SOUNDTRACK: lucy's final recording

The recording



We have done a few recordings of Lucy doing Otis Redding's song Try a Little Tenderness but after deciding on which section we wanted to use we have recorded this using a camera and boom mic.

MUSIC influences: Mickybo and me, Trick or treat, Tyrannosaur, Submarine

Sound/Music

Music inspiration and research

Micky Bo and Me 
In Micky Bo and Me, at the start of the film they use slow music that builds up as it goes along to create tension during the chase scene. They also use a voice over to give use extra information about the date, time and setting and also gives us exposition. We have taken inspiration from this and have applied this dynamic to our own film as we thought that this was a very effective technique of informing the audience of key exposition. 

Trick or Treat
In Trick or treat we get rock music, mainly consisting of electric guitars, straight when the film starts until 5:48 seconds into the film. We have taken inspiration from this and have added the song Born to be Wild as non diegetic music in the Bad boy scene. As in Trick or Treat the rock music signifies that the character is an outsider as he is a fan of this genre of music however it is not the norm to listen to rock music in American 80s High school. It also signifies that he is a rebel. However in our film this genre of music is not used to indicate that Brad is an outsider as he is quite the opposite, but it does denote that he is a rebel.

Tyrannosaur

Music is one of he main components that we will use from Tyrannosaur. It uses slow acoustic instrumental music to create a sad and calm atmosphere but in comparison ours will get faster and more upbeat when we transfer into the shop scene. In our film opening however we will also have music running over the top but it will be soft acoustic guitar to start off with but then getting more upbeat as it progresses helping to signify our romantic aspect of the narrative. There is also a voice over which we will do also as we can hear what they are thinking which helps the audience understand key aspects about the character and setting.

Submarine

Sound and music are also other key factors that Submarine has. It uses slow acoustic music to set the scene as calm and relaxing whilst also connoting the romantic genre of the film. We can tell this by if we used the commutation test and replaced it with rock music it would have a huge change in the effect, as the genre would then be signified as a horror much like in Trick or Treat. We are going to get this effect by having a slow acoustic at the start eventually building up into normal speed.

MUSIC: creating sound track

Creating our Sound track 

I went to Conor's to start creating ideas for the soundtrack, I explained to him the basic ideas of what we wanted for the track personally and then he tried it out to see if they were actually possible. 

After going through the song, Try a Little Tenderness by Otis Redding we looked at
other versions of the song to try out different styles, this was mainly to see if there was an easier version we could use or if there was a version that would fit better.

We looked at the Glee version sung by Amber Riley, Aretha Franklin's version andalso an acoustic version by Erik Hassle. Out of these four clips we looked at we decided that we could do something similar to Erik Hassle's version for the bedroom scene and then speed it up so its similar to the Glee version for the scene with the main male in as they both fit with the style we wanted, soft and slow and then upbeat. 

SOUNDTRACK: Meeting with composer; Otis + Aretha

Meeting with the soundtrack composer 

On Sunday I went to Conor's to start creating ideas for the soundtrack, 

I explained to him the basic ideas of what we wanted for the track 
personally and then he tried it out to see if they were actually possible. 

After going through the song, Try a Little Tenderness by Otis Redding 
we looked at other versions of the song to try out different styles, this
 was mainly to see if there was an easier version we could use or if 
there was a version that would fit better.

We looked at the Glee version sung by Amber Riley, Aretha Franklin's 
version and also an acoustic version by Erik Hassle. Out of these four
 clips we looked at we decided that we could do something similar to Erik
 Hassle's version for the bedroom scene and then speed it up so
 its similar to the Glee version for the scene with the main male in as they
 both fit with the style we wanted, soft and slow and then upbeat. 

GENRE - ROMANCE CONVENTIONS/INSPIRATIONS: Flashdance, Pretty in Pink, Footloose

Romance conventions and how they might potentially inspire aspects in out film 
The films I looked at:
Pretty in Pink 
Footloose
Flashdance

Key Features in Footloose
I looked at both the original (1984) and the remake (2011).

Sound: In both movies they have the title track, Footloose, this is an iconic 
song and really fits with what the characters are doing. As this is the final 
dance scene of the movie it also creates a good ending for the film, the 
audience are left with the new equilibrium and its a happy one which is 
only enhanced by the up-beat tempo of this song.

Final Dance, Kevin Bacon 

Cowboy hat and neck tie

Costume: In the 2011 version, one of the main protagonists wears a suit but with a cowboy hat and neck tie.
Inspiration: This costume is similar to what we described for our quirky male character's costume as we spoke about having a hat, shirt and then the neck tie.






Key features in Pretty in Pink

Location: One of the most iconic scenes from Pretty in Pink is the record shop scene in which Duckie mimes along to Otis Reddings Try a little tenderness
Inspiration: As I have said before, we thought about using the scene from Pretty in Pink
where Duckie walks in to the shop and dances in our film, so as we would want intertexuality in this, we would want to try and get as close to the actual location as possible. Also,

Duckie dancing in the record shop

if we were to do a school scene instead of the dance scene, the classrooms are an idea of what we could have instead.

Sound: This scene features Try a little tenderness
Inspiration: Again, if we were to use the idea of intertexuality in our film opening then we would want to use similar music as to what is 
in this particular scene. 

Our basic idea of costume for quirky male.

Costume: Duckie wears a blazer, white shirt, cowboy neck tie, hat and glasses. Molly Ringwald's character also wears quirky vintage clothes. 
Inspiration: A lot of the costume in this film stood out for me, when we are first introduced to Duckie's character, his outfit is almost exactly what we had in mind for our quirky male. Molly Ringwald's character also is a strong representation of how we were thinking we wanted our main female character to look like.

