Final Project Proposal

The Art of Sound in Film 

 

Section 1 - Context  

From the beginning of year one on the ‘My Generation’ project, I have been constantly improving and expanding upon my musical knowledge. That first project was my first taste at performing in a band and building upon communication skills, tackling problems I had not encountered before. Here I also started by increasing my musical repertoire, learning songs from different eras and the technique of different vocal styles before branching out in the Sound vision and movement project, experimenting with keyboard sounds and writing music for film in a group. Not only that, but also, I worked with sheet music, learning to annotate, and read the sheet symbols as I play in a big ensemble. I was tasked with learning my piano parts at home and even went the extra mile to teach others that shared those sections with me when they were struggling with it. The end of the first year saw me organising my own project, writing my own timetabled weeks, and initiating my own research plans. This independent learning skill will be valuable to the development of this project as it is prior practice and experience which I can benefit from. In Unit 9, I further developed my skills as a solo pianist and composer as well as my leadership skills and being a musical director. My research report from unit 10 has changed the way I research and has broadened my capabilities and sources. I boast a much wider range of sources in my most recent bibliographies compared to the ones made in the first-year projects. 

The skills I want to develop during this project are my interpersonal and communication skills, musicianship professionalism which refers to learning more about music theory, being punctual and managing my time more effectively. 

 For this ‘Final Major Project’ I will be collaborating with a fellow musician on the course to co-compose music for three movie clips of different genres. My aims are: 

•  To familiarise myself with the production elements of film music (the technical aspect) such as what equipment is used and how I can best replicate that. 

•  To experiment with unusual instrumental techniques and form unique sounds. 

•  To have one of these clips completed with full foley also- probably will be the smallest clip. 

 

I chose this project route because of my love for the ‘Sound Vision and Movement’ project in year one and therefore my proposition is to continue this work but go even further this time, to add this as my big finish to the website portfolio I have been building.  

The benefits and main reasons for my collaboration on this project are that my partner brings different skills and instrumental knowledge to the table and I the same. We can use our differing skillsets to our advantages and take different responsibilities and research area paths to split up the work more manageably between us so long as the communication stays consistent. I have worked with this particular person twice before in a group environment where we both became natural leaders and main contributors to those groups, and we are both hardworking and deeply passionate when it comes to this project concept and idea. Personally though, I hope to express that passion in a medium that is better presentable, one that will show I have pushed myself to the limits of what I can do as a musician and utilize the majority of my academic improvement thus far. 

 

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Section 2 – Research 

I will be largely focussing on the bigger picture when it comes to research, looking deeper into the context of the scene clips within the entire movie, thinking about characters, story, and possible motifs- something I did not think to do for a previous project. This focussed study on behind the scenes will be intricately linked with the practical composition of the music, trying to make sure it all fits not just within the scene a stand-alone but something that could blend with the style and genre of the film as a whole. 

To aid me in the creation of the foley, I will be implementing some preliminary research on DIY (Do-It-Yourself) foley pits. I will need to either get a box to waterproof or use a tray of sorts to put my needed materials on and then mess around with objects from there. I already have ideas for home solutions too such as soundproofing with blankets and pillows to reduce echo and absorb noise. There is also a book called ‘Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound’ by David Yewdall which I am hoping to gain access to for an insight into the practicalities of creating sound for film and its impact as an art form. 

As for the composition, I have some theory books and research notes on enhancing emotion through music and the compositional techniques used to encourage certain feelings like sadness, awe, or fear. This work is currently displayed on a page on my website, and I will be looking to take some of it to apply for this project but expand upon it also. 

YouTube clips and general internet resources are probably going to be utilized frequently for checking small technical details as well as for sourcing the film clips. Using primary research sources will be in the form of experimentation, asking professionals for advice and watching films for inspiration and greater context. 

 

 

Section 3 – Problem solving  

An example of problem solving in the past is when I was working on my solo composition Someone in my group thought I was being condescending when I offered help and support for them when they were tasked with playing on piano. I took this person out of the room for a private conversation to clearly state my intention and after that there were no more issues regarding miscommunication and tone. I learnt from this that not everything is how it seems from my own perspective and I should try my best to consider (when appropriate) how others could interpret my actions, especially in a group situation and use this insight to try and avoid issues and minimise non-work-related conflicts. 

