Firstly the teacher handed out copies of news stories and we read through them as a class. We then broke up into smaller groups and began putting the stories in order the we thought they should be read. Afterwards we came back together as a class and cut down the stories, removing any superfluous information to decrease runtime. We then practised reading through the stories before taking it in turns to record them.
When it was our group's turn the two
presenters sat at the desk in front of the cameras had their mics attached to their clothing and did a soundtrack. The vision mixer set up the titles, pictures and background as well as checking eye levels, focus, white balance and framing. When the crew were ready the floor manager asked the audience for quiet and did a countdown before the recording began. The presenters read the stories whilst the cameras recorded them and the vision mixer chose between the three different cameras and added pictures.
I thought we worked efficiently as a team, making good use of the time we were given. If I were to improve things I would have edited the stories during the first read through and perhaps sent only one person to source an additional story instead of the whole group. I also would have used a teleprompter as it was difficult to read and look up at the camera and given the presenters and crew earpieces to enable easier communication.
The room I have chosen is one for a businessman in the year 2012.
I imagine a businessman would have a clean, clutter free apartment with lots of clean lines and sharp edges. The colour palette would be quite dark, blues, greys and blacks. I imagine large glass windows from floor to ceiling which look upon a cityscape. I would include lots of high end, top quality gadgets and technology, a mac computer, flatscreen or projector TV, blu-ray player etc.
Decoration would be minimal with little in the way of soft furnishings Settees would be made of black leather. I would leave the walls mostly bare with perhaps a few artistic black and white photographs or modern art canvases. In the centre of the room I would place a black coffee table with black polished legs and sides.
The whole effect would be sleek, clean, cool and perhaps even a little cold.
Music is used to draw out or enhance the emotions in a scene, to hint at emotional cues for the audience or suggest an overall mood. Songs are sometimes composed especially for a film. They can be used to emphasise the feeling of the piece or to give a sense of time or place. Sometimes anachronistic music is used which enhances the emotion of a scene but does not fit in within the time period of the piece for example the use of David Bowie's Cat People in Inglourious Basterds (2009). The use of modern music within an historical setting creates an interesting contrast.
The Musical sequence I have chosen is from The Fall (2006).
The opening sequence consists of a series of slow motion black and white shots scored with the second movement of Beethoven's Allegretto from his Symphony No.7. I really like the way the flow of the music and the flow of the images work together. There is a balletic feel to the movement of the images and score. The scene opens in silence as a man's head appears from beneath the surface of a body of water. The music begins. A man appears walking through a cloud of smoke, a feather floats on top of the surface of the water, a man in Native American costume sits smoking, a prosthetic leg lies in the water with an arrow embedded in it. The images continue and there seems to be little connecting them at first, a series of random almost surreal objects and people. The scene is mysterious and the connection between all these images only becomes apparent later on in the film. The sequence is highly stylised and each shot is perfectly framed. The strong contrast of the black and white photography creates strong, indelible images.
The music sets the tempo of the sequence and the slow build up in the music slowly increases the tension of the scene. The instrumentation is sparse and the music is subtle and does not compete with the images. There is a constant froward motion in both the music and the images. There is a melancholy feel to it and the effect of the both the images and the score is very moving. I think it is a beautiful sequence and works wonderfully on it's own but takes on more resonance once the story in the rest of the film unfolds.
String instruments create a sentimental, romantic mood. The fast tempo of the score fits well with the image of the boy riding quickly through the forrest. A close up on the alien's face coincides with the introduction of tinkling percussive instruments which gives the piece a magical quality. Suddenly the pair ride over a cliff but instead of falling they soar upwards, the music soars with them. The mood is optimistic and uplifting. Trumpets punctuate the score twice adding some drama to the piece. The boy and the alien fly past the moon and the music reaches its climax before the two crash land on the ground.
Star Wars Opening Credits -
John Williams, "Star Wars Main Title."
A burst of trumpets appears simultaneously with the Star Wars logo the tempo is majestic. The fanfare of trumpets somewhat echoes the fanfare that appears with the 20th Century Fox logo prior to the opening credits. The music feels very heroic and adventurous, there is also a militaristic undercurrent which highlights the theme of warfare that appears throughout the film. After the military bombast the brass instruments are superseded by stringed ones and a romantic refrain is introduced into the score. The trumpets appear again but the tempo has slowed somewhat. The mood is an uplifting, triumphal one. The music builds one last time before segueing into another more tranquil piece of music which has an almost lullaby like feel.
2001: A Space Odyssey Opening credits -
Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra."
The screen is black. The music begins with a single long drawn out note in a low tone. A sense of anticipation is created. We hear a horn, quiet at first. The pace is slow. Suddenly a brass fanfare is introduced followed by drums which create a driving rhythm. We see a reddish star appearing above a celestial body causing a white crescent to appear on it's surface. In contrast to the "Star Wars Main Title" the tempo is much slower and the piece is much more measured. The brass instruments appear again and a crescendo appears simultaneously with the name of the Director appearing on the screen. The red star rises further above the celestial body and the music becomes more sweeping and majestic with the brass instruments, the percussion and the strings all coming together in a dramatic climax.
Just For Fun!
In case you ever doubted how important music and sound are to film check out the link below. The Star Wars medal giving ceremony just isn't the same with extras coughing, Chewbacca screaming and Luke's forced laugh.
