Moving Image Soundtrack Report
Music
Music is used to set the mood of a scene.
It can also be used to signify things to come within the film. In the film
Kingsman: The Secret Service there is a scene near the end where they are
infiltrating the antagonist’s base that include two separate pieces of music.
The first piece of music in this scene runs from the beginning of the scene
until about 38s in and is used to build suspense as the two agents are trying
to find ways out of seemingly inescapable situations that would almost
certainly lead to their deaths. This piece is a sound bridge between the main
shots of the main character ‘Eggsy’ surrounded by soldiers in a hallway and
another agent ‘Merlin’ in a plane which is about to have missiles launched at
it. The second piece of music starts at around 43s and runs until about 1:45s
is used whilst the implants are exploding within people’s heads and is
synchronised with the sound of the explosions. The first piece of music was an
original score for the film but the second piece of music is a very well known
composition by Sir Edward Elgar. It is called March No.1 and it is from the
Pomp and Circumstance series of marches. This piece of music is probably most
commonly associated with American college graduation ceremonies in modern times
but it is actually a military march from 1901. This music choice could be used
to represent the fight between the good force that is The Kingsman and the evil
that is Valentine. The name of the series of marches also comes from an Othello
quote describing how war is glorious in all of its ritual and ceremony. This
may be representing the glory of stopping evil and saving the world and it's
values from said evil. Some people also see it as an unofficial national anthem
for Britain so it could also represent the agents fighting for their country.
This music is also used as a sound bridge as we cut to different settings
around the world to show the scope of implants exploding and the amount of
people swayed by Valentine. Another example of film music is the opening scene of
the film ‘Children of Men’. There is only one piece of music in the scene starting at 36s and running until around 1:01. It is most likely diegetic sound stemming from the news report on the death of
the world’s youngest person. It could, however, be non-diegetic and playing
only for the audience to hear to set the mood of the scene. It is used to set
the mood of the film because it conveys the sadness that the world if feeling
because of infertility problems.
Sound Effects
Sound effects are used to tell the
audience what is going on in a scene and can be used to show a setting of a
scene. An example of sound effects are in the opening scene of Children of Men.
There are multiple sound effects in the scene. Most of the sound effects are
that of the cars, buses and motorised rickshaws driving through the street that
Theo is on, these start at around 56s in and run through the rest of the scene.
There is also an explosion, at 1:28, when the coffee shop that Theo had just
left is bombed toward the end of the scene which sets off a synchronous ringing
of an alarm and in the ears of Theo as he was very close to the shop when It
happened. The ringing is a sound bridge to the next scene where it becomes the
noise of a scanner at the entrance to the building in which Theo works. The
sound effects of the scene are naturalistic because they are realistic sounds
that would be happening in that situation.
Dialogue
Dialogue is used to
explain situations and to set the scene of a film or show.It can also be used as an exposition of things too complicated to explain using video alone. An example of this
is in the documentary series Louis Theroux: Dark States. This is a programme
that uses live interviews and so the dialogue in the programme is live location
sound the fact that the conversations are real also means the dialogue is naturalistic. In the 3rd episode 'Murder In Milwaukee’, for example, he interviews the
family of a man who was fatally shot by police on location a the scene where
the shooting had previously taken place. The actual interview begins at around
the 35s mark in the scene before which the dialogue is recorded post production to explain the situation before the interview.
In fight club there is a scene just after word gets around about
the club where one of the main characters 'Tyler Durden' is explaining the rules of fight club. this is functional dialogue because it explains exactly what fight club is as well as showing the secretive nature of the club. This scene is also a good example of voiceover as at 1:00 in the scene the other main character referred to only as 'The Narrator' begins a voiceover to further explain the scene and the mentality behind members of the fight club.