During the development of my Unit 8 independent project, I battled often with a lack of motivation and commitment struggles. I managed to overcome this by creating daily task checklists for my work, increasing productivity and psychological rewards. This not only tricked me into realising the smaller tasks I had overcome but I ended up completing more work as the idea of ticking off more boxes became fun. This has led me to understand better how I work when under my own clock or pressures and therefore gives me the opportunity for better and faster judgement when it comes to this project- perhaps I can use a similar method from the start in order to maximise potential work ethic. 

The biggest potential problem we could encounter with this project is in COVID 19, preventing students from coming into the college again for whatever reason. In the event of another lockdown or having to isolate, we would be working from home and therefore in our separate spaces. Despite having limited, decreased or the potential temporary termination of in-person co-operation, we will still be making sure this project runs to the best of our ability by: 

• Recording our separate parts on our phone microphones. This is possible and has been demonstrated in the mini-FMP demo to produce a decent quality outcome. 

• Continuing having regular scheduled zoom meetings and staying in constant contact via instant messenger 

• Working in our individual research areas so we can continue progression without dependence on our respective partnership. 

• Making the absolute most of the equipment we have at home, using household objects to our advantage for foley and experimentation purposes. 

• Taking breaks and reflecting on the communication methods used and evaluating their effectiveness, making us more flexible to changes. 

 

These steps will be vital to ensure work and communication continues between myself and the other musician working on this project. This will also hopefully negate any re-occurring past issues of ‘being busy when the other needs to discuss important decisions’ as any issues can be brought up in these meetings and there will be no excuse for not being able to attend if the meeting schedule is agreed upon as early on as possible in the timeline. These pre-planned action plans should ensure the project aims are still met and realistically achievable. 

 

 

Section 4 – Practical skills 
I will require communication skills to achieve my end goal and have been attempting to develop these throughout my course time so it should be realistic to assume I will be capable. I need to be able to set up a recording studio for high quality audio. I will need the practical knowledge of how to do this, which I am going to gain from one-on-one questions with a production student, a mini workshop within the first few weeks where I spend an hour in the studio learning to set up and record like we will need to throughout the project. 

Compositional techniques are a practical element of my previous unit work and will be vital to use and expand in the next 10 weeks. Tricks to increase the amount of music composed without also having to increase the amount of material might be useful to aid efficiency. I have multiple options such as transposing my music material, reversing order of note melody, or adding new base notes underneath chords to change their position and feel. 

The resources I would need access to (for the full exploration and potential of my project) are: 

• A working microphone and camera on a device for zoom recordings and meetings. 

• Studio spaces for recording 

• A Rehearsal/idea development area such as a free classroom or music bunker. 

• A piano keyboard/ mic/ other musical equipment whist in the rehearsal and recording spaces. 

• A computer with internet access for researching and editing my website. 

• My project collaborator. 

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Section 5 – Evaluation and reflection 

As briefly mentioned in an earlier section of this proposal, I intent to try out a new form of recording my progress and evaluations- video logs. These logs will be completed fortnightly to give the opportunity for including more detail whilst few-sentence written notes (to help me remember) will be completed whenever appropriate. During the project, if these video logs do not seem to be working, I have a back-up plan to evaluate why that style failed and then continue logs in purely written format as I have been used to doing in my previous projects. 

I have hopes that video logs impact my work positively as on paper it seems to be the best fit. They require less time to complete, which makes it easier for me to motivate myself to record them and different mediums can be incorporated much easier such as screensharing to annotate on documents and to show video while simultaneously being able to comment on what is being shown and talk through the development and progression of the project in that current state. Additionally, I aim to state not just any issues that have arisen but how I have dealt with them or how I intend to rectify them in the coming weeks before the next log. 

