Lesson Plan

• Identify and differentiate diegetic, non‑diegetic, and hybrid music in media texts.
• Analyse how musical elements (melody, rhythm, timbre, dynamics) create mood and support narrative.
• Evaluate the impact of music on audience emotion and commercial effectiveness across film, advertising, video games, and podcasts.
• Apply the analytical framework to produce a brief critique of a chosen media excerpt.

• Projector and screen
• Laptop with video clips (film, advertisement, game footage)
• Speakers/headphones
• Handouts of analytical framework and terminology glossary
• Worksheets for music‑scene matching activity
• Simple music composition software (e.g., GarageBand) for leitmotif task
• Sticky notes or index cards for group brainstorming

Begin with a 30‑second iconic music cue (e.g., the “Jaws” motif) to spark curiosity. Ask students what emotions the sound evokes and link it to prior knowledge of music in media. Outline today’s success criteria: identify music types, analyse their function, and evaluate audience impact.

1. Do‑now (5'): Quick quiz on key terminology (diegetic, leitmotif, adaptive score).
2. Mini‑lecture (10'): Overview of key concepts and analytical framework.
3. Activity 1 – Music‑Scene Matching (15'): Students pair video clips with separate audio tracks and justify their choices.
4. Activity 2 – Soundtrack Rewrite (15'): In small groups, replace the original music of a short clip with a different genre and discuss meaning shifts.
5. Activity 3 – Leitmotif Creation (15'): Groups compose a brief leitmotif for a character using simple composition software and present its narrative role.
6. Class discussion & feedback (10'): Whole‑class debrief, linking observations to the analytical framework.

Recap the four ways music influences media texts and check understanding through an exit‑ticket: “Name one example of how music changes audience perception.” Assign homework to analyse the music in a chosen TV commercial using the provided framework.