- Learnt27 min · cues, sections and stopping the old loop
- Basic25 min · give your video a verse and a chorus
- Challenge 1–327 min · two sections, four, and an ending
- Extrabonus · the breakdown
Review — where we got to 5 min
Last lesson the stage filled up, and everything moved on the beat.
next costumewith the beat’s wait is a dance.- A pulse goes up and comes back inside one beat.
- Whatever a loop changes, the blocks above it put back.
Quick-fire
In the Extra, every sprite counted its own eight beats to find the drop. What goes wrong after five minutes?
Reveal the answer
They drift. A wait is never exactly half a second, so three sprites counting separately slowly disagree. Today one sprite counts, and the others do as they are told.
Today’s Topic 3 min
- Sections — a verse and a chorus, which are just two different behaviours
broadcast [verse v]andwhen I receive [verse v]as cuesstop [other scripts in sprite v], and why a new section needs itswitch backdrop to [Spotlight v]for each section
Learning outcome
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Write one script that owns a running order and calls each section.
- Give a sprite two behaviours and switch cleanly between them.
- Change the whole look of the stage on a cue.
Learnt — cues and sections 27 min
Why one sprite has to be in charge
Three sprites all counting eight beats is three clocks. They agree at the start and disagree by the end, and nothing you do to the numbers fixes it.
The answer is not better counting. It is one counter. One sprite holds the running order and shouts; everybody else waits to be told.
The director
Add the Microphone sprite. It never dances. Its whole job is the running order.
when flag clicked
broadcast [verse v]
wait (8) seconds
broadcast [chorus v]
wait (8) seconds
broadcast [verse v]
wait (8) seconds
broadcast [chorus v]
The dancers listen
Every dancer swaps its when flag clicked for two when I receive [verse v] hats, one per section, each with its own loop.
when I receive [verse v]
stop [other scripts in sprite v]
set size to (90) %
forever
next costume
wait (0.5) seconds
end
when I receive [chorus v]
stop [other scripts in sprite v]
set size to (120) %
forever
next costume
change [color v] effect by (25)
wait (0.25) seconds
end
The block that makes it work
stop [other scripts in sprite v] is the important one. Without it, receiving chorus starts a second forever loop while the verse loop is still going, and the sprite changes costume twice as often as it should.
It is easy to spot: the dancer looks like it is having a fit.
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press — watch it through, then use ↺ Reset to run it again.
The Stage listens too
The backdrop is the fastest way to tell a viewer the song has moved on. The Stage takes the same cues.
when I receive [verse v]
switch backdrop to [Concert v]
when I receive [chorus v]
switch backdrop to [Spotlight v]
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press — watch it through, then use ↺ Reset to run it again.
Basic — give the song a shape 25 min
Open your video from last lesson. This changes how it starts, so test after each step.
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press — watch it through, then use ↺ Reset to run it again.
Step 1 — the director
- Add the Microphone sprite and put it centre stage.
- Give it the running-order stack: broadcast, wait, broadcast, wait.
- Make the two messages
verseandchorusas you go. - Press the flag. Nothing happens yet — nobody is listening.
Step 2 — one dancer listens
- On your first dancer, change its flag hat to
when I receive [verse v]. - Put
stop [other scripts in sprite v]directly under the hat. - Play. The dancer should start when the director calls the verse.
Step 3 — the chorus behaviour
- Duplicate that whole stack (right-click the hat, Duplicate) and change its hat to
when I receive [chorus v]. - Make the chorus version bigger, faster, or lit.
- Play. Watch the switch happen at eight seconds.
Step 4 — everybody else
- Do the same on your second dancer and on the drum kit.
- Every one of them gets two stacks and two stops.
- Play. The whole stage should change together.
Step 5 — the Stage
- Add the Spotlight backdrop to your project.
- Give the Stage the two receive-and-switch stacks.
- Play. The room should change with the song.
Step 6 — watch the whole thing
- Full screen. Watch all four sections without touching anything.
- Anything that keeps going from a previous section is a missing stop.
My dancer flickers madly after the first chorus.
Two loops are running on it at once. The stop [other scripts in sprite v] is missing from the chorus stack, or it is below the loop instead of above it.
Nothing happens when I press the flag.
Every sprite is waiting for a message and nobody is sending one. The director needs its when flag clicked.
The music stopped.
Your backing track was on a when flag clicked that you changed to a receive. Give the track its own flag hat — it plays through every section.
Two sections, told apart
Make a verse and a chorus that a stranger could tell apart with the sound turned off.
- At least two things differ: size, speed, colour, who is dancing.
- The change happens on a cue, not on a timer inside each sprite.
- Nothing from the verse keeps running during the chorus.
The whole running order
Write the song out: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, in one script that reads like a plan.
- Four sections, called by one sprite.
- Each section lasts as long as you decided, not as long as it happens to take.
- The backdrop changes with the section.
Teacher note — the script that is a document
The director’s stack is worth dwelling on. It is the first script in Level 1 that is not doing a job so much as describing a plan, and a pupil can hand it to somebody else and be understood. That is a real idea, and it is worth naming.
An ending, not a stop
After the last chorus the video should finish: a last sound, a held pose, and a stage that stays still.
- One more message, sent after the last section.
- Everybody stops their loop and holds a costume.
- The music ends rather than being cut off mid-loop.
- Nothing carries on moving in the corner.
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press — watch it through, then use ↺ Reset to run it again.
Teacher reveal — the ending cue
when I receive [end v]
stop [other scripts in sprite v]
switch costume to [anina stance v]
set size to (100) %
clear graphic effects
On every dancer. The stop kills the section loop, and the three blocks under it put the sprite into a pose you chose rather than whatever costume it happened to be on.
The director ends with wait (8) seconds then broadcast [end v]. Note it does not need stop [all v] at all — when every loop has stopped, the project is finished on its own.
The breakdown
Add a third section. In it the music thins out, the other dancers fade back, and one performer is left in the light.
How to use this: Click the green flag to start it. Nothing else to press — watch it through, then use ↺ Reset to run it again.
- A third message, with its own place in the running order.
- The other dancers fade rather than vanish, using the ghost effect.
- At least one layer of the music drops out and comes back afterwards.
- The next section puts everybody back exactly as they were.
Teacher notes — fading, and putting it back
when I receive [breakdown v]
stop [other scripts in sprite v]
set [ghost v] effect to (60)
when I receive [chorus v]
stop [other scripts in sprite v]
set [ghost v] effect to (0)
set size to (120) %
forever
next costume
wait (0.25) seconds
end
The important half is the second stack. Every section has to set the things the other sections change, or a sprite that faded in the breakdown is still faint in the chorus. That is the same “put it back” rule as last lesson, one level up.
Going further: the drum dropping out is stop [this script v] in the breakdown and a fresh receive to start it again. There is a neater way to say “play only during these sections”, and it needs a variable holding the name of the current section — which is a Level 2 idea.
Summary 4 min
A song is sections, and sections need somebody in charge.
- One sprite holds the running order and sends
broadcast [verse v]at the right moments. - Everybody else has a
when I receive [verse v]stack per section. - Every one of those starts with
stop [other scripts in sprite v], or the old section keeps running underneath the new one. - The Stage listens too, and the backdrop tells the viewer where they are.
- Cue
- A message that tells everybody a section has started.
- Director
- The one sprite that owns the running order. It does nothing else.
- stop other scripts in sprite
- Ends this sprite’s other stacks. What a section change needs.
- Section
- One behaviour, with its own look and its own speed.
Next lesson: the finale. The audience gets the keyboard, and you share the video.