When commenting on my collaboration, I will be brutally honest in my opinion, which could adversely impact on our partnership. However, I will also tell them directly, we can discuss and solve disagreements together to minimise disruption to our progress. I can confidently say that we will both be able to agree on our teamwork, being more valuable for the completion of this project than being selective for the sake of saving the feelings of one another. 

As a conclusion, I intend to summarise all the logs and evaluate the overall success of each aspect of the project using whatever format has been the least challenging up until that point. 

 

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Section 6 – Presentation 

As stated above, my fortnightly logs will be recorded on zoom and then uploaded as videos to be presented using my website in an aptly named ‘log’ section of my work. I intend to organise my layout of the website page with all the different sections and headings- trying to keep the theme consistent and nice looking as I have done for other units.  

I, along with my project collaborator, intend to display the final product by taking inspiration from the previous year’s production students display of their Sound Vision and Movement project work. Their outcome was displayed on a screen with sound to an audience at a live viewing as if they were watching a movie at the theatre. Ideally this would also include an element of live performance if possible, whereby one of our three film clips will be displayed without audio and we will be re-creating that composition for a live scenario just like I have done before. Triggered sound effects may be used to enhance experience and create an atmosphere for the performance that can match the genre of film scene on display. 

 

 

 

Bibliography 

References I have used or are looking to use for this project. 

 

Beth McGowan. 2021. Sound of Cinema The Music that Made the Movies Part 1 The Big Score - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://youtu.be/cNRZFZEyTLI\. [Accessed 26 March 2021]. 

Nico Holodovsky. 2021. BBC Sound of Cinema - The Music that Made the Movies - Part 2 of 3 - Pop goes the Soundtrack - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://youtu.be/Suu8zruzCbA. [Accessed 26 March 2021]. 

YouTube. 2021. Sound of Cinema The Music that Made the Movies Part 3 New Frontiers - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://youtu.be/OPm6BCvnK5Y. [Accessed 26 March 2021]. 

Parts 1 and 3 of the documentary series look more promising and related to my work and so are worth a listen. Even part 2, although seemingly not as related to my research areas, might have some useful quotes and such. 

 

Jeremy. 2021. How to Soundproof a Room with Blankets and Some Creativity. [ONLINE] Available at: https://soundproofliving.com/soundproof-room-blankets/. [Accessed 23 March 2021]. 

In the event that I am stuck at home because of COVID, I may need to utilise objects that I have arund the house to make my own recordings as good as possible. This short article describes some ways in which I can use blankets to dampen outside noises and lessen the impact of loud sounds such as  big hits and smacks. 

 

S., R., 1994. Overtones and Undertones. University of California Press. 

An interesting snippet of this book, from Actions/Interactions: Historical Overview (page 50): 

“In silent films, in which the music generally runs nonstop, cues, if they are used, simply run into one another, changing in mood, tone, character and so on according to what is happening on screen rather than according to purely musical logic. In sound films, however, the nondiegetic music track almost never runs nonstop. Therefore, a decision must be made not only as to what kind of music is to be composed and/or chosen to interact when given a segment of cinematic action, it must be decided as well when and whether nondiegetic music is to be used and how long it is to run.” 

This particular part intrigues me as it suggests that I do not need to be composing for the entirety of the film scene and should select carefully with cues. 

 

Renée, V. 2021. Learn How to Build Your Own Dirt Cheap DIY Foley Pit. [ONLINE] Available at: https://nofilmschool.com/build-diy-foley-pit. [Accessed 24 March 2021]. 
 

 

Lack, R., 1997. Twenty Four Frames Under. Quartet Books. 

I think this book would be helpful for my project, especially the following sections: The emotional impact of film music (pages 284-288), The electronic manipulation of sound (pages 317-321) and Resistance to sound- realism: sound effects and source music in Scarface (page 97) as they relate closely with my area of study and give specific examples of films and composers for a more in-depth look. 

 

Lellis, C., 2013. Music Production. Focal Press. 

I would like to have some knowledge about music production when it comes to this project- enough to not be clueless about what my project partner is doing, also in order to effectively communicate my technological ideas and be able to know at least what I would like to do and the correct terminology in order to suggest how to do so.