Critical Evaluation - MD5317
Observe
When first approaching this project, I wanted to try something Iâd not done before, and so in preparation I went out with a friend and shot over nine minutes of drone footage that I knew was versatile and could be applied to almost any brief I set myself. It was then that I quite accidentally stumbled on this YouTube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmRSIgPJPKw. After hearing it, I decided I wanted to create a brief that would allow me to write in an atonal style, something very new to me, follow this link to find the full brief I set myself for this project â http://christopherhuntwatts.tumblr.com/post/174109069950/observe-independent-brief-md5317.
Once Iâd decided my stylistic direction I started doing some research into the unsettling genres of music and sound and found the video âSecond Syndromeâ, found here - Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGbEkgEyt8k. I took a lot of inspiration from the instrumentation in this video which is particularly evident in the first 1:30 of my piece where I used the izotope vinyl plug-in to give the instruments an old creepy tone. I loved the relationship between the piano and violin and thought it would suit my brief in terms of the music being unsettling and noticeable but still background. The images in âSecond Syndromeâ, along with music video for The Wychesâ song, Gravedweller (found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdp3NvKyUi0), gave me the inspiration for the muted grey/black and white filter which innately works with atonal, creepy and unsettling music.
With requirements for the piece to be between four and five minutes long, I felt piano and violin alone wasnât dynamic enough to meet my brief and keep the backdrop interesting. To liven things up and avoid getting stuck with a repetitive musical motif, I added percussion, synth and vocals which come in at around 2:30. The inspiration for this addition came largely from the track Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga, found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbvnvweeSR8&t=24s. This midsection in which these instruments are most noticeable starts at roughly 2:31 and adds to the dynamics and unsettling feeling of this piece by syncopating the hits and messing with the established tempo. The percussion at the beginning of the 2:31 section is one of the key points that puts almost 100% of focus on the music and serves to bridge the introduction of synth into what has by that point, been a piano and strings piece.Â
I found the intro and outro audio, from some YouTube found footage, and chose it to counterpoint the darker musical style I was going for. The piano piece, which is a cover of âThey'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of doverâ, already evokes the feeling of flying as its composter Walter Kent would have intended because of the lyrical content. This is a very wholesome piece of music with deep historical, patriotic and nationalistic connections. Along with the use of coloured images behind it, I was aiming to create semiotic confusion when that song fades into static (using the izotope vinyl plug-in) is replaced with a more atonal piece on the same instrument and the grey/black and white footage. This works in revers in the outro section where end text appears, and the colour of the drone footage is restored.
While I met my brief of making an unsettling piece of video/audio, I would now like to contact a couple of poets I know and see if they would be interested in having some of their work overlaid on Observe in the way my imaginary client would have.
Restrict
The first step I took when starting work on the sound for Restrict was to watch it from beginning to end until I had a rough idea of the different sections. As show in the picture attached, I categorised the video into five sections and the moods that I wanted to covey in them.
I kicked off my composition by working on the dynamics, making place holder synths to show the level of power and intensity I to bring out in each scene. After my first real introduction into creating synths in a number of previous projects (which you can find here - http://christopherhuntwatts.tumblr.com/tagged/MD5317), I found it fairly easy to make a good dynamic synth ground on which to build and begin to zero in on which instruments and sounds I wanted for the different moods. High strings were an obvious choice for section 1 and 4 as a life timeâs diet of Hollywood and cinema has conditioned us to associate them with moving scenes. After some twiddling, I also went with deeper strings low in the mix for some of the intense and dark moments as, when put atop a heavy synth pad, they gave movement without removing the audience from the visuals as, for example, brass or electric guitar could have.
To move further into the dynamics, I didnât want to be scared of leaving silence if I felt a scene wouldnât benefit form music. The main examples of this can be found in section 4 into 5 where the protagonistâs final decision to end her life is such powerful imagery that the music being absent leaves 100% of our attention of on her emotion. A couple of examples of this happening in famous movies is this 4:58 scene in Wolf of Wall street (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idOQXlHVrQE) and 3:49 scene from the first Hunger Games (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3PJ3Du_zDc).
A very present sound in my final video is in fact an example of real world sound I used. This was made from my Di-ed bass guitar which I palm muted and plucked before pitch shifting down an octave and adding compression, EQ and reverb. Varying in volume and note value, this worked very well as a rhythmic beating, similar to a cinematic heart beat that is present throughout a lot of the video. I also used a bass slide with these effects on for the moment the protagonist realises she is trapped in the dark at the beginning of section 2 (1:55).
The Conclusion
In the final analysis of my audio interpretation of restrict and my own brief, I can say that I have learned a lot about synthesisers, MIDI instruments, sampling and adapting real world sounds and how all of that can be used to bring out or subdue emotions in the visual medium. Â
Here is a link to my brief -Â http://christopherhuntwatts.tumblr.com/post/174109069950/observe-independent-brief-md5317Â
Here is a link to my Observe video I created -Â https://youtu.be/ZsmqKhN0ThE
Here is a link to more information on the construction of my brief -Â http://christopherhuntwatts.tumblr.com/post/174112902950/more-about-my-brief-md5317
Here is a link to my sampled audio -Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRxtx3PMX_Q
⢠Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga - Get out Â
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbvnvweeSR8&t=24s
⢠Second Syndrome - Peter Edward Burg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGbEkgEyt8k
⢠Atonal Music â Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmRSIgPJPKw
⢠Gravedweller â The WychesÂ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdp3NvKyUi0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3PJ3Du_zDc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idOQXlHVrQE