Unit 20 Music and Sound for the moving image

Joseph Calabro

The first film I will talk about is the third Lord of The rings film, the scene
Im going to analyse shows two armys facing each other that are about to
go to war, at the start of the scene the soldiers arent feeling confident
until their leader gives an inspiring speech that gives them confidence,
the scene ends with them scareing the opposing army, to the point where
it seems like theyre going to retreat.

At the start of the scene we get a sense of dread and unease as the army
comes over the hill and into view, we can feel thing because the music is
being played with a slow tempo with held legato notes in minor, this
creates a dark feeling that drags on with the length of each note, the
texture of the song being played at this point is also thin as there are only
a few instruments being played, mainly strings and a brass lead. This adds
to the suspense and unease as the lack of instruments is in contrast to the
hundreds and thousands of on screen soldiers. At the beginning of the
scene there is also a lot of added Foley sound effects that are a lot louder
than the music being played, the sounds include horses, marching and the
sound of metal such as weapons and armour being moved about. The
Foley becomes even louder when the camera shots get closer to the
actual army, which is good sound design because through the audio the
sound designer can being the viewer closer to the army and more into the
scene through the use of volume this way the viewer is both brought
closer through the audio and the picture.

The music then dies down as the shot changes to the opposing army,
silence is used along side a timpani drum to embed the feeling of dread
that the soldiers are feeling. The shot changes again to the soldiers, the
music again goes to silence before a quiet drum kit comes in playing with
a slow tempo on the toms, which begins to pick up in speed ever so
slightly. The shot changes once again back to the opposing army, the
volume of the toms increases drastically with the timpani once again
being played along side them, the rise in volume adds more to the overall
dread and unease being felt throughout the scene. The use of drums in
this scene is used effectively to represent or personify the opposing army
we can tell this because it gets louder whenever theyre in shot. The
drums could also represent the overall threat that is known throughout the
beginning of this scene as the drums can still be herd when the opposing
army is out of shot, this tells the viewer through music that the threat is
still there despite it not actually being visible. Whenever the opposing
army is shown there is a lot more aggressive use of Foley, with harsher
sounding marching and a deeper metal clash sound.

For the next part of the scene the volume of the drums goes down as the
orchestra comes back in. The orchestra starts of in a similar way to how it
was previously herd, with a thin texture and use of legato notes, this use
of repetition could have been used to signify no overall change in the
soldiers feelings, they can still feel the dread and the fear. The music
doesnt stay this way for long as their leader start a quick speech to try
and boost their confidence, about halfway through this speech the music
starts to go up in volume, and more instruments are added the texture
becomes thicker and the song being played builds up to a climactic
moment as the speech ends, this music is used to signify the moment the
soldiers lose their fear and the overall feeling of dread, the change in the
music represents the change in the armys minds. After this build up there
is silence, the use of this silence is to signify that the battle is about to
begin, the timpani drum comes back in, every time it hits we get a new
shot of each of the armies getting ready, the brass and strings fade back
in on top of the timpani as the soldiers are preparing to charge, the
orchestra once again begins to build up in texture as the soldiers blow
their horns. The increase in texture is effective in building the suspense
for the battle.

As the soldiers charge towards the opposing army the music changes, the
brass lead is replaced with a Celtic sounding string lead, this is
accompanied with more strings and brass being payed in unison with the
lead, the tempo of this track increases along side the increasing speed of
the soldiers and horses charging towards the opposing army, this helps
depict the overall speed and excitement of this scene as the music
gradual increase in speed matches perfectly with the scenes gradual
increase in speed. Through out the scene we see soldiers falling from their
horses this is accompanied with appropriate Foley, more and more
soldiers fall but we see the determination of the soldiers as they dont
stop charging towards the enemy, this is depicted through the audio as
well, as the Celtic string lead is once again replaced with a brass lead,
more brass in gradually added as the volume of the track increases, the
rise in texture and volume is used to represent the determination and
commitment of the soldiers as they wont give up despite the loss of some
of their own soldiers.

Next we see the faces of the opposing army, they now look scared as they
can see the soldiers getting closer and closer, the music then stops as we
see the soldiers cutting through them, the lack of music is replaced with a
lot of Foley, we can hear the sounds of swords clashing, people being
trampled by horses, the sounds of the actual horses as well as morphing
wind sounds that represent the fast motion of the scene. We then see
another shot of the opposing army looking fearful and they backup and try
to run away, this is accompanied by the dramatic orchestral song fading
back in with the brass once again playing the lead, his final piece of music
represents the accomplishment of the army as they are coming close to
winning as the final soldiers of the opposing army are starting to flee.

Overall this scene makes perfect use of many different musical

components to help set the feeling and mood of the scene, The Foley is
also used successfully to help add more life to the scene through sound
effects. At the start the use of thin texture legato orchestral music helps
depict a hopeless feeling this is also repeated to accomplish this same
feeling, the drums that represent the opposing army adds tension to the
already hopeless feeling silence is also used very well to also add tension
to the scene, but through a rise in volume and texture, the music helps
depict the achievement and victory felt by the soldiers when they
eventually win. This scene is the perfect example of how music and audio
can be used to create an overall feeling that cannot be achieved through
images alone.

The next film I will talk about is Gravity. The scene I will analyze is one of
the final scenes in the film, where the main character is in the space
shuttle and is about to get into the earths atmosphere, she tries to
control the space shuttle to the best of her ability before going into a
monologue about the two possible outcomes of her situation. The space
shuttle breaks apart while going into the atmosphere shooting debris
everywhere, before the shuttle breaks through the atmosphere, a
parachute is deployed, and the shuttle falls towards the ground.

