Creative Examples
For purposes of demonstration of concepts discussed on this site, I have created examples using two short films made by students at Elon University. The first film is Il Cuore Effimero directed by Ridley Randolph which follows three people across various parts of Italy as they simultaneously discover the fleeting beauty of love at first sight. The second film is Wake Up Call by Hannah Otos which tells the story of a woman who has moved into a new house and begins to receive a series of strange phone calls. For both of these films, I selected a sequence and reworked the music to demonstrate narrative and emotional impact. These examples and my analysis of them can be found below. Before viewing these examples, I highly recommend reading through “Making Meaning with Music” for a full understanding of the demonstration.
Il Cuore Effimero
This sequence shows the opening 2 minutes of the film as a character orders at a cafe and notices a heart-shaped sculpture.
Original Score
The music heard in this example is part of the original score that I wrote for the film. In writing this score, I focused heavily on the theme of romance and wanted to write music that would “float” above the film. The first 45 seconds of the film introduces the main theme for the woman that represents her throughout the film. At 0:49, the theme shifts as the woman notices the sculpture and at 1:09, I introduce a 4-note motif that I dubbed the “love theme.” This motif is used throughout the rest of the film as the musical signifier for love. At 1:35, the waitress returns and breaks the woman’s trace-like state. This is mirrored in the music by the return to the original theme. As for the ending of the scene, I intentionally left the music unresolved in an attempt to leave the audience wondering what the main character has seen. In this excerpt, I primarily use the music to introduce motifs and mirror narrative action.
Non-Diegetic Italian Music
This example uses a track from Universal Production Music (UPM) titled “Fountain Crest.” The music here is used to heavily imply the setting of the film. In the previous example, there is no indication of the film taking place in Italy until the dialogue begins. Additionally, this music has a slightly darker, more dramatic tone. It is possible that with this tone, the audience may interpret a theme such as lost love rather than new love especially when paired with the character’s facial expressions as the waitress walks away at 0:52. This darker tone is emphasized at the conclusion of the example with what I would consider a “question” left by the music that implies that something is amiss. This example emphasizes the contextual and emotional functions of music.
Diegetic Italian Music
This example uses the same music as the example above, however, this time, it is source music. Through the use of an equalizer and reverb, the source is implied to be a radio speaker on the corner of the cafe. Here, we become an observer of the main character rather than an insider on her life. As an audience, we are viewing this woman from the outside and gain no insight into her emotional state. As in the example above, location is still implied, though to a lesser extent due to the subtlety of the music. Overall, this use of music shifts the perspective of the audience.
This example uses a track from UPM titled “Worry Free.” The music used here provides the largest tonal shift compared to the examples above. The music implies a much cheerier disposition for our main character but still manages to emphasize romance when she notices the sculpture. When the music shifts at 1:04, it implies an almost magical quality of the sculpture and emphasizes the romantic feelings that the character is feeling in that moment.
This excerpt also provides an example of effective music editing. When choosing production music for this scene, I specifically chose this piece because of the large tonal shift halfway though that I knew I could use to emphasize the character’s fixation on the heart. However, I ran into an issue when I noticed that the piece is only 1 minute and 30 seconds long and the scene is 2 minutes long. To overcome this, I utilized the instrumental version of the piece found on UPM and edited the music so that the instrumental would repeat over the dialogue. This was done not only to lengthen the piece, but so that the singing would not compete with the dialogue. Despite this, I was still short on time so I had to repeat a section as the character is staring at the sculpture. This helped lengthen the music but also allowed the musical shift to line up with the moment that the character’s trance is broken. Despite the music being too short and from a production library, I was still able to effectively edit the music to properly highlight all of the narrative moments crucial to the story.
Wake Up Call
This sequence is pulled from the climax of the film. In the scene, the main character, Jen, approaches her ringing phone despite having cut the cord earlier in the film.
Orchestral Score
This example features an original orchestral score that I wrote for the scene. My goal when writing this score was to create a score in line with traditional horror scores such as Jerry Goldsmith’s score from Alien. My score uses droning, dissonant strings in an attempt to build suspense and anticipation. After the phone is dropped at 0:49, I utilize a number of out-of-time percussion elements in an attempt to suspend the audience’s sense of time. I also use music to emphasize jump scares such as at 0:47 and 1:40. In both cases, there is no music in the immediate moments before the scare in order to create as much sonic contrast as possible. Finally, as Jen sees the disturbing drawings on the wall, I use a music box to not only evoke children, but to also contrast the dissonant music that has been heard up to that moment, adding to the unsettling atmosphere of the scene.
Synthesizer Score
This example features an original electronic/synthesizer score that I wrote for the scene. My goal for this score was to be the antithesis of the orchestral score. One of the aspects that I focused on the most was the pace of the music. Despite the long, drawn-out nature of the scene, I attempted to evoke a sense of urgency through the use of a fast, repeated synth. I also attempted to imply a slightly different genre through my use of tempo and instrumentation. I believe that this score implies more of a horror-thriller genre, whereas the orchestral example is strictly horror. In the leadup to the final jump scare, I increase tension by slowly adding more instruments increasing in pitch. While this technique may result in the scare itself may be less effective, I believe it creates a sense of anticipation in the audience as they wait for the payoff of the moment.
Diegetic Radio
This example uses a production music piece from UPM titled “Little Bird.” Previously in the film, it is established that Jen has a radio in the corner of the kitchen that she uses to listen to cheerful, upbeat music. Here, I use that established fact to imply that she left the radio on. This allows for a disturbing contrast between the music playing and the situation occurring. Like the example from Il Cuore Effimero, the diegetic music places the audience in the scene with Jen. However, in contrast to that example, rather than being an observer, the audience is a participant in the scene due to the camera following Jen from behind.
Limitations
The primary limitation that I experienced while producing these creative examples is that I am working solely in post-production. As previously noted (link), an immense amount of work that goes into using sound and music effectively is done in pre-production and on set. In this case, I am working with films that have been picture-locked for over a year with no say on the visuals. Additionally, these films are being viewed out of context. Much of the power of sound, especially music, comes with its transformation over the course of the narrative. Using short 2-minute sequences strips my ability to do so effectively.