Action / Reaction – How to Hit Action in a Natural Way

July 9, 2012 Alain Mayrand Aesthetics, Case Studies, Composition, Music and Story, Scene Analysis, Scoring Process, Sound vs Score Leave a comment  

In visual arts, music and film, we relate most everything to our own own human experience. Things make sense to us when it relates to what we know, and that’s our own minds and bodies. This makes sense right?

So when scoring you should often ask yourself  ”how would the audience react?”

Because as much as film scoring can add layers of subtext to the storytelling, as much as film makers are fond of saying “I don’t want the score to tell the audience what to feel!”, the fact is that a score will frequently heighten what is already on screen.

That’s why great composers like Jerry Goldsmith would first view the film as an audience member, to see how they reacted emotionally first.

Following what is on screen well is not easy or simple, and it is not cheap, not if it is well done. And like all other arts, beauty is in the details.

So here’s a detail for us to look at: how to hit a certain jarring piece of action.

The scene is from “The Adventures of Tintin”: Sakharine draws his sword abruptly and points it at Tintin’s face. The context for the scene is this: a threatening exposition scene with no physical action.  (Always consider the context!)

So… how do you hit this particular action in the particular context?

  • Don’t hit it at all?
  • Do some Mickey mousing by having a small flourish that ends as the tip of the blade stops?
  • A small hit as the blades comes to a stop, no flourish?

How did John Williams approach this scoring detail? Here’s the clip.

The musical hit is as a reaction.

Consider this: If you get a blade drawn in front of your face at that speed, first you would have a reflex action and then a realization of the threat! This is what the music does here. Watch it again.

The music follows the natural way we react and, in this case, is not a “sound effect” as true Mickey Mousing would be, but rather follows the reaction the protagonist and the audience would have. The result is music that seems completely natural and organic to the picture.

Following the movement of the blade with the music (Mickey Mousing) would have had what effect on the scene? Would it have been a poorer or better choice and why? Leave your comments below!

Cheers,

Alain


Beauty is in the Details

March 16, 2012 Alain Mayrand Aesthetics, Case Studies, Music and Story, Scene Analysis, Score Works 6 Comments

Being a film composer is not just about the epic film scores. In reality, it’s mostly not. Your craftsmanship at musical story-telling is in large part made up of what you do during those small moments.

So today we’ll take a brief look at how John Williams, known for his epic film scores, handles a small transitional cue.

But before we do, here’s a few questions to ponder.

How short can a cue be? If they are very short, do they create an episodic TV feel? Cues can be very short as long as the editing warrants it, but short cues should not happen too often because they will quickly become apparent to the audience and grow tiresome.

Should there be thematic material? Overall, I would say that the score, just like a good composition, should be consistent in tone and content. Other factors are important to consider.

  • The Length of the cue: If the cue is too short for thematic content, then don’t put a theme in.
  • The type of film: A short thematic leitmotif would be appropriate in a fantasty film, but perhaps not in a serious drama.
  • Where you are in the arc of the story: Once the characters are more fully developed it might be more relevant to put in a melodic association even in a short cue. But then again, perhaps you wish to build a sense of mood and character early on.

Short cues are often transitional, so this means they will occur during important structural cuts, taking us from one scene to another.

Entrance and exits are also important. I remember reading “On the Track” where it stated that cue entries should be invisible, so it’s best to come in with a light crescendo in the strings or something like that. That’s not exactly the quote, I didn’t bother looking it up, but I have personally found that this is not true.

A good entrance will be “invisible” if it’s properly motivated by the story. It’s not a volume issue, it’s a story issue! Well, that’s another post entirely, so I can revisit the subject of cue entrances later.

For now, watch the cue below with everything discussed in mind. Watch it a few times.

 

Thoughts?

 


How Many Times the Theme? II

September 19, 2009 Alain Mayrand Aesthetics, Case Studies, Scene Analysis Leave a comment  

Previously my boys and I counted how many times the themes appeared in the first act of the first Harry Potter film.

Yesterday, we did the same thing for Jurassic Park, but this time, we did it on a micro-scale: we counted how many times the main theme comes in during the helicopter’s flight over the island.

In the few minutes it takes for them to fly over the island, buckle their seat belts and descend, we hear the theme a total of…

…wait for it…

Five times.

It starts off with the theme in full. Then comes the B section and then we get the theme again, five times separated by little interjections to follow the action and lead to the returns of the theme.

Five times in a few minutes.

This is how the professionals do it, folks. This is how the master of themes, John Williams does it. Pay attention.


Does Music Changes What We See?

July 12, 2009 Alain Mayrand Aesthetics, Case Studies, Score Works Leave a comment  

The “Where the Hell is Matt 2008?” video is a great example of the impact of music on images and changes how we look at it.

