The soundtracks of two movies inspired me in addition to the sound effects used in a well known action movie. I decided to focus on the music used throughout the film. In my experience, music is a key way of manipulating emotion.[1]
Inception (2010)[2]
Directed and written by Christopher Nolan, is science fiction film about a spy and thief who steals and extracts vital information from people as they sleep and dream.
The music used throughout the film, especially when the characters are going into a ‘dream-world’, is a slowed down tempo of Edith Piaf’s Non, Je Ne Regrette Rein. Hans Zimmer, the music producer for Inception, cleverly uses the same song throughout the entire film. During the film there are times when the original song is played at its normal tempo. Then when the characters enter the ‘dream-world’ the song is played at a slower tempo.
Zimmer was trying to emphasise the speed of time between each dream world. As the characters in the film enter dreams of dream worlds, the real time is slowed down every time.
Zimmer’s method inspired me to use music to influence the audiences’ emotions.
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| Inception (2010) |
Schindler’s List (1993)[3]
Directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, is inspired by the novel which was previously written. It’s about a German man who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees by making them employees of his factories during the Holocaust.
The film is quite depressing. The music used throughout does most of the talking. It pulls the ‘heartstrings’ of the audience making them feel sorry for the Jewish people. The music draws the audience into the story. Most of the time hardly any dialogue is used because there is no need.
I am inspired by the way the music is the ‘voice over’ for the film and I would like to use that technique in my own work.
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| Schindler's List (1993) |
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)[4]
An action film directed by Renny Harlin is about a man who tries to stop terrorists blowing up his wife’s plane on Christmas Eve. The fight scenes featured in this movie contain a lot of Foley sounds as well as suspenseful and action background music. There is dialogue during the fight scenes though. The music as well as the Foley sound effects emphasise the damage being caused to the characters and the equipment around them, i.e. the wing of the aeroplane.
Die Hard 2 has inspired me to use Foley sounds to emphasise the impact of the blows of the characters fighting.
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| Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990) |
I plan to use the same method’s used in Inception and Schindler’s List. I plan to make the music play and manipulate the audience’s emotions. I also plan to use very similar techniques as the Foley artists used to recreate the sound effects for Die Hard 2. The sounds play a huge impact on the audience’s judgement of the fight.
What is Foley Sound?
Foley sound is natural sound which is recreated and recorded for a film (not man-made).[5] It can be recorded using a suitable recording devise and put into music software such as Logic pro or ProTools. It can be manipulated so it sounds more emphasised or bold.
[2] French, Phillip – 18th July 2010 – http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jul/18/inception-film-review-philip-french
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