Sunday, April 11, 2010
A Mini-Review of The Movie Soundtrack course
At first I was taken off-guard by the different definitions found in the course. I didn't know sound could be described as diagetic and non-diagetic. Sometimes musical pieces in the film are not always heard and I did not realize this. When I watch a film, the functions now help me distinguish how the story is unfolding and how the plot changes through out the story. The teacher of this course opened my mind to the different sounds we hear and how they are not always recorded during the making of the film (in post-production). I would recommend this course not only to people who need to take it for education purposes but to fans of film as well. There are a lot of ideas and tricks that can be learned and practiced when watching some favored films.
Mini Analysis: A Clockwork Orange
A film described as repulsive to many critics and audiences around the globe, A Clockwork Orange has elements of both sin and desire. Very controversial for its time, A Clockwork Orange can be described as a "film noir" because of its strange but funny characters and its very explicit sexual scenes.
Modern Story:
The film would be described as a modern story structure. Even though the main character Alex has a fetish for ultra-violence, he comes across as "cool" to the audience. The strange wardrobe and mannerism's of the character makes the audience like his character, even though he has bad intentions.
Center of the plot:
Is it weird, but Korova (the milk bar) has huge implications in this film. The boys (Alex and posse) always go to the milk bar before or after their crimes. Is it almost like a home base for the boys.
Music:
In one of the most disturbing scenes recorded on film, the first gang rape is completely silent. The posse's enemies, are gang-raping a woman on a stage and we could only hear her screams and the sounds of the footwork of the characters. In another rape scene, now conducted by Alex and his gang, they are in an elderly couple's home. In a haunting musical pure performance, Alex begins to recite "Singing In The Rain" while they rape and murder the woman. Why its haunting is because he is looking and singing right into the camera, almost in an auditory point of view. The viewers interact with Alex while he is doing something vicious. Apart from that, the music is rather joyful and sometimes eerie in the form of tap-dancing numbers
Why the film is modern:
Even though it was released roughly 40 years ago, when Alex is getting manipulated by the doctors and "cured", the audience feels bad for him. But why? He is such an evil character with horrible intentions. Stanley Kubrick warps the minds of his viewers so they believe is Alex is being treated unfairly, but is a disgusting human being. Alex is being brainwashed just like the viewers are.
Modern Story:
The film would be described as a modern story structure. Even though the main character Alex has a fetish for ultra-violence, he comes across as "cool" to the audience. The strange wardrobe and mannerism's of the character makes the audience like his character, even though he has bad intentions.
Center of the plot:
Is it weird, but Korova (the milk bar) has huge implications in this film. The boys (Alex and posse) always go to the milk bar before or after their crimes. Is it almost like a home base for the boys.
Music:
In one of the most disturbing scenes recorded on film, the first gang rape is completely silent. The posse's enemies, are gang-raping a woman on a stage and we could only hear her screams and the sounds of the footwork of the characters. In another rape scene, now conducted by Alex and his gang, they are in an elderly couple's home. In a haunting musical pure performance, Alex begins to recite "Singing In The Rain" while they rape and murder the woman. Why its haunting is because he is looking and singing right into the camera, almost in an auditory point of view. The viewers interact with Alex while he is doing something vicious. Apart from that, the music is rather joyful and sometimes eerie in the form of tap-dancing numbers
Why the film is modern:
Even though it was released roughly 40 years ago, when Alex is getting manipulated by the doctors and "cured", the audience feels bad for him. But why? He is such an evil character with horrible intentions. Stanley Kubrick warps the minds of his viewers so they believe is Alex is being treated unfairly, but is a disgusting human being. Alex is being brainwashed just like the viewers are.
Mini Analysis: True Romance
Written by the always entertaining Quintin Tarantino (but directed by Tony Scott) this is easily one of the most strangest yet perfectly made films of the past generation, True Romance is about the exact words you can find in the title. The film is about revenge and the high risks one must go through for love. The risk does not always involve murder and drugs, but in this case it does. The quote on the cover of the film should be noted: "Lying, Cheating, Stealing...who said romance is dead?" The film does involve the previously mentioned, but there is a classic
Classic Narrative:
The film is a classic narrative structure, with clear identification of who are good and bad characters. Christian Slater plays Clarence Worley, somewhat of a deadbeat who works at a comic shop and adores kung-fu movies. When he falls in love for Alabama, he has the urge to go murder her "pimp" and former boss. When he succeeds, the object at the narrative center of the film is introduced: the briefcase full of drugs. This was supposed to be Alabama's clothes. Now, the couple must hide from the criminals who are after their stolen goods. Even if the couple are on the run and stole the briefcase, they didn't mean to do it. They are good people just trying to find a normal life.
