Composing for Film and Video Games gives students the knowledge and skills required to compose, mix, and produce music for film and video games. Students will analyse and examine a wide range of musical styles and approaches to scoring and learn the compositional techniques which provide the foundation of these styles. Course work includes the analysis of music in the context of the visual image, the use of technology in scoring, and a history and development of multimedia composition to the present day. Students will be composing original pieces to a variety of dramatic visual media.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- demonstrate the ability to compose original music to visual media;
- demonstrate the ability to produce complete professional quality mixes using industry standard software;
- aurally recognise and critically analyse music in its relationship to the visual image; and
- demonstrate a critical understanding of their creative decisions and their broader context within the medium.
Work Integrated Learning
Simulation/Virtual
This course gives students real world experience composing a series of tracks for film and video game clips according to prescribed briefs set by the Course Convenor, preparing them for a career as a free-lance media composer.
Indicative Assessment
- Tutorial participation (10) [LO 1,2,3,4]
- Creative Assignments, folio of short compositions to a given brief/scene (80) [LO 1,2]
- Exegesis, 600 words (10) [LO 3,4]
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Workload
130 hours of total student learning time made up from:
a) 36 hours of contact over 12 weeks including lectures, workshops, tutorials and other activities
b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
Provided on Wattle
Assumed Knowledge
A basic knowledge of digital audio workstation software
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 12
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $4020 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $5580 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9054 | 21 Jul 2025 | 28 Jul 2025 | 31 Aug 2025 | 24 Oct 2025 | In Person | N/A |