazer beams that she shoots with her arms. In order to create her “boost”
sound, we used: a lazer-beam sound, transposed growl, and a swoosh in order to create
this effect. For a pulsating energy (as energy in the film is being radiated off her) she
synthesized a pulsating synth. Finally with her lazer beams, I combined the lazer sound with
an explosion to make the sound have more impact.
The difficulty, however, in this section, was to create sounds to distinguish between
the evil and the good. Both sides used similar alien technology, but Captain Marvel
repurposed that technology towards good. To create this distinction, I chose to make the
11
Captain Marvel. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Performed by Brie Larson. Captain Marvel.
!xxviii
sounds more lower in transposition when the bad side uses this technology. When the good
side approaches, I use the same sounds but transposed to a higher pitch to make the
sound “brighter”.
The two timing devices that I learned in this sound design process were impacts,
and shots. Explosions or punches, were timed based on impact, meaning you time the
sounds to when they happen. However, with lazer beam sections I noticed that each sound
was late using this method. As soon as I saw the first frame of the “bullet” or flow of energy
in Captain Marvel’s case, I added the sound in this place to make the shot on time.
Learning Ableton was a new challenge in and of itself, but I benefited highly from
learning the transpose, gain stage, and crossfade in this software. If I were to do this kind of
audio manipulation in pro tools, it would have taken more time to process and find the
correct plug-in to do the same manipulation I did in Ableton instead of just clicking on the
clip and moving a fader or a knob. Learning the timing and distinguishing the “good” from
the “bad” the impact or shot improved my sound design knowledge highly.
!xxix
10. Dialogue
As mentioned previously, I did not have much dialogue which was intentional
because I wanted to purely focus on the music. There are a few lines however, that I needed
to record as per (See table 2 Below).
Table 2: Dialogue
Time
(approx)
Name
Line
00:20
Nick Fury
What the hell was that?
00:24
Ronan
Deploy Ballistic Warheads
00:34
Other Bad
Guy
Thats Impossible
00:35
Ronan
C3 Doesn’t have a defense system advanced enough to
defend itself
00:48
Ronan
Take her Down
1:02
Captain
Marvel
Ugh
1:07
Captain
Marvel
Woo
2:01
Ronan
Return to the jump point, we will be back for the weapon….
The woman
For this section, I also was the role of a voice director. For the cast, I remembered
my fellow colleagues as well as the ones that I talked to as a GA at the lab to create a cast
list (Table 3 on pg. 31).
!xxx
Table 3: Voice-Over Actors
Character
Name
Nick Fury
Stephen Baynes
Ronan
Simon Tomas
Other Bad Guy
Joe Pietro
Captain Marvel
Elena Diaz Mateo
After meeting with Pablo, I realized that the best way to mix dialogue with film is to
keep the sound dry, compress, and keep the total mix under -14 Dbs. I applied this
dialogue mixing technique to my final mix but now on three separate busses: Dialogue,
Music, and Sound Effects.
!xxxi
11. Mixing
In an unusual way, the mixing was much simpler than usual. Since the room was so
well treated, I did not have very much mixing to do. During the mixing process I felt that all
I needed to add was EQ on the submixes and automate the volume. However, the difficulty
was adding in the stems and trying to get the stems to mix well with the orchestra. I also
wondered if it would be better to use another form of percussion instead particularly
towards the form of electronics in order to convey a science fiction film.
In order to make the stem: Taiko’s in Action Strikes (by Kontact) sound as if they
were in the same space, we had to add a long dark reverb from altiverb (by AudioEase) to
make the space sound similar to Air Studios.
After meeting with Pablo, most of the changes during my mixing session were very
small. He showed me that one of the stems was clipping and to reprint the same one at a
lower volume. After a few minutes, he applied very light EQ to the entire mix and
mentioned that I could add a bit more reverb if needed. Probably the most difficult part of
the mixing process was mixing all the music, dialogue, and sound effects at the same time.
!xxxii
12. Mastering
The first time I started mastering, it was in Studio B05. That was probably my first
mistake because when I mixed in the other studios it did not have as many changes to the
sound as they did in the speakers in this studio. The low end was completely out of control
and I felt as if I had to compress so much in order to gain the same mix that I had before.
Even then, the processing in O-zone 8 was already so much. Despite my lack of experience
as a mixer, even I thought this was too much.
