Planning - Soundtrack

23/09/13

Today I started to look at creating a soundtrack for the film. In my mind, as soon as the door slams in Mark's face, a piece of music should start playing - this will be played at a lower volume under the voice-over. However, when I started to come up with ideas to construct a piece of music, I found it very hard to create a piece that felt as if it were going into a slightly more comic film - rather than a serious one. I plan to play the piece on piano and/or guitar.

While experimenting, I stumbled upon a good piece for a horror film - simply holding down the 15th fret on the high E string and finger tapping the 16th soft at first, but getting harder (the guitar will need to be overdriven). This causes some of the other strings to vibrate meaning that the resulting sound is a gradual increase in volume of a high note and a low rumbling that also increases. This could be used to create tension to make the audience uncomfortable before something happens (say, a character opening a door).

I also stumbled upon a nice piece for the right hand on Piano for a drama film. It is all based from an F key and I was simply walking out some notes that sounded nice (these were probably chords in their own right, but I only know the very basics of piano). I was using the F, A, A#, B, D, D# and F keys and walking out a number of unknown chords to me - however, I could see them easily being used in a drama film after something major to the story happens (maybe a baby has stood upon its own for the first time and the parents are very emotional).

I will continue looking at this over the next few weeks, record a few ideas, then finally try putting some into the film and having a look to see what it looks like. I may even decide that the film doesn't need music after editing it together.

But this is in preparation for post production of course, so is not really a priority at the moment.

14/10/13

I have decided to cover the opening a song by the Foo Fighters called 'Walk'. This is due to the fact that I think the feel of the song really relates to this part of the film. This is because there is a sort of unrelenting sound from a palm muted power chord being strummed constantly, but there is also a number of higher notes being picked out on top of this. All of this results in a feeling that makes you think something big is about to happen that will change your life - however, it's not a bad thing... It's really good.

I'm not sure how I will end the piece, as it goes into a heavier verse at the end of the section I want to record (with more drums and the power chord being strummed without the palm mute effect). I may start playing the next bit, but then slide down the neck of the guitar to end it, or even just jump straight into the outro of the song. I will try lots of different ways out and eventually play them with the film and see which is best, then record a final version to put into the film.

I plan to not only play the guitar parts, but also the bass and drum parts (borrowing the instruments from friends). This is because there is a nice, steady kick drum that is added towards the end of the intro and both the bass and drums for this section don't sound too hard to play (I have experimented a little with these instruments before). However, I may end up just recording the guitar, as I know I can do that...

I will add more to this blog update when I have experimented a little more and possibly finished one or two recordings.