In case you haven’t seen this, This video shows him dancing all over the world.

TURN OFF THE SOUND BEFORE YOU PRESS PLAY. Watch it for a bit.

Keep the sound off and imagine a gigue or whatever music you would imagine for a dancing elf. Or imagine a rock and roll song or any other kind of light, humorous and fun music.

Seen like that, it’s a funny video with a guy dancing badly while still having a definite “wow” factor because he is all over the globe. Nothing to get teary eyed about.

But now go ahead, turn on the music, and watch the video. The music brings out the subtext, that this video is not just about having fun, it brings people together from all over the world.

With the right music, it now becomes an inspirational video that can take your breath away. It makes us laugh, it makes us cry, it gives us hope of bringing our world together.

The power of music.


Spotting structure

June 16, 2009 Alain Mayrand Aesthetics, Case Studies, Score Works, Spotting Leave a comment  

Structure is a crucial element of beauty, and film is no different. As I wrote in the previous post, a music cue can do more than just highlight action or represent the subtext; it can also play a large role in clarifying or even creating structure.

To that end, here are some questions to ask during the spotting session (or whenever you think of it!)

  1. What is the inciting event that motivates the action that follows.
  2. Where does the action proper start? (Note: The music could start on the inciting event, creating a sense of musical introduction, and the main melodic material arrive when the action truly starts. This creates a cohesive sense of structure.)
  3. Where does the scene end?
  4. What event signals the end of the scene or sequence?
  5. Are there multiple scenes that form a whole.
  6. Should the music play through the cuts and scenes?
  7. What cuts are structural.

Example: Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade: the boat race in Venice.

After facing rats and burning waters in the catacombs under the library, Doctor Jones and Elsa come out from a man-hole, surprising tourists. Indiana says “Ah, Venice.”

When the two come out, the music from the previous sequence ended, leaving room for this comedic moment. This musical break also serves as a structural point, separating the previous, more serious sequence from the following lighter action sequence; the boat chase in Venice.

Kazim and the Brothers come running out of the church and the music begins. This is the start of this scene, the inciting event that forces Indy and Elsa to start running.

The music is played as an introduction as they all race towards the boats. The melody itself only starts once everyone is in their boats, on the cut to Indy, Elsa and one of the Brothers hanging on to the back of the boat. This is the start of the action!

To find out how the ending music is structured, go watch Indian Jones and the Last Crusade and find out for yourself!

Cheers,

Alain


Case Study: Jurrasic Park – keeping the tension.

March 4, 2009 Alain Mayrand Case Studies, Score Works, Scoring Process, Spotting Leave a comment  

One of the important uses of music in film is to provide tension and momentum.  This is especially useful when the tension is in the subtext and not in the visuals or dialogue.

Jurrasic Park are a great example of this.

At 55:27 the character of Dennis Nedry begins the shutting down of the computer systems to allow him to steal the dinosaur embryos. This sequence is dramatically important, but the visuals are somewhat static and intercut with the characters of Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm humorously getting aquainted in the Jeep, oblivious to the danger ahead.

It’s all pretty quiet stuff which requires music to drive it along and give the right tone. The music is percussive, rhythmic and filled with tension, giving this sequence the necessary propulsion and the right sense of dread.

The Jeeps stop, the fences fail, Nedry escapes. It all is important to the plot but the dialogue and visuals are mostly static or slow with benign dialogue, so the music is important here and carries through it all. (This is not a failure on Spielberg’s part, but rather shows understanding of how to use music as part of the story telling.)

And then we cut to the goat at 1:00:21 and the music stops, leaving silence. We know the goat, it lets us know where we are and it also as a foreshadowing tool that lets us know something bad is going to happen. Music is not needed.

There is no music at all during the entire T-Rex attack.

Spielberg and Williams were smart to not put any music here. They knew that the audience was seeing something they had never seen before, a truly believable onscreen T-Rex. The shock of it was made even more intense by the relatively “empty” soundtrack, which must have bee especially powerful in a theater.

And there is context to consider as well. The shot of the goat which starts the T-Tex sequence was preceded by a long stretch of music. Silence makes a bigger impact when it is preceded by lots of sound.

After the T-Rex attack is done, we cut back to the control room with a slow zoom-in to dialogue about lines of code. Not the most exciting stuff. The tension here is in their obliviousness to what is happening outside, the subtext, so the music returns here to keep the tension and momentum going.

As a side note, when adding rhythmic music to a scene, it is always amazing to me how the music changes the tempo of a scene, making it seem to go by much faster.

Bottom line: Music is great at keeping tension and momentum going, especially when there is a subtext of tension that is not necessarily present on screen. Music is not always necessary when there is strong and dramatic on-screen action.

Cheers,

Alain