Sound Mk II

So here we were in the pub, when all of a sudden WE GOT IDEAS for this wonderful final project that Jamie's doing - this is a rehash of a rehash essentially, but It'll help me organise my thoughts on the project.

Stop Motion Photo Montage: As Jamie said he wants it to be based along a mini adventure (no mini, no.) And the overall feel of the piece will be nice, happy and twee. Therefore I would like to submit an idea of a simplistic plinky-plonky sounds, much like Noah and the Whale or if you're going a bit over the top, have some Gershwin (About 0.29s in) Sorry about the m4a format, I suck.

Film Noir: I think that this will be the toughest piece to put together as I feel with Films, even though you have less of a challenge in terms of conveying an idea solely through music, you now have to accompany what's happening on screen and that is a massive challenge - music can make or break a film.

So let's break this down. We discussed the possibility of about 4 or 5 themes that will occur throughout the film, to represent the places and characters that appear:

• Theme 1, the Messed up Detective.
• Theme 2, the Femme Fatale
• Theme 3, the Bar
• Theme 4 + 5, lost forever in the depths of my pint.

Now the idea is to have separate themes, and when two or more of the characters/places are on-screen, I will attempt to merge them, hopefully we'll get a soupy goodness appearing. I also toyed with the idea of using popular songs and some typical sexy sax style songs to sorrowfully serenade the audience, something along the lines of Elbow and this random video. Okay that last example isn't great but still it's a start.

Another thing we need to consider is how to build up emotions, especially tension throughout the film - the use of silence, very high or very low sounds can be very effective at this, but Hannah probably has better knowledge of this than I do.

Hansel and Gretel - I'm going to be cheeky with this. I think Englebert did a great job orchestrating his text, and I'd like to borro- steal his themes and transfer them into a modern context, through use of a more popular music form i.e. a band with additional instruments.

When Jamie said he wanted to set Hansel and Gretel in someplace modern, like a crack den I instantly thought new cr- grimy and then jumped to the nearest song I've been listening to for an idea, and so here is a remix of Elbow's Coming Second. Obviously we can't use that for the whole thing, but also think of a bit of techno (Matrix?) Neither of those two are entirely appropriate as of yet, but something along the lines of grimy synth and fairly heavy rhythm would work well for a grimy fairy tale.

So that's all from me for now, let me know your thoughts.

Mikee

Film Noir Links

Right, I know wikipedia is usually frowned upon - but it has got some good basic knowledge, anyone involved in the Film Noir or wants to be, have a look at these links to get a better grasp of it.

Film Noir itself - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir

And the following are examples of some good Film Noir films:

Gilda - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilda

The Postman Always Rings Twice - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Postman_Always_Rings_Twice_(1946_film)

The Maltese Falcon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_(1941_film)

Jamie

Sound

I copied and pasted this from Tumblr blog because I feel it can be used here appropriately for discussion.

Mikee potentially is working with me on all 3 outcomes. He’s ma main man fo’ sound fo’ sure. Yes.

ANYWAY.

I went to meet Mikee in the pub yesterday to discuss ideas for each film.

Stop Motion Photo Montage - Since this is really a solo effort by me anyway, Mikee will be the only one helping me with this. I want a lo-fi, simplistic soundtrack, kinda nice and cute almost. Mikee suggested a banjo and double bass which would be amazing. This one can be done really quick I reckon.

Film Noir - After brainstorming this seems to be the outcome with the most work to do. Essentially we’re going with ‘themes’, so like the main protagonist will have a theme, a certain location has a theme etc.. I want to mix the old Film Noir sounds to a contemporary mix, think of the type of sounds they use in Batmans Dark Knight, rusty blades on violins etc. There will be an element of jazz, and little or no music in parts to help create tension and such. I need to work more on the script before we decide anything else.

Hansel and Gretel - Again, we’ll play around with the idea of themes to help things flow easier and just generally be more flexible. Once Alex has done a draft of the script for this we’ll have a better idea what exactly we can do. Our general sound is gona be a sort of grimey synth. Mixing the old and the new. We’ll be looking at Engelbert Humperdink’s score he did for the play of Hansel and Gretel, maybe even re-hash it or mix it around a bit.

Overall, I’m extremley happy with the Sound, Mikee is definitely on the same page as me and has come up with some brilliant ideas. We’ll use some of the recording studios and even some Horn and Brass players might get in on this.. exciting stuff. I’m chuffed that my Sound for this will be quite professional. Sound essentially makes the film!

Jamie

Film Noir Outcome

This is probably going to be the hardest film to produce out of the 3 films, but nonetheless, this is one I'm very excited about.

I need to start brainstorming my actual story, and translate them into storyboards before we get any shooting done. I've been discussing with Amelia for the character structures, and instead of going for the 'trying to be too clever' idea of swapping their archetype roles (Detective has the features of a femme fatale, and vice versa) we've decided to exaggerate their character traits even more, just so it's completely overt. For example the Femme Fatale would be incredibly promiscuous but also incredibly smart and manipulative, you get the rough idea. I need jot down the characters I want and discuss this further with Amelia.

Of course Keir is my pro-tag for this, so I've been drawing up some costume ideas for what I think woild express his character best. I need to do some visual research in the sense of watching a few more film noir films (I'll post some links up on here shortly) to get a good idea of structure. As well as look up theorists too. Again, I want this to have an experimental twist, so I will be using mostly Black and white and maybe one or two colours to give it a different edge, long cuts and shakey cameras too can add a sense of realism and dramatic quality.

Again, if you want to suggest something please do!

Jamie

Hansel and Gretel Outcome

So here is the Hansel and Gretel film, Alex Cruden is currently writing a draft script for me, so until I have a chat with next, I'll have to keep the rest of you guys on pause.

But I can give you a rough idea of what it's about. The main focus of this film is storytelling, I want to show how it's key for the narrative structure. Our narrator/story-teller (TBA) is going to tell us the story of Hansel and Gretel, the idea is that they would be telling us the story as if a parent would be telling a story, so instead of the actors using their voices, the narrator would do their voices for them dubbed on top. As well as this, the narrator would do the small imperfections and quirks you would get when you're being told a story i.e. some bits are forgotten, some bits are exaggerated and so on.

The twist for this Hansel and Gretel is that it will be a modern adaptation, for example, we initially came up with the concept that instead of a house made out of sweets, Hansel and Gretel would go to a drug den (this isn't confirmed, just an idea to get it rolling). As well as this I want to use quite a few experimental camera techniques, as well as a few editing techniques on the go too.

That's all for now, but as always if you guys want to suggest something, leave a post!

Cheers

Jamie

Stop Motion Photo Montage Outcome.

Although this is mostly going to be a solo effort by myself, I would appreciate any thoughts and opinions. I'm basically doing a photomontage that moves about around my text and onto other surfaces, like a 'journey'. But I'm a bit stuck on what to do the 'journey' about it, should I be having a journey? Someone else? Where to?

I've already sorted out the Sound with Mikee, (what I want to do that is) it's going to be a happy cheery sound, possibly banjo and double bass. Just something really nice and cute. Nothing more to say now, I'll need to brainstorm some more. Let me know if you guys have any thoughts.

Jamie

First post!

Hello everyone!

So this is my new blog for my Final year project, feel free to post anything you want, links, opinions, blogs, videos, pictures/photos, anything. This could be a good place to discuss ideas as well, just make sure you sign your name at the end of your post so I know who is posting what etc.

Speak to you guys soon!

Jamie