This scene starts with a shot of the space shuttle heading towards earth.
The music in this shot is a short ten-second orchestral melody that has a
number of instruments playing, it has a string section and a brass section,
this music builds up in dynamics before it slowly fades out as the shot
changes. The next shot shows the main character in the space shuttle
struggling what to do, as she does not know how to properly control the
shuttle, so she starts guessing what to do, every time she presses a
button or pulls a switch; we hear a different Foley effect. These sounds are
all synth, beeping sounds that have high pitches. One of the sound effects
stays throughout the shot progressively getting higher in pitch, this sound
effects helps bring a sense of tension or danger to the scene, as it gives
the unsettling feeling that something bad is about to happen, and because
its a subtle sound effect it indirectly makes the viewer feel this way.
Alongside this, there are sirens going off and as the main character figures
out what to do, a countdown is displayed on a screen in front of her; here
we have an appropriate countdown sound effect that goes off every
second.

During this shot, the background music is a fast-paced techno sounding

song with many synths, this music fades in while the orchestral music
from the last shot fades out, making the music naturally progress. The fast
nature of this song adds to the suspense in this scene, in the same way
the rising in pitch sound effect does. This music is also being played very
quietly so that the viewer has more focus on what is going on in the scene
and can hear the Foley more clearly.

The next shot shows the space shuttle from the outside again. The
orchestral music fades back in playing with held legato notes with string
sections and brass, the dynamics of the song rise as we are shown the
shuttle heading towards Earth. The shot then changes back to the main
character inside the shuttle. The musics dynamics once again start to
decrease so that the focus is turned to what is going on in the shuttle. In
the background, we can hear a couple of beeping sound effects that
continue throughout the shot. The music starts to play a minor melody
with held legato notes; the brass section fades out as the string section
increases slightly in dynamics. The main character starts to leave a
message, throughout this she is panicking, so the minor slow melodic
piece of music can be seen as a direct contrast of the situation. This kind
of music on top of a dramatic scene like this adds a sense of dread, as the
sad sounding music makes it seem as if it is already over and that all hope
is lost. The music is might be symbolic of what the audience might be
feeling, what the main character might be feeling despite the panicking
she is doing. An explosion sound effect is heard as the shuttle shakes,
causing here to panic even more. For the rest of the shot the whole shuttle
is shaking which can also be hear through the Foley that is used. We can
hear a bumping and rattling sound that makes the shaking of the scene
more realistic.

The main character starts a monologue about the two ways her situation
could go, during this monologue, the music begins to slowly increase in
dynamics, and this time the brass section has come back in, and is
playing a counter melody to the strings. As the monologue goes on a
vocalist comes in singing another melody that fits on top of the current
two melodies, this thicker texture makes the song sound more complete,
and as the monologue come to an end, the dynamics of the music begin
to increase again until its louder than all the Foley. The main character
begins to put on her helmet, as more explosion sound effects are heard
quietly in the background. As the helmet is put on, the music reaches its
maximum volume and the Foley that represented a lot of the danger
reaches a quiet volume. The main character putting on her helmet could
be symbolic of her ignoring the dangers and facing the situation head on,
this is all represented through the change in dynamics as she put the
helmet on.

We are shown another shot of the shuttle burning up in space as it is

heading towards Earth, parts of the shuttle break apart and explode,
explosion sound effects can be heard alongside this, although they sound
quiet, as the music at this point has overpowered the Foley. We get
another shot of the main in the shuttle as she struggles to push a button
because the shuttle is spinning out of control. While this is going on there
is a constant beeping and siren sound effect going on in the background,
and another string section is introduced into the song that is playing, this
new string section plays short repetitive stabs. The main character
eventually presses he button and we a shown another shot of the shuttle
breaking apart in space as it gets closer to Earth.

The next shots are showing the viewer different angles of the shuttle
speeding towards earth, we can see many broken parts of the ship flying
and burning up alongside the shuttle. On multiple occasions one of these
parts shoots past the camera and a deep motion sound effect can be
heard, this adds a layer of depth to the scene as the broken parts that a
further away make a high pitch sound as they speed past the camera. The
music builds up again as we are shown the main character again inside
the shuttle. This time we can hear barely any Foley, only a subtle shaking
rattling sound can be heard, but the music is the focus. The strings and
the brass begin to play together creating one melody instead of the two
previous separate melodies, the shot changes to show the space debris
once again, shooting towards Earth, when this happens the vocalist comes
back into the song adding to the melody that is being played.

The shot changes to all the different buttons and controls of the shuttle,
there is smoke coming from them and electric coming off them. There is
appropriate beeping sirens and electrical sound effects and the hardware
begins to fail. We are shown all the space debris once again, but this time
it looks as if they are closer to the Earths surface. The shot changes to
the outside of the shuttle parts break and fall off the shuttle and fly
towards the camera, there is the sound of breaking metal and motion as
each part breaks off and flies past the camera. The vocals begin to stray
away from the melody that strings and brass are playing and plays a
melody of its own. This shows the progression of the space shuttle as we
are shown a shot of the space shuttle falling through the clouds, the music
builds up to a final held note as a parachute comes from the shuttle and it
begins its slow decent onto the ground.

Overall, this scene makes perfect use of Foley and music to show
musically what is going on in the main characters mind. For example the
sense of dread created by the rising subtle synth at the beginning of the
scene and the changing dynamics that force the viewer to focus on
different parts of the Foley and music. This all added together makes the
visual compounds of the scene work together with the musical
components.