Film Opening Research-Sound

Film Opening Research-Sound and Music

Contrapuntal Sound: The visual image and the music playing at the background contrast.

Parallel sound: When the visual image and the music playing at the background harmonise.

            For this coursework piece another student and I aim to develop and produce a film opening that focuses on a particular dark genre that is currently left undecided, possibly use contrapuntal sound, and to have the audience slightly feel an aura of fear. One particular opening would be “The Shining” (1982), this opening uses a birds’ eye view camera shot(s) that soar like a specter, sweeping across the landscape of the American Frontier as unnerving music plays in the background. It’s an opening that combines beauty and dread; the opening unusually has rolling credits in a bold blue that stands out from the scenery, possibly to capture our attention since it’s in a less horror-like color but one that’s more sinister. My personal opinion would be that it's difficult to tell whether the music is contrapuntal or fitting in the opening of this film because of how this music matches with the desolate landscape and how it doesn't fit because of the beautiful scenery. Here is a link of the opening of the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw23KM3-Ry8

Another example of a film that uses contrapuntal sound would be Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" (1971); please view this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-zRtT5jPLA . In this scene the main character Alex and his 'droogs' or allies challenge a rival gang into a fight that takes places into a dark, abandoned theatre; the ensuing fight is displayed in a montage of violence. With the low-key lighting, grim atmosphere of urban decay and senseless violence we have an excerpt of "La gazza ladra"  (The Thieving Magpie) composed by Gioacchino Rossini playing in the background. There is no connection to this musical piece and the film, it's unsettling to hear something so cheerful and whimsical associated with something so violent. I believe the only connection would be that they're associated with the theatrical; this piece of music was composed by Rossini was specifically made for an Italian melodramatic opera where as the scene of the film takes place in an abandoned and broken theater. Perhaps Rossini's music was used to echo the once lively and respectful location of the setting in the film, now fallen from it's glory as delinquents attack one another.

 Finally, rather than looking at films we'll see how sounds are used in another media text: a videogame advert of "BioShock 2" (2010); please view link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8lngIFXRi4 . This advert uses parallel and contrapuntal sound. The contrapuntal sounds would be the two music pieces that reflect the time of the setting and possibly the narrative: an excerpt of Annette Hanshaw's "Daddy Won't You Please Come Home" (1929) and "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" (1942), a patriotic song cleverly tossed in with the battle scene of the advert. The parallel sound used was music composed by Garry Schyman, grim and unnerving music that match the ruined location of the fallen utopia of Rapture and the horrors that lurk within, you will notice that Garry Schyman's musical work reappears in the two minutes and forty-one second mark but the pace and intensity grow as a new threat emerges.