Narrative voice over:
The film begins and ends with a narrative voice-over, conducted by one half of the films main characters, Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette). The film also ends with the same voice-over, which proves a story is being told and is already completed when we hear Alabama for the first time.
Music:
Hans Zimmer composes a beautiful jingle which almost becomes of a leitmotif for love rather than the film's scene. Whenever we hear the instrumental piece "You're So Cool", it always comes up in a scene where romance is involved (either between partners or even family). The song is played at the beginning and end of the film, included in the narrative voice-over. It is also involved whenever Alabama and Clarence share their love together through out the film. Other than that, we hear sunny-day California style pop songs as the soundtrack.
Functions of Sound:
Keeping on the same page with the music, there is a fight scene where Clarence must either murder Alabama's pimp, Drexel Spivey, or find peace and let Alabama free. As Clarence enters the house, we hear very loud techno music. As Clarence and Drexel speak, the music remains loud, but becomes louder when there are breaks of silence in their conversation. Drexel attacks Clarence, and the music is now blasting through out the scene. This is done to emphasize, and set the pace of the action as this is a important fight scene in the film. It also facilitates the level of the diagesis (character subjectivity) as Alabama does not want to be a "call girl" any longer. The scene is also the first to create an ambience, atmosphere and environment between scenes. This is the first scene with a violent nature, and creates a violent ambience. Yet the violence is always attached as something one would do for love.
Paradox:
A clever paradox scene is almost at the end, when Clarence is strolling around town, proclaiming his love for his new wife. He gets supper at a fast food joint and is really humble. Meanwhile, we jump to another scene where Alabama is found in a hotel by gangster Virgil, who is trying to kill her. This scene is violent and vicious, as Virgil is beating the bloodied woman all over the hotel room. Both acting for love, these are two very different scenarios the main characters are it.
Resemblance:
The film does have a couple on the run, but all for the right reasons. Perhaps the total opposite, but films such as Bonnie & Clyde and Natural Born Killers remind us of the couples that are on the run for their own reasons, but ultimately for love. It is not a strange scenario to see a couple so in love but have to deal with violent situations.
What makes the film so strange is the whole plot is given away to the bad guys by Brad Pitt's character Floyd, a couch potato stoner who lives with Clarence's long time friend. When criminals come look for the couple, it doesn't dawn on Floyd that the criminals want their drugs and money back. Floyd, rarely speaking through the whole movie, comes off as a amicable hippie who just wants to hang out, watch re-runs and smoke a bowl with someone. Also, Gary Oldman plays Drexel Spivey, a rastafarian gigolo. Even though his character is very sinister, he is quite hilarious with his accent and his ways of acting.
Classic Narrative:
The film is a classic narrative structure, with clear identification of who are good and bad characters. Christian Slater plays Clarence Worley, somewhat of a deadbeat who works at a comic shop and adores kung-fu movies. When he falls in love for Alabama, he has the urge to go murder her "pimp" and former boss. When he succeeds, the object at the narrative center of the film is introduced: the briefcase full of drugs. This was supposed to be Alabama's clothes. Now, the couple must hide from the criminals who are after their stolen goods. Even if the couple are on the run and stole the briefcase, they didn't mean to do it. They are good people just trying to find a normal life.
Narrative voice over:
The film begins and ends with a narrative voice-over, conducted by one half of the films main characters, Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette). The film also ends with the same voice-over, which proves a story is being told and is already completed when we hear Alabama for the first time.
Music:
Hans Zimmer composes a beautiful jingle which almost becomes of a leitmotif for love rather than the film's scene. Whenever we hear the instrumental piece "You're So Cool", it always comes up in a scene where romance is involved (either between partners or even family). The song is played at the beginning and end of the film, included in the narrative voice-over. It is also involved whenever Alabama and Clarence share their love together through out the film. Other than that, we hear sunny-day California style pop songs as the soundtrack.
