Compositions

In my Independent US cinema and beyond seminar, I was graced upon a film that
shows how sounds are a majorimportant factor on keeping up to date with the
narrative of the film. The film Dogville is by independent film director Lars von
Trier. The movie is filmed  in a huge warehouse with a very minimal set, to be
honest, no set really. The entire street where the movie is based around is only
chalked onto the floor. There are no walls, doors, roads..... it is basically similar
to a plan of a street. The sounds that we may hear from these everyday
occurrences are still audible although, say for example, the doors still swing open
and shut when the actor imitates the action of opening and closing the door. I
found this film fascinating and I would recommend any of you who are passionate
about sound design to watch it.

The short interactivity process of music to video. As to how I am going to approach this
task, I am still not 100% certain, but I  think I would like to make a visual for suitable for
 a night club. I am interested in making a visual interaction that coordinates with the
environment atmosphere in club music. For this I will intend on using a microphone input
that will transfer the sound signal from the dance floor, linking an interaction finally in a
visual display through Jitter. Another alternative idea would be to have a video display
input via camera, which would then glitch and flicker according to the sound levels that
are audible.

I have been considering my options for task seven, the interaction of colour values to
trigger musical events.I would like to take a video from a game maybe and depending
on the brightness and contrast, coordinate a build up of musical textures as the character
on screen ventures from dark places to those that are brightly lit. I have been intrigued
by many games that incorporate this element of suspense into the gaming experience
and feel a project similar could be very enjoyable. I will rewire a max patch into a
sequencer, triggering different instruments with certain moods in the visual.    

I have recently completed my task 2 sound to animation. I decided that a few tweaks
such as the rock samples needed to be edited slightly. The rocks sound a little quiet
and unrealistic to the size proportion of the rock onthe visual. To counteract this I
EQ'd  the sample bringing out more bass frequencies and lower some of the high
end frequencies. I feel this helped add to the size of the impact and to the reality to
the visual drastically. With this problem being resolved easily I feel that the piece is
now authenticated. I feel my favourite part of the videois the ending where the funeral
march music kicks in. I felt this gave it a humorous quality to the Coyote's efforts. 

I have currently been working on the background SFX for the forthcoming production of ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ which is being performed in the Mumford Theatre 25th-28th March. On top of this I have also written a solo piano score to accompany certain intervals within the play using influences by Michael Nyman.

I have found that this extra curricular work has help me learn a lot in terms of using and experimenting with themes and ideas. It has also helped me vary my abilities to score music to fit certain moods within a visual sceanrio, not only in terms of musically, but also creating realistic background environments to emphasise the settings of each scene.

I will be performing the music live on the above nights and i feel the play will be very enjoyable and very entertaining.

If anyone is intereted you can buy tickets from the Mumford Theatre Box office £8 Adults £5 Students/Concessions and £4 OAP.

Nick

Hi everyone,

Just thought i’d let you know i found a great site that allows you to download samples for free. This is awesome because they are all 16-bit 44.1Khz too.

here’s the link: http://www.freesfx.co.uk/soundeffects

Hi all,

I was just wondering if you could give me some feedback on my ‘Road Runner & Coyote’ Clip for task 2 of the Music for Digital Media semester 1 tasks. The main concern of mine at the moment is the sliding rock sound about half way through the clip. Although i do quite like the rawness of the sample… im not entirely sure it fits.

Here’s the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kOvLVdgGs8

I am currently programing the scales of Dmajor and the relative Bminor. I want to create 2 contrasting sections, a nice angelic waltz in Dmajor and a creepy-ish standard 4/4 darker contrasting section.

The only thing is…. How can i create a waltz?….. I would have to emphasise every third beat but im not sure how to do this…. can anyone help????

I have been reviewing my incidental music for the movie clip I engaged in for task 4, ‘The Day After Tomorrow’. I have noticed some faults the various instrumentation and have started to configure these accordingly. I am currently adding a Sforzando emphasis on the Brass section and also working on some tremolo strings too.

I am also considering playing around with variations of the leit motif currently in use and i am also considering some female choir vocals too…. (if anyone knows of anyone… please let me know). This i feel could work as a contrast to the mood and arouse the emotions of the viewer too, in an alternative way. The scene i was considering was during the close up of the wave, near the end of the clip, during the last 30 secs.

Any other ideas are welcome if anyone would like to comment.

Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuMQ_xboth0

The first time i had heard of Max/MSP/Jitter, as well as the fundamentals of what the programs entailed i was worried about learning a ‘New Language’ in music.