I had to go back to previous versions in order to find my last saved version and
decided to wait until the mixing section with Pablo in order to understand my mix before I
even attempted to master. Instead of using one of my frequencies that I boosted in the EQ
as an expander, he recommended I use a high shelf to make the other part of the mix
sound more balanced instead of just one frequency itself. I brought the previous version,
and overall the mixing session went way better than I thought originally. This was reflected
in my mastering session with very light EQ processing and dynamic EQ but the musical
outcome itself was fantastic.
!xxxiii
13. Conclusion
Overall, I have learned so much in the process despite the issues and difficulties that
I had experienced in order to get the final product that I have now. A lot of what I had was
by myself, but much of it was a group effort. I now understand the turmoils of being a film
composer in the industry and the lengths we have to go to make things happen.
In this process, I also learned how to not focus so much on what the world wanted
me to do but to focus on what I wanted to do. This was also a challenge in many ways
because I am a very indecisive individual with the willingness to grow. Although I had a few
different projects in mind I was put in a position where I had to be the one making
decisions.
Despite the fact that I am one of the younger composers of the group, I think I still
have time to practice and grow to the level that many of my colleagues are. My C.E. served
as a stepping stone towards my own goals of self-improvement both as a composer, voice
director, mixer, attempted-mastering engineer, somewhat sound-designer, and as an overall
character. I hope to continue the work that I have started here at Berklee and make the
most out of this composer life to the fullest and continue to self-improve day-by-day and be
that woman of war who fights for what she believes in.
!xxxiv
Appendix:
Appendix A: Glossary of Terminology
Name
Definition
D.A.W.
Digital Audio Workstation - A software to work
on audio (Logic Pro)
Temp
A track that is a placeholder before the real
music
Motif
A small musical gesture that usually is around a
beat
Destination Note
A note that the motif lands on
C.E.
Culminating Experience, a Berklee Graduate
Project which includes a paper
Mixing
A post-production process of balancing the
audio with many tracks
Conductor
Someone who waves a stick around in hopes
that the musicians will understand
MIDI
Musical data which contains: How long a note is
pressed, when it will stop, how hard you press
said note, what note it is, etc.
Notation
The act of putting dots and lines on paper to
compose in a musical language
Notation Software (Sibelius)
A software that does this notation for you (see
notation)
O-Zone 8
An Isotope Mastering Plugin
Plugin
An external window that usually connects to a
DAW (See DAW) and provides an external outlet
for more sound manipulation
Mastering
The process of mixing audio with a single track
and deals particularly with loudness
Slur
A round line which indicates phrasing or bowing
(strings), breath (instruments that need to
breathe), and for percussionists to let ring.
Duck Tail
Alfons’s way of describing a moving melody
!xxxv
Appendix B: Version 1 Revision 3
!xxxvi
Appendix C: Example 5.3
Wonder Woman Rhythmic Ostinato Measure 56-57
Captain Marvel Rhythmic Ostinato 14-17
!xxxvii
Appendix D: Air Studio Microphone Date List and
Locations:
!xxxviii
Appendix E: Air Studio Performers
!xxxix
Discography: Sources and Motivations
Orchestra, Alfred Music. “Wonder Woman, Arr. Victor López – Score & Sound.”
YouTube, YouTube, 30 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcYG4RBdKNI
Brown, Nate “Online Drummer: Army Military Marching Beat”, 2008.
!xl
Bibliography
Brown, Nate “Online Drummer: Army Military Marching Beat”, 2008.
Burlingame, J. (2019). Another Record for ‘Captain Marvel’: It’s the Top-Grossing
Movie Scored by a Woman. [online] Variety. Available at: https://variety.com/2019/
film/news/captain-marvel-composer-pinar-toprak-top-grossing-movie-scoredby-woman-1203159811/ [Accessed 19 Jun. 2019].
Captain Marvel. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Performed by Brie Larson.
Captain Marvel.
Orchestra, Alfred Music. “Wonder Woman, Arr. Victor López – Score & Sound.”
YouTube, YouTube, 30 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?
v=CcYG4RBdKNI.
Shareef, Umar. "Zelect." Home Appliance, Electronics Selectors, Buying Guides in
India. January 09, 2017. Accessed June 23, 2019. http://www.zelect.in/
inverter/square-wave-inverter-vs-sine-wave-inverter.
TheCGBros. "CGI 3D Animated Short "Scrambled" - by Rubberbrain | TheCGBros."
YouTube. September 20, 2016. Accessed June 23, 2019. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDDF0pWYo8Q&t=3s.
!xli
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