Functions of Sound:
Keeping on the same page with the music, there is a fight scene where Clarence must either murder Alabama's pimp, Drexel Spivey, or find peace and let Alabama free. As Clarence enters the house, we hear very loud techno music. As Clarence and Drexel speak, the music remains loud, but becomes louder when there are breaks of silence in their conversation. Drexel attacks Clarence, and the music is now blasting through out the scene. This is done to emphasize, and set the pace of the action as this is a important fight scene in the film. It also facilitates the level of the diagesis (character subjectivity) as Alabama does not want to be a "call girl" any longer. The scene is also the first to create an ambience, atmosphere and environment between scenes. This is the first scene with a violent nature, and creates a violent ambience. Yet the violence is always attached as something one would do for love.
Paradox:
A clever paradox scene is almost at the end, when Clarence is strolling around town, proclaiming his love for his new wife. He gets supper at a fast food joint and is really humble. Meanwhile, we jump to another scene where Alabama is found in a hotel by gangster Virgil, who is trying to kill her. This scene is violent and vicious, as Virgil is beating the bloodied woman all over the hotel room. Both acting for love, these are two very different scenarios the main characters are it.
Resemblance:
The film does have a couple on the run, but all for the right reasons. Perhaps the total opposite, but films such as Bonnie & Clyde and Natural Born Killers remind us of the couples that are on the run for their own reasons, but ultimately for love. It is not a strange scenario to see a couple so in love but have to deal with violent situations.
What makes the film so strange is the whole plot is given away to the bad guys by Brad Pitt's character Floyd, a couch potato stoner who lives with Clarence's long time friend. When criminals come look for the couple, it doesn't dawn on Floyd that the criminals want their drugs and money back. Floyd, rarely speaking through the whole movie, comes off as a amicable hippie who just wants to hang out, watch re-runs and smoke a bowl with someone. Also, Gary Oldman plays Drexel Spivey, a rastafarian gigolo. Even though his character is very sinister, he is quite hilarious with his accent and his ways of acting.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Pure Performance in a Classic Narrative Film (Mini Analysis of Devil's Rejects Scene)
There were numerous examples of "pure performance" tracks in film we looked at, but I found one on my own to be very different. We looked at the performance of "The Three Amigos" and their comical bar routine. In "Mulholland Drive", the eerie and important Club Silencio introduced us to a Spanish singer and her rendition of a song which is the turning point of that particular film. One performance I noted was in a film I actually didn't enjoy much. It was more the performance of the scene that made the movie memorable. The film is "The Devil's Rejects" directed by Rob Zombie. In this 2005 horror sequel to "House of 1000 Corpses", the family of "Rejects" are wanted and are on the run as fugitives. Once they successfully torture and murder two families and terrorize the town, they have a showdown with the police and "good" characters that are trying to bring them down. The "Rejects" end up surviving, but are bloodied and wounded in the process. As the family comes together and attempts to drive their muscle car out of the town and into freedom, the director Zombie uses something we rarely see in films. He uses pure silence (just like we saw in Panic Room) in relation to all the images. Interestingly enough, we can hear a song. This song is diagetic and only for the audience, but is being played well before the family steps into the car (perhaps it is on the car radio.) The song is "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Although the lyrics are about being free after a breakup, it is fitting since the criminals are on their way to escaping the law, being free, remaining evil and not changing for anyone. The song is the only thing we can hear and is played in its entirety. Nine minutes of silence and no sound relation to pictures except for the epic ballad that we hear being played. The most interesting part is when the Rejects run into a police line, who brutally murder the Rejects via a gun-fest showdown. Although silence remains on the soundtrack and we cannot hear any guns being fired or any sound from the actors. It might not have been a hit in Hollywood, but never the less it is intriguing how Zombie fit the whole song into his movie and made the scene not only significant but relevant to the lyrics we are hearing. Perhaps one of the best (and overlooked) pure performance moments from a pre-recorded song nearly over 30 years elder than the film. The film is worth a look because of this musical moment.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
The Nature of The Film Noir
