Sound Deconstruction

Sound Deconstruction

Within the film industry, sound is vital for creating the theme or atmosphere that the film is trying to create. A soundtrack can make or break a film, so it is imperative that the right sound is created and put with the matching visuals so that the audience gain a greater insight into the genre of the film.

There are two types of sound: parallel and contrapuntal. Parallel sound is when the sound matches what's going on in the scene and contrapuntal is when the music juxtaposes the visuals, creating a contrast- this is commonly done with classical music.

For our film opening, the group discussed and then then decided that we were really going to focus on our sound because we believed that it was potentially the most important part to creating a horror opening. To get inspiration, I listened to some music from youtube.

This soundtrack by Charlie Clouser is from the film 'Dead Silence'. The beginning of the song starts with a lullaby-like tune being played; it's slow but the piano notes are also slightly off key, giving the music a chilling feel. Additionally, acciaccatura notes, or grace notes, are added which are very short notes played before a longer note- acciaccatura literally means crushed. This adds an echoey effect, implying that this melody is being played in a large, empty, isolated room. There is then a chorus of groaning, dead-sounding voices which get louder and smoothly leads into a much faster version of the lullaby music at the beginning.

 The pace builds suspense and isn't as eerie as before but it's here that they start layering up different sounds creating a piece with extra dimensions and therefore adding more depth to the music. Lower, rumbling sounds juxtapose the supposed childlike and innocent tune that is the base layer in the track. This then continues for some time and then stops, almost too suddenly and we are left with crescendos of sound which the audience knows is deliberately building up to a big finale; the same notes are repeated over and over and the suspense becomes unbearable because the audience aren't sure when they're going to break out of this circle and what it will lead to. 

The end of the song then fades down again as the adrenaline slows down and the audience are then left again with the eerie lullaby tune that we began with- a cyclic song.   

After listening to the 'Dead Silence' theme song, I thought that it may also be useful to look at an opening scene with the music and see how they complement each other. The Ghost Ship is a slasher/supernatural film. In the beginning on the cruise ship, there are a lot of upper class people dancing with their husbands and wives. They are all dressed up in their best clothes and the lighting is warm and soft; purely through the visuals, the producers have created a 'happy' scene. 

The music is diegetic and it's a woman singing classical italian smooth jazz; it is seductive and sexy. It is also gentle and slow, creating calm and peace on board for evening's entertainment. To begin with, the music is parallel as it corresponds to the peaceful ambiance on the ship however, when the wire begins to turn and tighten and we are in a different location (outside of the main ballroom) then the woman's voice becomes quieter and more muffled and echoey, which would firstly show that the preparation of the wire and pulling the lever to release the wire is outside of the main event quite a distance away, but it also creates a ghostly feel because its like the scene has gone into slow motion which gives it a supernatural sheen and it also intensifies the prospects of what's about to happen to the people in the next room. As the wire begins to kill the victims, the music turns into contrapuntal sound because the relaxing jazz doesn't fit in with the massacre that is currently occurring. 

Both of these are examples of music tracks that work effectively within their genre and help to convey common conventions- for our slasher opening, we will take a similar approach to The Ghost Ship and use a contrapuntal, slightly muffled track with chilling diegetic noises over the top of it.