This course focuses on the orchestration and composition practices distinctive to film music. Film music exists mostly as highly post-produced recording art; its use of instrumentation, consideration of acoustics, and imagination of the sound stage are often surprisingly untethered from the responsibilities of concert music. Students compose specifically in this modern film-scoring aesthetic. The course addresses the narrative precision of film music language through extensive analysis of the orchestration and harmonic vocabulary of composers John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Joe Hisaishi, and many others. As a final project, students have an opportunity to meet and partner with animators from partner programs and compose original music for their films.