I used to believe a “Film Noir” was classified as either “weird”, independent or even B-list movies. After our analysis of Mulholland Drive and Pulp Fiction, it reminded me of other films I liked that don’t get heard about or praised often. I now have a different perspective. Not all films have to be independent to be considered a film noir. It is likely a film noir can be accepted and made easier if independent but that is not the way to define it. A film noir usually conducts itself in the style of a “modern” story and is also at times awkward and unusual. They are even described that way by people. I didn’t know that it had more to do with the point or theme of the movie. I knew it was surrounded with narrative periphery, but also realized it has a lot to do with the drama and crime involved in the stories. Considering this theme, there is a big involvement of sin in the stories to produce this effect. In a film noir, at times we see its sexual implications and awkward violent moments (ex: Sin City, Fargo). Strangely enough we also see hysterical moments in the form of satire to keep the film “different”. They have been around for over 60 years and seem to be recognizable by the Academy at high-profile award shows but I’ve always wondered: why aren’t they that popular? They’re still followed by a “cult” style fan base. Aren’t they so much cooler anyway? I admit films like The Dark Night and Fight Club were big hits but I could not also forget the lesser known films like The Big Lebowski and Reservoir Dogs that both (quietly) became ways of life rather than just being films. After I watched Lynch’s work in Mulholland Drive I acknowledged the fact that the intentions of the directors are to bring some creativity and something “dark” you might not have seen before. This might be why the films have “cooler concepts”. I do think films can produce the same amount of popularity and success as any other Hollywood blockbuster but it doesn’t appeal as easily .Even if a film is classified a drama, it has glimpses of sinful intentions like highly explicit sex, graphic violence and unusual satire through peripheral characters and objects. This might be the reason why it doesn’t get accepted as easily because it’s not as if these morals are easy to watch. Although instead of being your “classic” type of story it is appealing because it is a lot more realistic and “cool”. I’ve decided that a film noir might not be as praised as a Hollywood classic but we can find some of the most interesting and guilty-pleasurable concepts in a film noir.
the big lebowski (trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHuyjYJCCOA
reservoir dogs (trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C5MEv7eXRw
fargo (trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB4PmbfG4bw
lost highway (trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMWMCbQxEsE
fight club (trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD8kWrd1aBE
the big lebowski (trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHuyjYJCCOA
reservoir dogs (trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C5MEv7eXRw
fargo (trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB4PmbfG4bw
lost highway (trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMWMCbQxEsE
fight club (trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD8kWrd1aBE
Intermedia: Amon Tobin & The Video Game Soundtrack
Amon Tobin and The Music of Infamous
youtube.com/watch?v=yqWvheuVf6w
With technology moving extremely fast, video games have ditched the computerized 1980's sounding synthesizers for (at times) real songs that musicians/bands have written for the menu screen or during gameplay. When researching more about my favorite video games, I came across the work of Amon Tobin (DJ/musician) from England and his work in the game "Infamous". This was an interview conducted by Wired Magazine. Amon and the creators/sound designers of the game used futuristic sounds based on the futuristic aspect of planet Earth that is found in the game. Instead of using pre-recorded songs or typical FM radio sounds, they used a lot of Foley effects that were specifically made for the world in the video game. Rare and unusual objects (such as lamp posts and jelly beans) were used to create the music and sounds. Afterwards in production, medium and low intensity and frequencies were used to manipulate the volume of the sounds when applying them and layering them out for the game. Being a video game fan, it is interesting to see what Amon creates. It is also interesting that not only does this course now familiarize me with how sounds are used in video games but gives me another perspective on how ambient and specific sounds are made and how they are properly applied.
youtube.com/watch?v=yqWvheuVf6w
With technology moving extremely fast, video games have ditched the computerized 1980's sounding synthesizers for (at times) real songs that musicians/bands have written for the menu screen or during gameplay. When researching more about my favorite video games, I came across the work of Amon Tobin (DJ/musician) from England and his work in the game "Infamous". This was an interview conducted by Wired Magazine. Amon and the creators/sound designers of the game used futuristic sounds based on the futuristic aspect of planet Earth that is found in the game. Instead of using pre-recorded songs or typical FM radio sounds, they used a lot of Foley effects that were specifically made for the world in the video game. Rare and unusual objects (such as lamp posts and jelly beans) were used to create the music and sounds. Afterwards in production, medium and low intensity and frequencies were used to manipulate the volume of the sounds when applying them and layering them out for the game. Being a video game fan, it is interesting to see what Amon creates. It is also interesting that not only does this course now familiarize me with how sounds are used in video games but gives me another perspective on how ambient and specific sounds are made and how they are properly applied.
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