26/02/10

We weren't at college the previous week.
In this lesson we had a form to fill out including details of our group meeting the previous lesson. We mainly discussed thou soundtrack and most of the ideas from the group were to use a song as a soundtrack. Jake volunteered to try and find musicians to create a soundtrack which would fit the atmosphere of our film or to get his band to make a song if they could find some recording equipment.

We then learned about diegetic and non diegetic sounds and how they enhanced films. We then chose a gothic film scene to analyse.


Sweeney Todd- Film Sound Track Review

This film is a musical so there is a song in this clip, the music is upbeat and quick and relates to the action of the actors and the sounds they make are included in the beat of the song, for example the sharpening of the blades acts as a beat and the actor sings along. It is a humorous and mocking beat at first but slows in tempo to create tension.

The dialogue in the clip is mostly sung at the start but there is spoken dialogue nearer the end. Spoken dialogue is very suggestive and dark towards the end accompanied by music to suggest a hidden meaning behind what is spoken, it creates a tense atmosphere where the audience are let in almost on a secret which makes them want to see what happens.

The audio in the clip is mostly musical with some sound from the audience and general hustle and bustle noises from a crowd which shows the location is very busy and public.

The soundtrack is mostly diagetic with spoken dialogue and crowd noise but there is also non-diagetic sounds like the music which they are singing to. The diagetic noises such as the crowd are used to create excitement amongst the audience, but also used for the opposite effect; for example when the crowd hushes it creates tension as the audience knows something exiting is happening. The diagetic sounds have been combined with non-diagetic sounds to create an imaginative illusion of music as the actors are singing unpredictably to music which may not be there and sounds scripted. For example there are actions the actors do which combine with the beat and melody of the soundtrack to create an overall soundtrack in the form of a song, the spoken dialogue of the young boy flinching is in time with the music and the mixing of the shaving cream. This is a very clever way of audience participation when their attention is caught throughout, the way the music corresponds to the diagetic sounds enhances emotions. The diagetic sound of the young boy being beaten is used to shock the audience as it cannot be seen happening in the clip, only heard. It has been put in to show the nature of 'Pirelli' and the result of a humorous somewhat light-hearted event which happened before, it is quite a shock as the audience was feeling good about the outcome but then feels quilt because of the consequences.

The audio helps to explain the plot in the scene by announcing certain points the audience may not have noticed. For example, where it is said "fastest closest shave, is the winner!" this explains it is a race. The way the music starts just after the whistle is blown is a good way of grabbing interest and capturing the audience's attention and as the music is played throughout the race it and ends when the race ends it corresponds with the spoken dialogue to the start and end of the event, I believe this is done to provoke the emotions of the audience.

'Pirelli's" dialogue is very mocking and cocky and the use of music enhances this and involves the audience even more to want him to fail. This means that when he does actually fail the audience is relieved, so that when the sound of the young boy is being beaten it controls the emotions of the audience to create hate for 'Pirelli'.

The music is designed to follow the plot and correspond with the dialogue enhancing the emotions felt by the audience.