Tuesdays Musings - On Music and Film
You've all seen that example of a very exciting and tense scene from a film shown without its accompanying music and sound effects and then with them. Sometimes it might be a very emotional scene with heart-tugging music (and without). When you see this for the first time, it's almost shocking how unexciting or even uninteresting the version without might be. Music/sound plays a huge part in visual storytelling. Sure, "silent" movies didn't have them...or did they? There was always some kind of accompanying sound with the film, sometimes even sound effects performed live. Small theatre ensembles or soloists gave rise to the extremely versatile theatre organ, which was virtually a one-person band, complete with its own sound effects. Sure, the efficacy of the music's emotional response would vary from theatre to theatre depending on the performer, but the films were almost always projected with sound accompanying...it would have been weird otherwise. Case in point - a friend of mine attended a recent screening of a silent soundless film in a packed theatre. She said it was almost creepy how quiet it was and how everyone in the audience was very uncomfortable in their efforts not to make any noise, either - not cough, clear their throats, move in their seats, breathe loudly. Now that would have been a pretty interesting situation if it was the filmmaker's intention to cause this discomfort or awareness of one's surroundings, manipulating the audience, but this was a vintage film which was projected soundlessly, it seems, simply out of pure laziness. It was a blessedly short film. There are silent soundless films made today, of course, but usually for specific, typically noisy venues, like projected in public areas, on elevators, etc. Then there the amazing modern (1970s) completely silent films of Chantal Ackerman which I'll talk about briefly next week.
[HUGE ASIDE: A growing number of people watch videos silently on smaller devices when out and about, even without headphones/earbuds. Subtitles fill in the gaps. Fine for informational work; not sure what to make of this trend for scripted series. Then there are those who watch with sound and no earbuds in public places. This. Must. Stop.😠]
The reverse is music made for films without the visual aspect. Brian Eno's Music for Films (1978), for example, is a brilliant collection of very short pieces evoking imaginary films (although Eno's intention was for them to actually be used in films). Some of these pieces were used in films, before the public release of the album and since, but the music came first without an actual physical visual stimulus. It's an interesting concept, and one not too unfamiliar to the small independent filmmaker who may get their music from sites where generic music for purchase is categorised by genre, emotion and intent. Full movie soundtracks are a big part of the post production marketing of modern films as well, especially those films with songs or one particular song by a popular artist. These albums really allow people to relive favourite movies without actually watching them. (I'd be curious to know if listening to one of these albums without having seen or knowing anything about the connected film would give the same emotional response without having the story and/or visuals in one's mind's eye.)
This entire preamble is simply leading up to me saying that music and sound are HUGE parts of my filmmaking.
Part of my past training was as a musician (a harpist and violinist specifically, and also multiple instruments in some early music ensembles). I eventually got into composing for the harp (and other instruments), recording two CDs of original music. These have proved indispensable in my filmmaking, and I now realise that my compositions all came from some kind of visualization in my mind while composing or are evocative in other ways; it's almost like they were written with the future filmmaker Me in mind (although I don't think there was even the germ of that possibility in my mind at the time). It's also kind of nice not having to worry about copyright when designing the sound for films! In some cases, the music is the catalyst for the film. When planning "And She Rode Forth....", for example, I edited and arranged the music first (it was originally based on the Eowyn story from Lord of the Rings), then built the animation around the rhythm and duration of the piece. I also arrange classical/early pieces (public domain) to suit my needs. Many of my very short 1-minute films feature such arrangements. It's interesting to score these quite differently than for their intended instruments to give completely different interpretations of them.
Next week I'll continue this music theme, with references to sound design and discussing some of my favourite film composers and why I think they're so effective. In other words, another completely subjective ramble! 😀
*****
I've been working on the concept for a new short film and am very excited about it. It will involve a completely new visual and technical frontier for me, but based on my existing skills. More on this in the weeks to come; finishing work on Season Two of the web series at the moment!
[HUGE ASIDE: A growing number of people watch videos silently on smaller devices when out and about, even without headphones/earbuds. Subtitles fill in the gaps. Fine for informational work; not sure what to make of this trend for scripted series. Then there are those who watch with sound and no earbuds in public places. This. Must. Stop.😠]
The reverse is music made for films without the visual aspect. Brian Eno's Music for Films (1978), for example, is a brilliant collection of very short pieces evoking imaginary films (although Eno's intention was for them to actually be used in films). Some of these pieces were used in films, before the public release of the album and since, but the music came first without an actual physical visual stimulus. It's an interesting concept, and one not too unfamiliar to the small independent filmmaker who may get their music from sites where generic music for purchase is categorised by genre, emotion and intent. Full movie soundtracks are a big part of the post production marketing of modern films as well, especially those films with songs or one particular song by a popular artist. These albums really allow people to relive favourite movies without actually watching them. (I'd be curious to know if listening to one of these albums without having seen or knowing anything about the connected film would give the same emotional response without having the story and/or visuals in one's mind's eye.)
This entire preamble is simply leading up to me saying that music and sound are HUGE parts of my filmmaking.
Part of my past training was as a musician (a harpist and violinist specifically, and also multiple instruments in some early music ensembles). I eventually got into composing for the harp (and other instruments), recording two CDs of original music. These have proved indispensable in my filmmaking, and I now realise that my compositions all came from some kind of visualization in my mind while composing or are evocative in other ways; it's almost like they were written with the future filmmaker Me in mind (although I don't think there was even the germ of that possibility in my mind at the time). It's also kind of nice not having to worry about copyright when designing the sound for films! In some cases, the music is the catalyst for the film. When planning "And She Rode Forth....", for example, I edited and arranged the music first (it was originally based on the Eowyn story from Lord of the Rings), then built the animation around the rhythm and duration of the piece. I also arrange classical/early pieces (public domain) to suit my needs. Many of my very short 1-minute films feature such arrangements. It's interesting to score these quite differently than for their intended instruments to give completely different interpretations of them.
Next week I'll continue this music theme, with references to sound design and discussing some of my favourite film composers and why I think they're so effective. In other words, another completely subjective ramble! 😀
*****
UPDATES!
I've been working on the concept for a new short film and am very excited about it. It will involve a completely new visual and technical frontier for me, but based on my existing skills. More on this in the weeks to come; finishing work on Season Two of the web series at the moment!
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