Key features in Flashdance

Mise-en-scene and inspiration: As this film is set in the 80's it had some really 
good examples of mise-en-scene we could use, for example the
 record player in the final dance scene and throughout, we have 
talked about having a record player in our bedroom scene. This 
shot is also very similar to that in the opening scene of Billy Elliott, 
as is the entire storyline.

Close up of record player

Character and inspiration: The main protagonist in 
this film is similar to how we would 
want to portray our quirky characters, 
an outcast, someone who doesn't fit in
 etc. As I've said there are some very 
close relations between this film and 
Billy Elliott.

Extreme long shot of the room

Sound: Similar to Footloose, this film 
has an iconic song in it too which lifts 
the atmosphere and tension of what is 
going on in the scene.

FILM ANALYSIS/INFLUENCES : Submarine- mies-en-scene, locations, sound, music

Analysis of Submarine and how it could influence our film

Mise-en-scene

Submarine has many different aspects that we would use in our film opening. 

For example the  mise-en scene of the boys bedroom is key in this as it portray the boys 

character in the first few shots. 

They use old furniture and intriguing art and objects to connote that this 

protagonist is mature, quirky and acts older than his age.
Influence
As we want our female character to be quirky and an individual we can represent this through the mise-en-scene. Taking inspiration from this film we can add strange retro art and books to help connote that the female protagonist is an individual.

Submarine mise-en-scene

Submarine Title with background

Locations

Within Submarine establishing shots are used to add exposition, it denotes that the film is set along the coast in Wales.
Inspiration
Locations is another big component in our film opening. We will start with a series of long shots of landscapes just as Submarine does. Living near Ilkley Moor is very important as it gives us the idilic location to film all of the establishing shots. We will do this to denote that our film is set in Yorkshire as it will show a lot of fields. 

Sound and Music

Sound and music are also other key factors that Submarine has. It uses slow 

music to set the scene as calm and relaxing. We can tell this by if we used the

 commutation test and replaced it with rock music it would have a huge change

on the audiences interpretation of the female protagonist. The audience would now see her as a rebel and an outcast rather than quirky. The acoustic guitar also denotes that part of the films genre is romance.
Inspiration
We would also use Submarines approach of using acoustic guitar soundtrack to denote the  romantic aspect of our hybrid genre. 

FILM ANALYSIS : Tyrannosaur- narrative, music

Analysis of Tyrannosaur

Narrative
Tyrannosaur is also a good example of Todrovs Equilibrium. This involves Equilibrium,

 Disequilibrium and New Equilibrium. This is how our film would be structured if we did the

 full thing. Also the different shots used is part of the narrative as we see most of the shots are focused at the start on the main protagonist. This will also be the same in ours but we will

 slowing reinforce the preferred reading as we will hint the forthcoming activity's by

 introducing the other two people that forms our rom-com love triangle.

Music
Music is one of he main components that we will use from Tyrannosaur. It 

uses slow acoustic instrumental music to create a sad and calm atmosphere

 but in comparison ours will get faster and more upbeat when we transfer into

 the busting scene.

FILM ANALYSIS : Trick or Treat - mise-en-scene, camera shots, sound and music

Film analysis of Trick or Treat

Director:   Charles Martin Smith

Box Office: $6,797,218 (USA)

Distributors: 

Arsenal Filmverleih (1987) (West Germany) (theatrical)

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) (1986) (USA) (theatrical)

Paramount Pictures Corporation (Canada) (Canada) (theatrical)

Castle Home Video (UK) (VHS)

Concorde Home Entertainment (2003) (Germany) (DVD)

Esselte CIC Video (Netherlands) (VHS)

Future Film (2004) (Finland) (DVD)

Lorimar Home Video (1987) (USA) (VHS)

NSM Records (2014) (Austria) (DVD)

Nea Kinisi Video (1988) (Greece) (VHS)

Nelonen (1999) (Finland) (TV)

Platinum Disc (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Transworld Video (1989) (Finland) (VHS)

Umbrella Entertainment (2002) (Australia) (DVD)

VCL Communications (West Germany) (VHS)

Warner Home Video (2009) (Japan) (DVD)

Warner Home Video (USA) (VHS)

 Mise-en-scene

This is the mise-en-scene in the opening shot of Trick or Treat. It is very similar to what we are going to produce as all of the details connote what the character is like, but in ours we are going to connote a quirky arty character instead of rock style music lover.

Camera Shots
The camera shots in this opening shot is also very important as they use a 

panning shot around the room at the start just like we want to do in our film. 

This will show more of the surround's which is typical in a social realist film. 

Sound and Music
In trick or treat we get rock music straight when the film starts until 5:48 seconds into the film. In our film opening we will also have music running over the top but it will be soft acoustic to start of with but then getting more upbeat as it progresses. There is also a voice over which we will do also as we can hear what they are thinking which helps the audience understand the film.

SOUNDTRACK SHOOT 1 AND 3: style acoustic guitar example

Music: Possible Soundtrack Style

This is the style of music we want to achieve in our film opening.

We will get Conor Griffiths to create this for us with our direction. We would like the style of music to be played by an acoustic guitar much like in the film Submarine (which I have analysed earlier in my blog) this style will therefore denote the romantic aspect of the genre like it does in Submarine. Another example would be from Pride and Predudice where the romantic genre is shown through the piano solo and this is what we are wanting to recreate through our guitar piece.