Task 4 - brass score to a clip from 'North by Northwest'

Score:


A demo of the ideas I have used to score a clip from 'North by Northwest'.
Using brass rhythmically has been my main focus, but also looking at articulation, suspense and fitting memorable brass motifs to the character's movement in the film clip. At the moment the score is sounding bare without the rest of the orchestral instruments (strings and woodwind), however, so far the score has been successful at creating a build up of pulse/rhythm, alternating between different members of the brass family, and creating atmosphere/suspense to the scene.

Techniques to use/used:
-theme and brass variations
-increase in tempo
-ostinato
-using brass as a rhythmic device
-call and response
-assigning specific timbres/instruments to different notes/layers within a chord/movement
Influences:
Hans Zimmer's score to Gladiator:

This score influenced my choosing of roles for each brass instrument and creating suspense using crescendos. The trumpets in my score are heavily influenced by their roles in Hans Zimmer's score: at 4:29 on the given video example, the trumpets carry a strong continuous pulse that creates suspense and build up for the rest of the instruments.

Bernard Herrmann’s original score to Alfred Hitchcock's 'North by Northwest':

I was most influenced by Herrmann's use of semi-tones, call and response and off-beat rhythms. His use of semi-tones create a suspense effect (similar to the score accompanying the film 'Jaws'), his call and response method allows the small responses at the beginning of the score to take flight into a melody carrying the score to a different key and mood. Herrmann also uses the trumpets to play one note rhythmically as a build up method (similar to the continuous pulse of trumpets created by Hans Zimmer).

Family Guy's episode 'And Then There Were Fewer' opening theme song, composed by Walter Murphy:

This music score influenced my use of brass as a rhythmic device, using the low instruments like basses with a steady pulse, alternating with trumpets carrying the theme/melody (although Walter Murphy's composition relies heavily on the strings to carry the main theme).

Video with score:

Orchestral instrumentation and articulation

String family
(In order of pitch: high - low, determined by size)

Violin


Viola
(Same shape and features as the Violin only the Viola has a bigger body)

Cello

Double Bass


Articulation:

Arco normal (using the bow normally on the string)
Arco spiccato (the bow lightly bounces on the string)
Arco staccato ('detatched')
Arco legato ('tied together', smooth/joined)
Arco glissando ('to glide')
Arco sul tasto (''on the touch', to bow on the fingerboard)
Arco au talon (using the frog/nut of the bow on the string)
Arco punta d'arco ('at the point', using the point/tip of the bow)
Arco tremolo (measured/unmeasured) (alternating up and down bow rapidly)
Arco col legno (battuto/tratto) ('hit with wood')
Arco detache ('separated')
Arco Martele ('hammered', bow stroke with a bite to begin with)
Arco trill (rapidly alternating between two notes)
Arco sul ponticello ('on the bridge')
Arco tenuto ('to hold', sustain)

Pizzicato normal (plucking the string)
Pizzicato glissando
Pizzicato quasi guitar (held like a guitar and strummed)
Pizzicato tremolo

Molto vibrato (Molto='much', vibrato is a technique used to alternate pitch whilst bowing on the string)
Non vibrato (no vibrato)
Con sordino ('with mute')
Natural harmonic (placing a finger lightly on certain areas of the string without adding pressure to create a soft high-pitched note, usually around 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 up a string, shortening the vibrational length of the string)
Artificial harmonic (the same effect as a natural harmonic, canceling out the fundamental tone, producing harmonic tones)
Harmonic glissando (gliding with harmonics)

Task 2 - score to The Dark Knight's chase scene

Video with audio and score:

The Dark Knight video (without score):


audio/score (piano skeleton):


Video with audio (draft):

Task 1 (build up) - Music for Digital Media

Music For Digital Media-Week 1

Cymatics:

The word ‘Cymatic’, invented by Swiss scientist: Hans Jenny, comes from the Greek word ‘Kyma’ meaning 'Wave'.
The interest in, or use of, Cymatics can be traced back thousands of years to tribes who would sprinkle grains onto the skin of their drums for divine purposes, however, Robert Hooke (1635-1703) created one of the earliest records (after Galileo) of Cymatics. Hooke devised an apparatus in 1680 consisting of a glass plate covered with flour that he ran a violin bow along, creating nodal patterns.
Cymatics are the earliest form of visualised sound and created a stepping stone to technology such as Optical Sound Recording.

The process of Optical Sound Recording:



This video extract (from the film: Sound Recording and Reproduction, produced by: Erpi Classroom Films Inc.) demonstrates the early technology of sound art on film. The different light variations on the Sound Track create different wave forms on the Sound Track area: Variable Density, Bilateral Variable Area, and Unilateral Area. This Sound Track is then placed on the photographic film, so, the final film tape not only contains the photograph of the action to be seen on the motion picture, but also the photographic record of the sound created through the Optical Sound Recording process. The sound 'Negative' (film/tape) is placed on the picture Negative to create a combined Positive film:



Case Study: Modern Times (1936), Charlie Chaplin

“Unemployment is the vital question … Machinery should benefit mankind. It should not spell tragedy and throw it out of work.”
-Charles Chaplin



Modern Times shows Charlie Chaplin’s character struggling to survive in a modern industrial society. Modern Times marked the last screen appearance of the Little Tramp: Chaplin’s loveable character which had brought Chaplin world fame. This satirical comedy addresses the aftermath of America’s Great Depression; when mass unemployment coincided with the rise of industrial automation.

By the time Modern Times was released, talking pictures (also known as ‘Talkies’) had been established for almost a decade. This ‘silent’ comedy marks the transition between the two film eras; containing a number of recorded sound effects, an orchestral soundtrack and Chaplin sings on screen for the first time.

David Raksin (1912-2004):

Well known for his theme to the film Laura (1944); one of David Raksin’s earliest film assignments was to assist Charles Chaplin in the composition of the score to Modern Times.