Category: Research

After visiting the location we’re using for filming we found that the house has a lot of clocks, 2 in almost every room, a grandfather clock and wall clock. We’ve discussed including them in the score for the film and also the droning to include a shepard tone. Only the other day I’d watched a video on how Shepard tones are used in Hans Zimmers scores but it also mentioned a lot ticking clocks were also used so myself and the group are going to watch some films included in the video to get a better idea of what they want for the score. I’ve started making my own with pianos, strings, synths so far but I’m looking to experiment more with sampled sounds.

I’ve been reading Unheard Melodies by Claudia Gorbman, in particular chapter 4 Classical Hollywood Practice: The Model of Max Steiner. The most useful section I found was a detailed list of how music ‘should’ be used within film and has given me a good way to analyse sound tracks.

Classical Film Music: Principles of Composition, Mixing, and Editing

Invisibility: the technical apparatus of nondiegetic music must not be visible.

“Inudibility”: Music is not meant to be heard consciously. As such it should be subordinate itself to dialogue, to visuals – i.e., to the primary vehicles of the narrative.

Signifier of emotion: Soundtrack may set specific moods and emphasize particular emotions suggested in the narrative (cf. #IV), but first and foremost, it is a signifier of emotion itself.

Narrative cueing:

Referential/narrative: music gives referential and narrative cues, e.g., indicating a point of view, supplying formal demarcations, and establishing setting and character.

Connotative: music “interprets” and “illustrates” narrative events.

Continuity: music provides formal and rhythmic continuity – between shots, in transitions between scenes, by fillings “gaps.”

Unity: via repetition and variation of musical material and instrumentation, music aids in the construction of formal and narrative unity.

A given film score may violate any of the principles above, providing the violation is at the service of the other principles.

From reading this I’ve found that a lot of the film sound tracks I’ve really enjoyed such as Punch Drunk Love and The Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind both by Jon Brion and soundtracks of David Fincher films follow some of the rules but generally break them. I’m going to watch them again and make notes of how where and why music is used in these films and write up what I find on here.

After Jez’s talk I went straight down to Maplins and bought all of the bits and pieces I needed to make a contact mic. I was eager to try and capture some sounds of my own like his work. This practice will be extremely helpful when I’m creating pieces for my clients film. They want something ambient and droning and ominous sounding and I feel like making these recordings will be a good way to start. I made the contact mic but it wasn’t very good, I’m not exactly a soldering iron master so I think I might have soldered something wrong but I was still getting a very low signal so maybe I just need to improve the contacts. Because I’m not really getting what I wanted I’m going to have to get a mic from media loans and try working with that.

To start my research I just went on youtube and started searching for how films use music and how film music works. I’m well aware it not the best was of gathering accurate information but as a way of getting some ideas on where to look I thought it would be a good start. I don’t come from a traditional music background, I’m self taught so I’m not familiar on terminology or how music should be made in particular styles. For previous projects I’ve just gone on what sounds or feels right in a film so hopefully by conducting this research I’ll get a proper understand of how and why music is used in film. The first video I watched was a video on how Pixar uses music. I was vaguely familiar with some of the things mentioned in the video but it also gave me a lot of things to think about, particularly the use of contrast and juxtaposition between what is seen on the screen and what can be heard.