Director Steven Soderbergh recently removed the sound and the colour from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and added different music to highlight the use of staging. In his words he wanted people to
"...watch this movie and think only about staging, how the shots are built and laid out, what the rules of movement are, what the cutting patterns are. See if you can reproduce the thought process that resulted in these choices by asking yourself: why was each shot—whether short or long."
The first image that we see is of Joe struggling to escape the crevasse at the start of his climb. The music starts off very rhythmic with lots of low tones. The tempo is quite fast. There is a rising sense as the music builds up. The escalation of the music matches the character's physical escalation as he climbs upwards.
There is a sudden cut from Joe's climbing to the mountainous landscape. Strings are introduced into the score. The mood of the piece becomes more grand and uplifting. It takes on a sentimental almost romantic feel. The change in music suggests a change in circumstance.
As Joe lies in the snow, having escaped the crevasse the music becomes quieter and the mood more tranquil. There are fewer instruments and moments almost of silence. The tempo has slowed down considerably.
As the camera pans round the landscape there is another change in music. Eastern sounding musical instruments are introduced into the score. There is a sinister quality to the music and a sense of mystery and uncertainty that matches Joe's emotional uncertainty about what will become of him.
Diegetic Sound: Also called 'literal sound' or 'actual sound' is sound that originates from a source that is onscreen or a source implied to be present. It exists in the world of the film and characters that are present would be aware of it. Examples include dialogue of onscreen characters and sounds or music originating from onscreen sources.
Non-Diegetic sound: Sound which doesn't originate from the action or objects onscreen for example voiceover narration, musical score or sound effects added for dramatic effect. Any characters onscreen would not be aware of the sound.
Ambient sound: Sound which creates atmosphere or a sense of place.
SFX: An acronym for Sound Effects. A sound effect is an artificially created or enhanced sound used in a motion picture.
Mood: A sense of feeling suggested or created by the soundtrack.
Tone: A combination of the pitch, quality and strength of a sound.
Genre: a category or type of music e.g. rock, classical, jazz etc.
Theme music: Theme music establishes the mood and signals the start of the film, it may recur and develop throughout the film. Individual characters might have their own themes which appear when they are onscreen indicating their presence and giving some sense of their personality.
Voiceover: Sometimes shortened to V.O. is the voice of a character who is not visible onscreen. Voiceover can include diegetic sound (e.g. the sound of a parent calling a child from another room) or non-diegetic (e.g. narration that is not heard by other characters onscreen.)
Musical Score: Original music created for a film.
Synchronous sound: A sound which occurs at the same time as an event onscreen reinforcing the effect.
Asynchronous sound: A sound which does not match the visuals onscreen but might be included for atmospheric effect or to increase the emotional impact of what is happening onscreen.
Contrapuntal sound: Sound which does not match or works against the visuals.
Silence: Silence occurs rarely in film but can be used effectively to elicit a reaction from the audience or disorientate the viewer.
Selective sound: When an element of sound is emphasised within a sequence.
Sound bridges: Sound which is used to ease transition between different sequences.
Looking at the opening sequence of Sherlock Holmes (2009) we can detect a number of sounds, some diegetic and some non-diegetic. The first thing we hear is piano music. This music is non-diegetic as it does not originate from any instrument within the sequence. It conveys a sense of mood and the ragtime style of the piece helps us to identify the era of the piece. We hear a distant rumbling and the asynchronous sound of horses' hooves. The horses soon appear onscreen pulling a coach and so the sound of their hooves becomes synchronous. One of the horse's gives a shrill whinny, a jarring, unsettling sound. The sound of strings appears in the musical score, the tempo of the music increases as the pace of the onscreen action also increases creating a synchronous effect. The non-diegetic sound of rumbling also increases giving a sense of foreboding. The camera moves to the inside of the coach and we see police officers loading guns. The selective sound of the guns whirring and clicking emphasises the sense of unease which has been building, the characters are preparing for danger. Drums appear in the musical score adding rhythm to the music. The sounds of the horses and their rattling of their bridles continues. The tempo of the music matches the fast cutting of the visuals. A man appears running in front of the horses. The sound of his feet against the cobbled stones is audible. A crow caws and we see it fly away. Crows are often associated with death so this adds to the sense of foreboding and building tension. We see and hear another gun. The volume of the music increases. The man who has been running reaches a door we see and hear the door open and the clip dramatically concludes with a crashing noise.
I thought we worked efficiently as a team, making good use of the time we were given. If I were to improve things I would have edited the stories during the first read through and perhaps sent only one person to source an additional story instead of the whole group. I also would have used a teleprompter as it was difficult to read and look up at the camera and given the presenters and crew earpieces to enable easier communication.
I imagine a businessman would have a clean, clutter free apartment with lots of clean lines and sharp edges. The colour palette would be quite dark, blues, greys and blacks. I imagine large glass windows from floor to ceiling which look upon a cityscape. I would include lots of high end, top quality gadgets and technology, a mac computer, flatscreen or projector TV, blu-ray player etc.
Decoration would be minimal with little in the way of soft furnishings Settees would be made of black leather. I would leave the walls mostly bare with perhaps a few artistic black and white photographs or modern art canvases. In the centre of the room I would place a black coffee table with black polished legs and sides.
