Music Research Seminar at Royal Holloway

Join us for our recent Department of Music Research Seminar, featuring some of the world's leading researchers in music.

About the seminar

"Beyond The Integrated Soundtrack: Musique Concréte and Film Scoring Practice" 

As the integrated soundtrack continues to thrive, the boundaries between sound design and score have never been so blurred. In response, media scoring has become increasingly dominated by affective shorthands, metaphysical melodies, hyperorchestration, and maximalist minimalism, with timbre becoming one of the most defining characteristics of compositional practice. Whilst opposite ends of the industry (legendary figureheads including Zimmer on the one hand, and beloved indie innovators such as Korven on the other) continue to experiment with timbre via instrumental sound generation, other composers such as Guðnadóttir are approaching timbre via field recording and scoring practice reminiscent of musiqué concrete. This paper will examine the aesthetic and theoretical implications of musique concréte in film scoring through examples such as Chernobyl and the author's own compositions from recent feature film Bleed, diving into a media world of hyperreality and diegetic sound as a compositional tool.

About the speaker

Dr Joanna Cogle is an award-winning media composer and songwriter. She studied electroacoustic music for her undergraduate and master's degrees before moving into media music. She has scored around 50 films and is a full member of BAFTA. Feature films she has scored are available via Amazon Prime and her music is regularly heard across BBC TV and Radio, Channel 4, as well as other global TV networks and streaming platforms such as Netflix. She has mixed her music in major studios such as Warner Brother's De Lane Lea and Twickenham Film Studios, and was accepted onto the prestigious Alliance Of Women Film Composer mentorship scheme in 2024. She also writes and releases music as a contemporary artist. Find out more. 

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