Week 11: Short films, Popular music and more networking
It is now Week 11, The major project is coming to an end and I am excited to finish the project. I continue to press on with the work I have to do. Coming in to the final weeks, I have a growing number of pieces and media.
Last week I was able to complete a a project for a new clothing line, and this week I have the task of putting music to a short film. The film was a project completed by a London University student. I came across the piece on youtube and was interested in it immediately. It stood out to me as there was no dialogue and not much action in the film. These elements let the subtle parts of the video shine and made for a powerful message.
The film showed the story of a lady, in debt, who has a husband frequently missing. As the film progresses we are shown bills, gambling sites and text messages on the husbands film, we also see childrens pictures. through these images we are able to learn the story of this lady, as a desperate mother, with gambling debts and a cheating husband. The film ends in disaster with the Husband walking away and the lady losing her house.
Now, following this backstory, I am tasked with making music to fit the film. I have decided to write a popular track. The video is obviosuly very sadd and portrays hopelessness and despair. I think it also leads us to think about what the ladies life might have been like before all this misfortune. Given all of this I decided to write a song about hope dying out, of looking back on to the past and watching it slip through your fingers.
I did not want the lyrics to directly correspond with the video, e.g. I did not want to tell the story of the video directly in the song. I didnt want the song to mention gambling or debt or adultery. But i did use the theme of losing hope as a more general idea for the song.
I have reached out to my colleagues and have a vocalist and guitarist willing to help me to achieve my desired sound for the song. I am excited to utilise logic to record in the guitars, piano and vocal. Also it will be a challenge to compose my own lyrics and music for a popular cause.
I have looked to inspiration in acoustic tracks that tell a simple story with the lyrics. I took inspiration from the band ‘Rend collective’. I felt as if their acoustic tracks such as ‘Simplicity’ and ‘Yahweh’. The acoustic guitars in these songs were a big inspiration to me and I played both to my guitarist in order to gain the sound and feel that I wanted from the piece.
Another piece that was a big inspiration for me was ‘Come to the river’ by Housefires. I love how the repetitive nature of the lyrics and how each line the words only have a small change. I also thought that the short lines were very effective to set a mood. I had seen this band live in March in Derby, and so the track that I was hoping to write was greatly inspired by this band.
Housefires (2014). Housefires - Come to the River (feat. Kirby Kaple). [image] Available at: https://youtu.be/IKVHGi1iRLE [Accessed 6 May 2019].
Rend Collective (2019). "Simplicity" from Rend Collective (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO). [image] Available at: https://youtu.be/d8p3n5wzFpM [Accessed 6 May 2019].
Rend Collective (2019). Rend Collective - Yahweh (Audio). [image] Available at: https://youtu.be/qd7R1H79Vok [Accessed 6 May 2019].
I have successfully written some lyrics! I started with the idea of a candle slowly burning out. This was the starting point for my song. Next I thought of some more images of the kind of emotions I was trying to portray. I thought of the ocean tide getting closer and closer to the shore. From these images I was able to start writing. I also had the image of a vicious cycle in my mind.
See below my processes, and how I wrote, recorded and edited this song!
1) I wrote a chord progressions, utilising my keyboard skills and knowledge of popular music. Looking to inspiration for popular tracks being utilised on social media, to artists that I personally enjoy listening to, and to artists who have found success through their emotive content.
2) After a chord progression was written, I then played and recorded this and spent time playing and humming melodies that would go over these chords. I had already settled on a simple structure, and i had already decided to have short lines to show the hopelessness of the message.
3) The next thing I did was to ask my colleague to record the vocals, she looked at the lyrics and melody that I had written and we decided to takw the chorus up a major 3rd, to add and take away a few syllables and to cut out the last verse. This was very useful to me, as I was able to get a second opinion on the subject and listen to her advice and act on it to get a better product.
4) After I had consulted with my vocalist, I then went to ask another colleague to record some guitar parts for me, I wanted simple strumming chords in the verses and choruses, but I had fixed on a melody line for an introduction and ending. My colleage kindly listened to my ideas, listened to my inspiration and recorded some chords and melody lines for me to use.
5) After the guitar parts were recorded I then added a piano part, using it as a counter melody to the guitar melody in the introduction and in the verse using arpeggios to give the piece some rhythm and a more interesting texture.
6) Once those were completed I imported the video, and I spent some time chopping and changing my parts ad structure, adding and taking away small sections in order to fit the video. At this point I added a small interlude after the first chorus in order to make the piece sound less rushed and to fit the media better.
7) The next thing I did was to record some guide vocals, this was so that my vocalist could easily understand how I would like her to sing the track, and also it was helpful to me as I was no longer waiting on vocals to proceed with editing my track. Adding these vocals helped to give me a glimpse of the finished product and I was able to move forward, editing and syncing the piece
8) I added pads to my piece, this gives the piece a more interesting texture, these build up in the chorus, and fade out in quieter sections. I used ‘Alchemy’ for this SCREENSHOT and created some layers of pads.
9) Next I added an amp head to the guitars, alongside a reverb effect. This improved the sound of the piece and gave me the effect that I desired.
10) I also changed the piano to a piano in Kontakt plug in that was more realistic, and lowered the velocity of the piano chords, to make them sound less harsh. The piano parts now blended better and I felt as if I was getting closer to my desired result with the track.
11) My colleague recorded the vocals, I adjusted the levels on the piece,Mastered the track and then exported the file to MP4, and added the finished work on to my portfolio website.
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