Hello post-audio, hello score, goodbye sanity

Writing this post early in the week because Josh & I will have our hands full with editing audio all Thursday and then I'll be placing the score in the film.

When I think about this class I feel a lot of things: frustration, pride, anxiety, excitement. The time constraint is very unnerving and I just want to make the film the best it can be because we've put in so much work into it. There just isn't enough time in the day at this point to make everything perfect.

There are so many things out of my control. We wont get the edited ADR until Thursday, and I'm not getting music until Tuesday night. Then there's waiting for graphics editing/placing foley in. So I can't do anything on my end until at least tomorrow when we get all of that. (which is why I'm blogging now)

I know I'm the type of person who takes charge of things but I didn't expect to have to do so much of the actual work in post. I volunteered to do it because I know how to and it was easier to do in the time constraint than teach someone else how to log footage, etc. There are things I would change about the production, including my own work on it. I'm not perfect at all but I certainly tried. The film could not have been completed by the help of many of my group members and friends who are angels for stepping aside from their own productions to help in pre-production. This semester has given me so much stress and I am ready to be done.

Brb, crying over a bowl of cereal/pouring over all my other undone work/praying that I make it through this week in one piece. That was hella melodramatic and I know that everything will get done somehow. I'm trying to stay positive because I know the film will be great.

Use of Music in FIlms

What would a film be without music. Nothing. Well okay, it would still be a series of images that make up a story, but it really wouldn't be that good. A film can be absent of dialogue, or color, and it can still be a great film. However, without music, a film cannot be great.

 Music is the thing in films that evoke emotion. Music is what is going make you cry or laugh or get that really warm feeling when things turn out the way that you want them to. Music can really enhance the cinematic experience.

The score is what can take a film from good to iconic. There are some scores that have transcended our respect for music in films, here are some of the best film scores in my opinion.

E.T.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Jurassic Park

Back to the Future

Harry Potter

Music

I think the one of the most important aspects in a film is sound, especially music. Music can either destroy your project or help enhance. It can also add certain feelings and emotions to a scene. One of the biggest mistakes that we as filmmakers often make is adding music just to add music on our projects. If the score you choose does not fit your idea or concept, the final result may look cheesy and weird. That's why I think that the director and the music director have to work together to combine film and music together to create a master piece. I think that one of the greatest movie's composer of this era is Michael Giacchino. The man is a genius. He can literally make you feel happiness and sadness with just one song. He has composed for TV shows like Lost and Alias. He also made the scoring for movies like Ratatouille, Up, Star Trek and Super 8. I just love that all the music that he composes tell a story along with the movie. It is absolutely amazing. One of the greatest example in how music and film sync in perfection is in this montage from the movie Up, where Giacchino literally brings the audience from one extreme to another in terms of emotions.

Bur my favorite Giacchino's song is actually the "Main theme" of movie Ratatouille. I feel that this song depicts the main message of Ratatouille. it just fits perfectly with the movie. Also the instruments used by Giacchino remind me of Paris, and French culture.

Giacchino also composed one of my favorite TV shows of all time, Lost. With its music he added suspense and drama to the show. Every fan of the show would recognize this next song used composed for Lost.

Finally I think that everyone should keep this post in mind, and really think the kind of feelings you want to transmit to your audience when choosing the score for your short film.