Hello, and welcome to what I believe is my final major blog post on the music part of the portfolio project. Todays post will be regarding my final decision on the music that will be used within the introduction of the movie.
I will start with the most broad classifications, then I will keep narrowing it down until I reach a final decision of what will be used.
The first decision is whether the song will be instrumental, vocal, or completely diegetic. I'm not an active listener of vocal music, as I primarily listen to instrumental music. As a result I don't have much experience with that type of music, so I likely would not be able to find a good fit for the introduction. Getting permission would also be a pain, unlike instrumental music, which I will discuss later. Moving on, I don't think a primarily diegetic soundtrack would work in this scenario. I feel like a complete lack of music would not help set up the tone of the introduction. I feel this especially does not work when considering the man being told he has cancer is the major moment, and without music it would not have as much of an impact as I would like. The final option is instrumental. I have a large amount of experience with this type of music and I believe the lack of words lets people focus more on whats happening in the movie, acting as a supplement by increasing emotion while not taking the viewers attention. As a result, my introduction will use instrumental music.
The next major thing to consider is whether the music will be created by me or if it will be a song that already exists. I've only just started learning the guitar (my electric guitar is pictured below) during the beginning of the school year, so I am nowhere near close to being the best. Thinking about this positively however, if I did it I would not have to deal with copyright issues and I would gain more experience with playing the guitar. The other option is a song that already exists. I believe this is the better choice, as the people who created these songs are most likely better at conveying emotion, and I have yet to create my own musical composition, therefore having no experience. This however, breaks down into a new problem.
My electric guitar
The next issue involves how I will deal with the copyright of using an existing song. I can either ask the creator if I could use their song, or as a safer option, cover the song myself and give credit to the original artist. Asking the creator is a high risk high reward situation. There is a chance that the creator does not respond in time or they flat out say no, so I would have to have a last minute backup plan just in case. On the other hand, If I covered it I would not have to deal with that issue, with the main issue learning the song in time. With several weeks of time, I think I am capable of learning a song to the point where it would seem at least partially professional in a film introduction.
There are a few final parameters that did not warrant an entire paragraph of decision making. First, the song must have a somber tone. This is self explanatory, as a deadly medical situation would warrant a sad undertone throughout the entire movie, especially the music. Next is that the song can't be bombastic. It must carry a large amount of emotional weight while being somewhat quiet so that it does not counter the tone. Now, taking everything that I have talked about into consideration, I believe I have found a song that fits all of the qualifications.
I have settled on Zero Two's theme from the Kirby series. I know most of you probably think I'm insane with my constant references to the Kirby series, but as I said before, its work with music is incredible. I chose this theme because of the sorrowful tone given to it by the story of Zero Two. (The giant eyeball creature shown above) While some parts seem intense within the guitar cover, it is mainly due to the choice of instruments. After choosing this song, I believe my acoustic guitar would be a better choice of an instrument. I might incorporate some piano as well, as it is also great at conveying the emotion of sadness.
So here's the plan of how it will be incorporated. It would play slower than the normal speed of the song, as it currently goes too fast compared to the story of the film. I believe the best way of incorporating it is by having it play on the acoustic guitar normally, and on piano during the flashbacks. It would also slowly get faster until stoping when the man is told he has cancer. A heartbeat would also be heard while the music is playing, increasing in speed alongside the music. I feel this is a unique and possibly effective way to engage the audience, but not completely draw their attention to the music. The music would not be the only thing heard though, as there would be normal hospital sounds in the background as well. (People talking, writing, doors opening and closing, etc.
I'm very excited to see this idea through, and I plan to start practicing the song this week, starting with the chords and then moving onto the melody. I will most likely ask one of my friends to do the piano part though, but I might teach reteach myself piano if that's not possible. (I have not played it in years but I'm confident I could relearn easily)
Thank you for reading the finale of the music section of my music section of the portfolio project. It has been very entertaining and I have learned a great deal about several technical elements of the music that goes into a movie introduction. Farewell, thank you for reading, and I hope to see you all again in my next post!
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